Naturalists’ Corner: Parade of Planets By Tom Condon Newsletter: Winter 2025

Westfield River Lecture Series: Stanton Hall, Huntington 6:30 – 8:30 pm: Indigenous Peoples of the Westfield – March 20; Strathmore Mills History – March 27; Legends of the Race – April 3

March Meeting

Fisheries and Aquatic Connectivity In New England

Presented by Steven Mattocks, Fisheries Biologist at Mass Wildlife

For more than 400 years, dams have impacted aquatic species in New England – especially migratory fish. Citizens gradually became w=aware of the impacts dams have on species, most notibly the Atlantic Salmon, sparking the creation of Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (Mass Wildlife), which began as the State Fisheries Commission in 1866. Today, major dams remain, but there is a nationwide movement to restore waterways through dam removal and aquatic habitat restoration. This presentation will discuss migratory fisheries and their habitats, offer a brief history of New England waterway use, and describe current research and monitoring conducted by Mass Wildlife on restoration of migratory species, including American Shad.

Steven Mattocks is a Fisheries Biologist at Mass Wildlife, where he has been for eight years. He has worked in the fisheries field on Kodiak Island, Alaska, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, The Cherokee Mountains of Tennessee, and the mountains and plains of northern Colorado. He received his Masters of Science degree at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, where he studied historical river herring populations.

Wednesday, March 19, starting at 7 p.m.

Tolman Auditorium, Springfield Science Museum

Visit some of our partners’ websites: Springfield Stars Club Allen Bird Club Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary