Students from Hanover Middle School along with naturalists from the South Shore Natural Science Center (SSNSC) are helping to monitor the health of the Third Herring Brook. The program was developed by the SSNSC in collaboration with the North and South Rivers Watershed Association (NSRWA) and funded through a generous grant from Battelle in Norwell. The goal of the program was to engage youth in a local river restoration project – a dam removal completed 2 years ago on the Third Herring Brook by the NSRWA and the South Shore YMCA.
The students were brought to the Third Herring Brook last spring and this fall to measure different aspects of the health of the stream after the dam was removed. They measured water temperature and pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, salinity and turbidity, as well as collected macroinvertebrates at three sites along the brook – the former dam site at the SSYMCA, downstream where the Third Herring Brook goes under River and Broadway Streets in Hanover, and a control site in a tributary, Margaret’s Brook in Norwell.
To see more photos of the students monitoring activities, click here.
The students will then graph and analyze their data before sharing it with the North and South Rivers Watershed Association and the Town of Hanover’s Conservation Commission.
This collaborative effort helps to monitor the restoration project, and introduce the students to environmental science.