The town of bridgewater, in partnership with the nature conservancy TNC , the MA division of ecological restoration DER , MA division of marine fisheries DMF , NOAA restoration center NOAA , US fish…

The town of bridgewater, in partnership with the nature conservancy TNC , the MA division of ecological restoration DER , MA division of marine fisheries DMF , NOAA restoration center NOAA , US fish and wildlife service USFWS , and MEM realty trust, seeks to restore the town river the primary tributary to wild and scenic taunton river through the removal of an obsolete DAM and replacement an undersized, aging road stream crossing statement of need the town of bridgewater, in partnership with the massachusetts division of ecological restoration DER , the massachusetts division of marine fisheries DMF , the nature conservancy TNC , theprivate DAM owner, the NOAA restoration center, and the U S fish and wildlife service, seeks torestore the town river the town river restoration project will restore and strengthen naturalecosystems for the benefit of the coastal community and the environment the project willreconnect 10 miles including tributaries of unimpeded river access for diadromous fish, includingriver herring, american shad, american EEL, and sea lamprey the project will open 354 acres of riverherring spawning and rearing habitat at lake nippenicket project goals and objectives the project proposes to remove the high street DAM national ID MA00327 , replace the undersizedand aging high street road stream crossing over town river, and protect and enhance surroundinginfrastructure and public utilities this project will directly open 10 miles ofunimpeded access for diadromous fish including river herring, american EEL, american shad, and sealamprey in the wild and scenic watershed and improve access to 354 acres of spawning and rearinghabitat at lake nippenicket protect people and property from increasingly severe flooding resulting from climate change this project was identified as a high priority in the town of bridgewater S municipal vulnerability preparedness plan as a direct result of this project, 37 commercial and residential properties that border the high street DAM S impoundment will experiencea reduction in flooding during severe storms project activities, methods and timetable specific activities that will be employed as part of the effort include thefollowing bid phase the town of bridgewater will advertise and publicly bid the town river restoration aqualified construction firm will be selected to perform the construction the town will be supported inpublic bidding by its design engineer SLR consulting , who will provide bidding assistance SLR waspreviously selected by the project team through a competitive bid process in 2018 to complete theengineering design and permitting process stakeholder coordination involvement this project has undergone a robust stakeholder engagement process the project team has held three 3 public meetings over the course of five years to provide updates to the community on the status ofthe project and solicit community feedback these meetings were held in addition to public hearingsrequired as part of project permitting during both the mepa and notice of intent processes project monitoring and evaluation monitoring the project team will monitor the success of the proposed restoration restorationsuccess will be measured by the desired outcomes monitoring results from the first year of postrestorationmonitoring will be reported to USFWS the town of bridgewater S town manageris michael dutton, 508 697 0919, townmanager bridgewaterma ORG the department of publicworks director is AZU etoniru, 774 222 1263