Plymouth Residents Discuss Agawam River Restoration with Coalition

In December, the Buzzards Bay Coalition purchased a 650+-acre corridor of land surrounding the Agawam River, an 11-mile waterway that flows from Plymouth’s Halfway Pond through cranberry bogs and forests, joining the Wankinco River to form the Wareham River Estuary and empty into Buzzards Bay.

Habitat restoration inevitably creates change. In order to get input from the surrounding community and help local residents navigate the expected changes the Coalition and partners will be making to the Agawam River and the surrounding landscapes, we recently sought out stakeholders near that project. Such outreach gives them a chance to understand how the restoration process and end results might affect them and ask any questions as the design and permitting process gets underway. 

More than one hundred Plymouth residents packed the Coalition’s Onset Bay Center on May 13. They listened to a presentation from Senior Restoration Ecologist Sara Quintal and senior geomorphologist and regional director Nick Nelson from engineering firm Inter-Fluve.

The Coalition hired the design and engineering firm Inter-Fluve to develop and permit the restoration plan. The Coalition first met with a group of Redbrook residents called Sustainable Redbrook to understand how residents currently utilize the areas around the bogs for recreation.

The Coalition intends to remove two dams in the river and restore the cranberry bogs to native wetlands and grasslands. (Cranberry harvest will continue through Fall 2027 while science, restoration design and permitting is completed.

Like other bog restoration projects we have performed, construction will remove pipes and underground irrigation structures. It will also restore a natural river channel, fill ditches, smooth out berms, and remove sand that was covering the original wetland peat from portions of the bogs. No material will leave the site; any sand taken from the berms and bog flats will be used to fill in ditches and add to upland grass areas. This all will promote a return to the natural landscape of the site.

As she was leaving the meeting, one resident exclaimed, “We’re losing a pond, but we are gaining a river.”

Construction will likely begin in late 2027 (post-cranberry harvest) and continue through 2028. Work in the existing stream channel will not occur during the herring run. Due to safety concerns, active work areas will be closed to Redbrook residents during construction. Construction is expected to occur in phases.

The Coalition will maintain current trails and access points as open to the public. The Coalition will regularly monitor use and make adjustments to signage, gates, etc.

Agricultural reservoirs and bogs will slowly transform into more natural wetlands once the dams are removed. Trees will start to grow on the riverbanks, shading and cooling the water for native fish. Other areas will retain open vistas where habitats are a mix of open water, marsh, and grassland.