The Rhode Island Country Club received an environmental achievement award Tuesday, May 6, at the Save The Bay Annual Meeting for its work on restoring Big Mussachuck Creek.

"Under the supervision of golf course superintendent Peter Lund and club vice president David Piccerelli — with significant technical and financial support from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Save The Bay, and other federal and state agencies — the Rhode Island Country Club board undertook the extensive and costly task of restoring 165 acres of fish spawning habitat and over 10 acres of salt marsh habitat," stated a release from Save The Bay.

The project involved replacing a tide gate, installing a fish ladder, elevating and re-grading fairways, planting thousands of salt marsh grasses, and dredging the mouth of the creek.

Big Mussachuck Creek, a tidal tributary to Narragansett Bay, runs directly through the RICC property. Over time, Big Mussachuck Creek had filled with silt, and the tide gate under Washington Road was in disrepair, restricting the tidal flow. Growth of the common invasive reed, Phragmites, was leading to degradation of the Mussachuck Creek salt marsh and to loss of habitat for fish and wading birds. River herring weren't able to reach their spawning habitat in Echo Lake and Brickyard Pond.

This project was first identified by Save The Bay and Mr. Lund. Beginning in 1996 the initial plans for restoration were developed. The Big Mussachuck Creek project was carried out through several phases over the past 12 years, starting with the Echo Lake fish ladder, which was completed in 1999, and most recently with the restoration of the salt marsh completed in 2007.