For the first time in more than 100 years, herring are making their way up the Woonasquatucket River in Providence.

Workers for the state Department of Environmental Management stocked 600 fish last week that were captured in the Pawcatuck River near Potter Hill in Westerly.

Alicia Lehrer and Lisa Aurecchia of the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council were given the honor of placing the first fish in the river with a net.

The introduction is part of an effort that is going on around Narragansett Bay. Various organizations are working together to construct fish ladders and remove dams left from the Industrial Revolution.

“We’re trying to reopen all the urban rivers,” said Lehrer, the new executive director of the watershed council. Lehrer, a Providence resident, previously worked for 10 years as district manager for the Southern Rhode Island Conservation District in Wakefield.

In her new job, Lehrer’s goal is to help restore the Woonasquatucket River and the greenway that runs along its shores.

The restoration work this year is focusing on opening the river to spawning herring. So far a fish ladder has been constructed at the Rising Sun Mills in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence. Lehrer said the herring are using the ladder to get over the dam there.

This summer a second fish ladder will be built at the dam at the Atlantic Mills in Olneyville, and the dam at the Paragon Mills will be removed.

Two other dams will also be removed during the current phase of work.

Last week the herring were introduced by staff from the watershed council, the DEM and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service.

The hope is that the herring will return to the river next year and spawn. It is estimated that bypassing five dams could provide enough spawning habitat to support 40,000 herring.

More work is still to be done upriver.

EPA honors river volunteers

Volunteer groups in Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts were honored for their work by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during ceremonies on Earth Day at Faneuil Hall in Boston.

The Blackstone River Watershed Council/Friends of the Blackstone was recognized for its work to restore the Blackstone River, including installation of a fish passage that will lead to return of anadromous fish to the river after an absence of 215 years.

Frank Matta, Sandra Belliveau, Alice Clemente, Frank Geary and John Marsland were presented the Gold Award, the President’s Volunteer Service Award.

“Countless volunteer hours were spent in monitoring the water quality of the Blackstone River and leading river cleanup events that removed over 10,000 tires and cleaned a stretch of the river from Pawtucket to Woonsocket,” the EPA said.

Also honored were the Kickemuit River Council and the Taunton River Watershed Alliance for their efforts to protect Mount Hope Bay.

The two groups helped support strict new limits that state and federal officials imposed on the Brayton Point Station power plant to reduce the amount of heated water it discharges into the bay.

“Despite limited staff, the two groups played a central role in the appeals process and negotiations,” the EPA wrote.

“Their advocacy ensured that their intimate knowledge of the rivers in their backyards played a part in the EPA decision making. Although others were involved, these two groups exemplify what can be accomplished by ordinary citizens at a grass-roots level.

“The new permit will save billions of fish eggs, larvae and fish. At the same time, it will help restore the estuary, which includes the Kickemuit and Taunton rivers,” the EPA wrote.

The State House will be cooking

Rhode Island’s $100-million agriculture industry will be celebrated Tuesday from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the State House, with 34 exhibits and a wide selection of food samples.

Rhode Island Agriculture Day is being organized by the state Department of Environmental Management’s Division of Agriculture on behalf of the state’s 858 farms.

Exhibitors will include farms, land trusts, government agencies and nonprofit groups that work with farmers.

Food samples will include stuffed quahogs from Dave’s Marketplace, oysters from the Ocean State Aquaculture Association, jonnycakes from the Kenyon Corn Meal Co., egg sandwiches and Del’s lemonade from Little Rhody Foods, Rhody Fresh milk from the Rhode Island Dairy Farms Cooperative and Arruda Dairy’s flavored milk and cookies from the Rhode Island State Grange.

There will also be maple sugar from Charlie’s Sugarhouse, chocolate candy apples from Jaswell’s Farm, fudge from Confreda Farms, Cabot cheese from Agri-Mark, hot sauce and dips from Sauce on the Side Productions in Exeter and honey from the Rhode Island Beekeepers Association.

Survey to examine horse industry

A statewide survey designed to show more about the condition of Rhode Island’s horse population is being distributed by state veterinarian Scott Marshall, the nonprofit group The Santana Center, which helps horses, and the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“The purpose of this questionnaire is to provide some information about the size of the horse industry, and related support industries in Rhode Island,” the surveyors write.

“It has been speculated that the number or horses in the state is increasing while the number of other types of farm animals is decreasing. Supporting industries may range from feed suppliers, trainers, veterinarians and farriers to other service providers such as fencing contractors, builders and even trailer and auto dealerships that provide vehicles to transport these animals. ... This data will be used to address the needs of the industry.”

The survey is available at www.thesantanacenter.org

No questions will identify individuals. In addition to horses, the survey is looking for information on ponies, burros, donkeys and miniature horses.

The survey results will be posted on the Santana Web site.

Al Gore’s director to speak tomorrow

Davis Guggenheim, director and producer of the award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, will give a public lecture tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching at Brown University.

The talk “Can Movies Be an Agent for Social Change?” is the eighth annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture at Brown. The lectureship, sponsored by Brown and the Goldway/Shearer family, was established in memory of Casey Shearer, a young writer and sportscaster who died in 2000, days before he was to graduate from Brown.

The Environmental Journal is a listing of brief items about the actions of individuals, organizations and businesses that affect the air we breathe, the water we drink and the landscape that surrounds us. If you have suggestions, please contact environment reporter Peter B. Lord at (401) 277-8036, or by e-mail at plord@projo.com or by writing him, care of The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902.