Kelly’s Pond Watershed Restoration

completed

The goals of this project are to restore the natural capacity of Kelly’s Pond watershed to mitigate the effects of increased rainfall and increased overland flooding due to climate change and to increase the structural capacity of capital infrastructure to accommodate the effects of increased rainfall and overland flooding due to climate change. Currently, the integrity of the watershed is compromised by poorly constructed and undersized water control structures, sediment infilling, and degraded wetlands and buffer zones. This project will involve the replacement and upgrading of two water control structures, dry excavation (dredging) of two ponds, one sediment trap, and one wetland area, and restoration of land designated as a buffer zone. This project will result in a total of five acres of a restored buffer zone, five acres of dredged pond area, and two upgraded water control structures. These outcomes will greatly restore the capacity of these natural assets to manage extreme weather events and climate change, in a heavily suburbanized area.