Wet, wild, hidden - and newly protected

Happily for its advocates, the waterway was recently designated by federal authorities as a wild and scenic river, entitling it to new federal protection and making it eligible for funds for preservation projects within its watershed. The river's inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System requires it to be preserved in its free-flowing condition and managed in a way that protects its environmental and social values.

Running from its source in Bridgewater south to Fall River, the Taunton River flows through Halifax, Middleborough, Raynham, and Lakeville on its way to the sea. It's the spine of a 582-square-mile watershed.

"It's 40 miles of free-flowing river without dams," said Carolyn LaMarre, director of the 600-member Taunton River Watershed Alliance. "It's in pristine condition, really beautiful."

Regional and federal officials recently joined citizens groups, including the alliance, in celebrating the passage of the law that designates the Taunton as a wild and scenic river, which places it under the protection of a National Park Service management program.

The river is "one of the least disturbed waterways in southern New England," said Wayne Klockner of the Nature Conservancy, one of the nonprofit organizations that backed the river's inclusion in the program.

A long stretch of undammed river is rare in New England, where 19th-century industry relied on water power, LaMarre said. The river's gentle gradient is responsible for the absence of dams for water power, but the same lack of development that kept its water quality high and its banks wild has also lowered its profile.

"The Taunton River is virtually impossible to see," LaMarre said, since it's seldom visible from highways or even local roads.

Congressional designation of the Taunton as a wild and scenic river requires it to be managed to protect and enhance its "outstanding values" - values that include agriculture, ecology, biological diversity, estuarial features (where fresh river water meets tidal water), fisheries, history, and archeology. The river watershed's rare habitats include the huge Hockomock Swamp in Easton, Assonet Cedar Swamp in Lakeville, a silver maple floodplain forest in Taunton, Stump Brook in Halifax, and numerous vernal pools. Its rare species include Blanding's turtle, Eastern box turtle, spotted salamander, and wood frogs.

The designation prohibits the federal government from providing any funds or issuing permits for construction projects that would have a "direct and adverse impact" on the river.

Projects that contain federal funding or require permits from federal agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers will be reviewed by the National Park Service for their effect on the river. That means that major proposals face scrutiny in which the interests of fish, fowl, amphibians, rare species, and rare habitats will be considered along with preserving water quality for drinking water supplies and the recreational needs of the region, said Priscilla Chapman of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, another group that backed the designation.

The legislation also sets up the Taunton River Stewardship Council - made up of representatives from 10 communities bordering the river, state officials, and nonprofits - which will recommend preservation projects for federal dollars in the watershed, an estimated $120,000 this year.

One potential project for funding this year is repairing a fish ladder on the Nemasket River in Middleborough, one of the Taunton River's major tributaries.

"What you do upstream," LaMarre said, "is going to affect the region downstream."

Chapman said Mass Audubon has pushed for the watershed's protection in the face of some of the region's major development proposals - a liquefied natural gas terminal in Fall River, a casino in Middleborough, and a rail line that would pass through the Hockomock Swamp on its way to New Bedford. Cutting a swath for a new railway through a rare, unfragmented ecosystem, one of the largest freshwater wetlands in the state, would make it harder for interior forest birds such as thrushes to survive, Chapman said. Casino plans call for large water withdrawals from the watershed.

LaMarre said the alliance has also raised concerns about the amount a proposed water-cooled power plant in Brockton would take from the watershed.

Getting the Taunton River into the federal program wasn't smooth sailing in Congress.

Backers such as US Representative Barney Frank, a Democrat whose district includes some of the watershed's communities, fought off attacks by Republicans who said the measure was intended as a means to block the LNG terminal at the river's mouth in Fall River.

Frank, who at the recent celebration called the designation "a great example of what local action can achieve," argued the measure should be seen as a local preservationist act and not as an attack on natural gas in the national debate on energy policy.

Robert Knox can be reached at rc.knox2@gmail.com.