Another Grant for the Mason Street Conservation Area Restoration!
The Rehoboth Land Trust (RLT) has received a supplementary grant to advance the design of the marsh restoration planned for the Mason Street Conservation Area. In October 2025, Restore America’s Estuaries in partnership with the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Southeast New England Program (SNEP) granted RLT a SNEP Watershed Implementation Grant (SWIG) to fund completion of selected design and permitting tasks.
RLT’s tidal marsh restoration site along the Palmer River
The Mason Street project aims to restore flow within the tidal tributary at RLT’s 12-acre property along the east shore of the Palmer River in South Rehoboth and implement other steps to enhance public enjoyment of the property. The unnamed tributary flows through the southern portion of the property through two obsolete stone culverts. These culverts restrict tidal flow to and from the river channel, preventing freshwater from discharging freely through the tributary channel and brackish river water from running inland through this channel as the Palmer River ebbs and flows. These circumstances hinder the marsh’s natural transformation in this area. Furthermore, the higher water levels and greater intensity of storms that occur as a result of ongoing climate change have caused considerable scouring along the stone headwalls of the culverts, compromising their integrity.
The current phase of project design calls for removal of a failed, undersized culvert near the mouth of the tributary and replacement of a second culvert with a footbridge along the trail that connects Mason Street to the riverfront area. RLT completed the initial restoration design in 2024 with Federal funding through the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program (NBEP) and Roger Williams University. The SWIG grant will fund a completion of the proposed design and permitting for the culvert removals and bridge installation. RLT will seek further funding to implement these restoration activities and design and permit other planned improvements to enhance public use of the property.
An additional element of the SWIG-funded work will provide basic field instruction in vegetation management to trainees from GroundworkRI and students from Bristol County Agricultural High School at the Mason Street property. Save the Bay will continue to support RLT’s restoration plans and activities at the property in-kind services.
RLT is grateful and proud to have received this SWIG funding that will supplement our efforts to improve marsh habitat and public enjoyment at the Mason Street Conservation Area.
This project was supported by EPA Grant No. SE00A00708 through the SNEP. The views expressed above are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the USEPA.