The Great Marsh Community Resiliency Planning Project was given a big boost in 2015 by a grant received by the MA Office of Coastal Zone Management’s Coastal Community Resiliency Grant Program to support enhanced outreach and education. The CZM grant is…
In December of 2015, the state Division of Marine Fisheries provided a holiday gift to local shellfishermen and their families by re-opening the river to shellfishing earlier than usual. The river, which is usually only opened for the winter was…
Above: Members of the 2015 "turtle land" tire cleanup crew. From left to right: (Unless otherwise noted from NE MA Mosquito Control and Wetlands Management District) Barry Noone, Bill Mehaffey, Kelsey Evans, Anne Gagnon (DFG), George Comiskey (Parker River Clean…
Greenbelt, Essex County’s Land Trust, has been awarded a $16,416 Merrimack Conservation Partnership Land Transaction Grant for the acquisition of an approximately 120-acre conservation restriction on the Leonhard-Eldred Farm in Boxford and North Andover. A family farm for several generations,…
The Great Marsh Resiliency Partnership’s efforts to restore the Salisbury, MA sand dunes got a boost in December from PIE-Rivers partners at the University of New Hampshire. Led by coastal ecologist Dr. Gregg Moore and outreach specialist Alyson Eberhardt, volunteers came out…
The existing 1930’s era fish ladder at the Willowdale Dam on the Ipswich River is not very good at its job of allowing fish to swim over and past the dam to important habitat upstream. With the vast majority of…
While much of Salisbury’s dunes weathered the last few winter storms well and gained sand (photo at right), this section of dune at Center Beach was hit particularly hard (photo below). The dune nourishment areas established by…
After many years of waiting, communities were abuzz when the 2016 Massachusetts Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) General Permit was published by the Environmental Protection Agency in the Federal Register on April 13, 2016. Signed on April 4,…
Congrats to PIE-Rivers founding partner Essex County Greenbelt Association for receiving more than $1 million in funding from the state’s 2016 Landscape Partnership Grant program. This funding will help conserve 525 acres of land in Hamilton, Ipswich and Essex, protecting an open hilltop landscape…
Working with PIE-Rivers partner Liz Duff from Mass Audubon and teacher Lori LaFrance, Ipswich High School students have been analyzing storm surges and sea level rise maps to identify areas most vulnerable in their town. On April 13th, more than…