Rivers and Streams

The Merrimack River is not just aesthetically beautiful but also hosts a vast ecosystem despite its proximity to an urban center like Lowell!

The Merrimack and Concord Rivers are vital natural features of central New England. Historically, fish such as Atlantic salmon, shad and alewives thrived in the river, travelling together in large runs. The river also supported birds and wildlife who fed on aquatic flora and fauna and nested in the nearby treetops.

The rivers also provided an important source of food and transport for native groups living along the Merrimack River Valley - especially the Pennacook people who lived at Pawtucket Falls in what is now Lowell. The Atlantic salmon swam upriver in the spring, providing a plentiful harvest to sustain the Pennacook during the winter.

As settlers moved in and pushed native groups out, often with a combination of pressure and violence, the river began to change. Small mills use for grinding corn or making gunpowder began to crop up, but these did not have a significant impact on the health of the river or the animals therein.

The American Industrial Revolution, on the other hand, would drastically alter how the river would be used. Industrialists erected several large dams along the Merrimack River to redirect water into textile mills. This left little water for fish to navigate. As the fish left or died out, so did the animals who relied on their meat to live. Bleaches, dyes and human waste were dumped into the river for decades (more on this here).

During the American Industrial Revolution through the 1900s the rivers were threatened by extensive pollution that scared off many species of fish and amphibians. With fewer food sources, predatory birds and mammals also declined. Since the improvement of the rivers' water quality, many of these animals have returned to create a new ecology made up of native and nonnative species. Today in Lowell, the Merrimack and Concord Rivers host an impressive array of flora and fauna.