Coldwater Fisheries Resources (CFRs) are a key part of the Outstandingly Remarkable Resource Values (ORRVs) for our Wild & Scenic Rivers. Determining the health of our waterways and their ability to support native coldwater fish populations, such as the brook trout, is of keen interest to the Stewardship Council.
Data loggers can be used to record continuous data on water temperature and/or conductivity (which indicates levels of salts in the water) through installation at selected sites on our Wild & Scenic rivers and their tributaries. Both of these data points are key in understanding the water quality in our streams. As warming temperatures and more frequent droughts increasingly stress our stream systems, understanding where clean, cold refugia persist is critical.
The main goals of this project are to:
- Identify and understand seasonality at coldwater sites that may serve as climate refugia for fish and other species that require coldwater habitat to survive.
- Take steps to improve (e.g. via river restoration) and/or permanently conserve these potential refugia.
- Understand how road salting and particular development projects affect aquatic habitat viability.
- Share our data with partners who have specifically requested such continuous data (e.g., MA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), US Geological Service EcoSheds program)
The NRWA initiated this project to install conductivity loggers at the request of MA DEP, with funding from Fleetwing Charitable Foundation. Additional loggers were later installed near specific large development projects, as requested by concerned community members. The program expanded again to accommodate MA DEP’s request for NRWA to upload their data to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s WQX database.
In 2025, when this project had grown beyond the initial funding capacity, the Stewardship Council awarded funding to the NRWA to implement and advance this project. With that support, NRWA installed five new temperature loggers, and collected data from a total of 14 temperature loggers and six dual conductivity & temperature loggers (which are all either in the W&S mainstem rivers or in tributaries that flow into them). NRWA began meeting with conservation partners to develop plans to conserve and restore habitat near the best of these logger sites, to enhance site viability in the long-term. NRWA’s partners can directly use the logger data to inform predictive ecological models (like the US Geological Survey’s
Northeast Stream Temperature Model and Northeast Interactive Catchment Explorer) and fisheries management decisions. Partners have expressed how valuable that data is for both its long-term continuity and its spatial breadth.
In 2026, the Stewardship Council continued its support for this program which will allow NRWA to continue its work to conduct logger checks, data downloads and analysis, as well as conservation planning and implementation.
This project supports multiple goals in the NSN Stewardship Plan, especially those of the Biological Diversity Action Plan related to protecting and enhancing aquatic habitat and water quality. Foremost among these goals are: Goal A.1 Sustain and enhance existing biological diversity; Goal A.4 Protect and enhance coldwater fisheries resources; and Goal B.1 Maintain and improve our river’s water quality, Objective: Collect data, make plans, and take actions that support improved water quality, aquatic resources, and water supplies.
