The Naturalists' Club – Western Massachusetts Club for Nature Enthusiasts The Naturalists039 Club Western Massachusetts Club for Nature Enthusiasts Home Naturalists Corner Parade of Planets By Tom Condon Newsletter Winter 2025 Westfield River Lecture Series Stanton Hall Huntington 630 830 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 waware 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.