Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going

The Jones River is the largest river draining to Cape Cod Bay. Silver Lake is the river’s headwater, and one of the 12 largest natural lakes in Massachusetts. Formed by a glacier 14,000 years ago, this 80-foot-deep cold-water lake is a tremendous spawning habitat for the Gulf of Maine fisheries.

Since forming JRWA 40 years ago, members have worked in the river to understand its habitats and challenges to health. We worked with the town to protect lands along three miles of the river and more. Our work mapping the watershed and sampling water quality led the town to invest in stormwater improvements and develop a sewer system in the Kingston tidal reach that rapidly improved water quality in the river, which led to opening Kingston Bay to shell fishing. We developed state and federal agency relationships leading to funding for the removal of the two mainstem dams in 2011 and 2019. We’ve organized volunteer fish counts for the past 20 years to document river herring runs and American eels up to Silver Lake, overcoming not only cement dams, but misinformation about the ecosystem.

We were instrumental in re-establishing the Central Plymouth County Water District Commission to improve the health and environmental function of Silver Lake, which supplies Brockton and Whitman with their daily water demand, which is more than its safe yield. We are constantly working to improve state laws and regulations so that these vital natural resources are restored to the health needed to support the robust fishery we, and the generations that follow need to thrive.

JRWA has been working consistently with the Division of Marine Fisheries, the Town of Kingston, State and Federal agencies to install a novel fishway into the Brockton dam off Lake Street in Kingston. This work is in permitting now, and with luck installation will be underway next summer, along with dredging 120 years of accumulated sediments in the Jones River headwater. We have legislation moving through the State House that we’ve been working on for more than a decade to ensure headwater flow to the Jones River in Kingston, Stump Brook in Halifax, and Herring Brook in Pembroke.

JRWA works out of the Jones River Landing Environmental Heritage Center to restore the properties we have acquired in the estuary. This landscape hosts the oldest continuously operated boatyard in the country. Here the Brig Independence was built and set sail, as did hundreds of other tall ships and mariners trading throughout the world, to the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and China helping to build our Nation. We are working to clean the site of centuries of use and restore the marshes and habitats, as well as maintain boatbuilding trades as the sea rises around us. In the Drew Heritage House, we’ve continued to host students, interns, advocates and professionals who need a place to stay while studying our local environment and working in aquaculture trades.

With you, JRWA has been knitting back the fabric of this vital yet degraded ecosystem. We hope for your continued support and engagement. Thank you!

Duxbury/Kingston Bays

Jones River at Elm Street, undam’ed

Silver Lake levels, October 2025

Stony Brook

Jones River Landing