The removal of three old dams along Massachusetts’ Coonamessett River has turned former industrial farmland into a thriving coastal ecosystem, restoring fish passage and creating 56 acres of natural wetlands. According to feature reports from NOAA Fisheries, the town of Falmouth on Cape Cod worked with state and federal agencies to remove the historic barriers, which had changed the river’s flow for more than 300 years. Heavy machinery began removing Middle Dam in 2018, followed by Lower Dam and Upper Dam. The work reopened the river to migratory fish, allowing them to reach upstream spawning areas for the first time in generations. The multi-stage restoration project focused on land that had once been used for commercial cranberry farming. Years of farming had changed the landscape by straightening the river, flattening the floodplain and covering natural peat soils with layers of sand. These changes damaged native plants and made it difficult for sea-run fish to move through the river.
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