Building and Sustaining a State Government Approach to Aquatic Habitat Restoration

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Webinar Essentials:
Building and Sustaining a State Government Approach to Aquatic Habitat Restoration
Presented by Beth Lambert, Director, Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration
Recorded Thursday, February 23, 2023, 12 PM EST/9 AM PST, Duration: 60 min.

The Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration provides a template of how to create, tailor and promote a government-sponsored ecological restoration program.

Created in 2009 by bringing together two small, community-based restoration programs housed within different agencies in the Commonwealth, the DER is a Division within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Department of Fish and Game. Its mission is to restore and protect rivers, wetlands, and watersheds for the benefit of people and the environment.

Partnerships are a hallmark of DER’s work, and the Division works closely with municipalities, non-profit organizations, and agencies in all its work. As a non-regulatory agency, DER carries out its mission in three ways:
1. Directly coordinating on-the-ground restoration projects such as dam removals, culvert upgrades, and salt marsh restoration.
2. Building the capacity of other organizations to lead and support restoration; and
3. Developing and sharing restoration expertise and best practices within state government and with partners outside of state government.

Beth Lambert is the Director of the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration (DER). Her background and training are in fluvial geomorphology. Early in her career, she worked in watershed-based restoration in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Later, upon moving to New England, she developed expertise in dam removal and salt marsh restoration. She has been with DER since its inception in 2009. In 2018 she became the Director of the agency and is currently leading the DER through a period of growth. The DER and partners have removed over sixty dams and restored over four thousand acres of wetlands and doubled the size of the Division from fifteen people to thirty-two. Beth loves hiking, paddling, and the sound of a hydraulic hammer taking down a dam.

The Joint Committee on Fisheries Engineering and Science hosts a free webinar series as part of its mission to engage scientists and engineers on topics related to fish passage. The Committee consists of members of the American Fisheries Society Bioengineering Section (AFS-BES) and the American Society of Civil Engineers Environmental and Water Resources Institute (ASCE-EWRI). It was established in January 2011 to foster communication between the two groups, provide opportunities for engineers and biologists to share relevant knowledge and learn from one another, and to collaborate on projects related to fish passage.

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