Project Report

1 project matched your search:
Unique ID Number = 175

Central Falls Dam

Central Falls Dam - Potential

1997 orthophotography available from the RIGIS Orthophoto Server. Click image for printable PDF.
Courtesy: R.I. Department of Transportation

Project Location:  Blackstone River

Project Map- Click to open the Restoration Atlas mapping application in a new window. (The map will automatically be zoomed in to this restoration site.) *Note: this application is best viewed using Internet Explorer.

Access Point(s):   Not documented for this site.

Public Use:  Not documented for this site.

Impacts:  Only a few hundred fish each year now make the short spawning run up the Seekonk River to spawn at the Main Street Dam (USEPA 2001). Water quality within the Blackstone has improved in the last few decades, as state and local governments improve wastewater and sewer systems and eliminate point and non-point source discharges to the river.

Project Size:  148 acres

Area Benefited:  148 acres

Dam Information:

Restoration Description:  The Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, with funding from Rhode Island Aqua Fund and the Blackstone River Valley Heritage Corridor Commission, initiated a program of fisheries restoration on the Blackstone River. The Blackstone River Fish and Restoration Steering Committee was formed in 2001. The commission includes Federal and Stage agency representatives, a historical museum, fishing groups, utilities companies, and environmental groups. The Steering Committee initiated a study of historic fisheries on the Blackstone by University of Rhode Island, and a gillnet survey of the Seekonk River by DEM Division of Fish and Wildlife. A draft Blackstone River Fisheries Restoration Plan was developed. The plan established quantitative restoration goals for shad and herring populations in the Blackstone River system. The restoration plan also identifies the various construction alternatives for re-establishing fish passage at each major impediment. Blackstone River Phase 1 - Fish passage restoration. Fishway construction.

Restoration Date:   Not documented for this site.

Target Species:   American shad, river herring

Historic Conditions:  The Blackstone River Valley is the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. The first dam on the river was built at Pawtucket Falls in 1718. By the late 19th century there were hundreds of mill dams along the Blackstone. These dams prevented the upstream migration of fish, particularly river herring and American shad. The current run is only a feeble remnant of what was once one of the premier herring runs in Rhode Island.

Project Contact:

Partners: DEM Fish & Wildlife

Pre and Post Restoration Data: False, False

Monitoring:

Studies Conducted:   Not documented for this site.

Cost of Project:  Not documented for this site

Public Property Owners:  n/a

Information Source:

derkan@dem.state.ri.us