Lauren Owens Lambert
The Nature Conservancy is an environmental nonprofit that takes a scientific approach to conservation, setting goals for conserving the abundance and geographic distribution of critical species, ecological systems and biodiversity.
Mill River Dam Removal
The Mill River is a tributary of the Taunton River, which empties into Mount Hope and Narragansett bays and is the longest undammed coastal river in New England. With West Britannia Dam’s removal, migratory fish, including native alewives and blueback herring, will be able to move between Narragansett Bay and the Mill River’s headwaters for the first time in nearly 200 years.
This partnership is the first time in recent history that all sectors, from aquaculture and wild harvest to restoration and managers, are working together collaboratively to develop a state-wide holistic shellfish plan. A MSI, developed with broad stakeholder support, can maximize the economic, environmental, and social benefits of the Commonwealth’s shellfish resources.
New England groundfish species, such as Atlantic cod, are in trouble, and catch quotas for struggling fishermen are at historic lows. Finding cost-effective ways to gather accurate fishing information has never been more important - for fish and for fishermen. In 2016, for the first time, The Nature Conservancy collaborated with fishermen from Massachusetts and Maine to use digital cameras rather than human monitors to document discards of groundfish on commercial fishing trips.
The Nature Conservancy has developed a comprehensive forest landscape restoration plan that will preserve existing old-growth forest and discover the best ways to restore previously logged stands into functional forests. The results will be shared to ensure that forest managers throughout the Northwest and around the globe benefit from the latest restoration science.Stands of old-growth Sitka spruce, Western red cedar and other conifers, some over 800 years old, remain here in a landscape that has endured habitat fragmentation and decades of logging. Ellsworth Creek provides critical spawning habitat for coho and chum salmon.