The Town of Wareham will receive $70,000 as part of a series of grants from the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program. 

The grant will fund feasibility and conceptual design work to support the replacement of a tidally restrictive culvert on Indian Neck Road at the Crooked River. It will also investigate the partial removal of a dike that restricts tidal exchange within the adjacent Jack’s Marsh. 

The replacement of these structures will support climate resilience goals by improving tidal exchange to 11 acres of marsh and facilitating future pathways for marsh migration to adjacent low-lying areas in the face of rising sea levels. 

Wareham will work with its partner the Buzzards Bay Coalition on the project. 

The grant is one of four grants awarded for a total of $182,897 in funding by the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program through the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Southeast New England program. The other municipalities awarded grants comprise Fairhaven, Marion and Westport. 

Senator Marc Pacheco said he was “pleased to see that Marion and Wareham will receive much needed funding for important water infrastructure projects. These funds will provide climate resilient benefits and help us to meet climate resilient goals.”