Project Description
Located in Westborough, MA, Jackstraw Brook is a small headwater stream in the Sudbury-Assabet-Concord (SuAsCo) River Watershed. The brook is an important tributary of the Cedar Swamp, the first Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) designated in the Commonwealth, and has been afforded Outstanding Resource Water (ORW) protections under MA Surface Water Quality Standards. Though residential development has encroached into the riparian buffer and altered the stream habitat, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) identified a population of eastern brook trout in Jackstraw Brook.
To compensate for injuries to natural resources caused by the Nyanza Chemical Waste Dump, a degraded reach of Jackstraw Brook is currently being restored to improve habitat for native coldwater fish such as brook trout. The streambank was graded and stabilized, and native trees and shrubs were planted in the riparian zone. The native vegetation will reduce erosion and filter rainwater and runoff as it enters the brook. As the trees mature, they will provide shade to the stream to maintain cold water temperatures as well as improve in-stream habitat by contributing large woody material in the form of deadfall. The leaves and other vegetation will also provide food for benthic macroinvertebrates, an important prey source for trout and other fish.
Restoration Land Ownership
County or Municipal; Private
Parties Implementing Restoration
Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game
DOI Project Representatives
Fish and Wildlife Service