Restoration of Mussachuck Creek and Rhode Island Country Club - A Federal and Private Partnership

Mussachuck Creek is a tidal tributary that connects to the upper Narragansett Bay in Barrington, Rhode Island. The creek serves as the outlet for two upland ponds and supplies saltwater to extensive salt marsh in and around the creek. The creek also conveys drainage from several hundred acres of privately-owned property, including the majority of the Rhode Island Country Club (RICC). As a result of accumulations of sand and sediment at the confluence with the bay and the existence of a partially functioning tidegate at a culvert beneath a roadway crossing, the ecology of the creek, the ponds that it drains, and the salt marsh have degraded over the past several years. Additionally, these conditions have caused drainage problems on RICC property and allowed the invasive common reed, Phragmites australis, to infest significant portions of the golf course. The restoration of the creek was originally proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and a local non-profit organization, Save The Bay, to restore 165 acres of anadromous fish spawning habitat and over 10 acres of salt marsh habitat. Concerned with the loss of play areas to Phragmites and the general degradation of the creek and the bordering salt marsh, RICC entered into a funding agreement with the environmental agencies to assist with the creek restoration. EA was retained jointly by NRCS and RICC to provide permitting, engineering design, and contract document preparation services for the creek restoration. The restoration of the creek itself involved replacing the partially functioning tidegate, dredging the creek at the confluence with the bay, and additional dredging within the RICC property. Increased tidal flow would eradicate the Phragmites, encourage the regrowth of native salt marsh grasses, and provide fish passage. The improvements to the creek are expected to increase high tide elevations along the portion of the creek that is within RICC property by approximately 0.8 ft. Considering the relatively low existing elevations along many of the fairway holes, and the fact that the golf course has experienced measurable subsidence in the past, it was clear that any creek restoration effort would need to include a golf course improvement component. Improvements to the golf course included raising the grade in several areas, replacing all of the cart path bridges that cross the creek, and installing new drainage features to combat the saturated soil conditions that have impaired the playability of many areas of the course. This article provides an overview of existing conditions in the creek, the proposed restoration project, and the anticipated effects of the project. Also discussed are the various engineering issues that were addressed, including the expected subsidence of soils within the RICC property, the need to improve drainage of the golf course surface soils, and numerous complications due to performing a major earthworks and dredging project within a coastal private country club.