Projects We Fund

Succotash Marsh, a 182-acre salt-marsh system located within Potters and Point Judith Ponds in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, provides diverse habitats that support a diverse assemblage of birds, including salt marsh sparrows, as well as commercial aquaculture and recreational opportunities. Sea-level rise threatens Succotash Marsh by subjecting it to more frequent flooding, and surrounding developments prevent the marsh from migrating upland. This project, led by the Narragansett Bay Estuarine Research Reserve, will complete the planning and design phases of a sediment placement project to improve the resilience of Succotash Marsh and establish a monitoring plan that includes pre-restoration monitoring at both the project site and a control site.

The Blackstone River flows through Massachusetts and Rhode Island mill towns with histories of heavy industry, beginning with the Main Street Dam in the City of Pawtucket at tide water and continuing upstream into the City of Worcester. Historic records indicate that prior to industrial development on the river and the construction of mill dams for water power, populations of diadromous fish including river herring, American shad, and American eel were abundant in the system. The vision of this project, more than 20 years in the making, is to restore fish passage across the four lower dams that impede passage on the lower Blackstone. This project has been called the most urban, the most complex, and the most desired fish passage project in New England.

The Narragansett Bay Estuary Program is proving funding to the Rhode Island Chapter of The Nature Conservancy to complete engineering and permitting level fish passage design for the Main Street and the Slater Mill dams and to begin to look at feasibility options for the third and fourth dams, Elizabeth Webbing and Valley Falls. Visit NBEP’s Lower Blackstone Fish Passage webpage for more information about this collaborative project.

NBEP is supporting several additional project partners to organize community action in support of river connectivity, fish passage, and public access. See these projects for more information: Blackstone River Commons (Rhode Island School of Design), Blackstone River Watershed Community Engagement (Blackstone River Watershed Council / Friends of the Blackstone) and Blackstone Collaborative Capacity Support (Blackstone Watershed Collaborative).

The Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association (WPWA) will develop a cold-water stream restoration plan to improve the water quality, continuity, and resiliency of impacted cold-water streams that feed the Wild & Scenic Wood-Pawcatuck River. Many of these streams were compromised during America’s industrialization by the construction of infrastructure needed to impound, constrict, and straighten streams for waterpower, water supply, and transportation. Today, the watershed is one of the largest contiguous natural areas along the northeast corridor between New York and Boston.

The WPWA will also undertake the design and permitting required to construct at least one project prioritized in the cold-water stream restoration plan.

2023 award to the Pawtuxet River Authority to create public access to Randall Pond in Cranston, RI.

2023 award to the City of Providence to create safe and meaningful waterfront access and improved environmental conditions at a CRMC-designated coastal right of way in the highly urbanized Port of Providence in South Providence, Rhode Island.

2023 award to the Rehoboth Land Trust (Rehoboth, MA) to identify a preferred set of alternatives and a conceptual design for implementation of an approach that will restore connectivity between the tributary and the Palmer River, enhance the resilience of the surrounding ecosystem, facilitate agricultural use, and encourage public enjoyment of the Mason Street Landing property and the Palmer River.

2023 award to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) to develop construction-ready plans to restore floodplain habitat, create fishing and boating access to the Pawtuxet River, and provide perpetual public trailhead access to Pawtuxet Oxboes Park at the “Pawtuxet Depot” property in Cranston, Rhode Island.

2023 award to the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council (WRWC) to advance the design of a 1/3-mile multi-use trail, a river overlook, disconnection of one-acre of impervious surface, and restoration of 200 linear feet of streambank and a one-acre buffer space at Sherman Field in Johnston, Rhode Island, as a continuation of the Woonasquatucket River Greenway.