Ten Mile River advocacy- Working toward a cleaner watershed

The history of Ten Mile River Advocacy goes back to 1990. That year, a movement was started in Attleboro to protect the land and the water. The Attleboro Land Trust formed alongside the Ten Mile River Watershed Alliance. Founded by Don Doucette, Clyde Sprague and others, the TMRWA thrived for several years, organizing large cleanups, guided walks, dreaming of long distance hiking trails, and helping to preserve the Larson Woodland in Attleboro in the late 1990s. The TMRWA existed in a time when social media had not been invented and the internet was still new. The word was harder to get out. By the early 2000s, the momentum stopped and the TMRWA went quiet in 2003. For a few years, nobody would speak for our river.

In 2006, Keith Gonsalves, an avid kayaker and nature lover from East Providence RI gathered some people to form the Ten Mile River Watershed Council. The TMRWC worked to protect the lower river and was recognized by the Rhode Island Rivers Council as the official dedicated council for the river in Rhode Island. The TMRWC held many guided hikes and paddles throughout the years and is best known as the local organization that advocated for fish ladders to restore the herring run to the lower river. The TMRWC acted as trail stewards for Hunts Mills in East Providence. 

In 2018, Ben Cote and Don Doucette reformed the former Ten Mile River Watershed Alliance as Friends of the Ten Mile River Watershed. The goal was to speak for the watershed in Massachusetts. The advocacy of the original organization was continued and the Friends advocated for flood mitigation, wetland protection, river cleanups, guided hikes and paddles, and became members of the Massachusetts Rivers Alliance to have a better voice at the state level in Massachusetts. 

In 2026, members of Friends and TMRWC merged under one umbrella to better protect the entire watershed. In doing so, the legacy of both groups is preserved. The Friends Facebook page and the TMRWC Facebook group still continue to operate. The organization continues to hold large cleanups in the upper watershed and is working to restore the Greenway Stewards that were in place in the lower watershed. 

The Friends of the Ten Mile River + Watershed Council also work with groups in Attleboro, North Attleboro and Plainville to protect the river in those areas and are advisors in flood mitigation in all 3 towns as we prepare for changing weather patterns and a changing climate. We are strong supporters of preserving the water supplies for these towns and the removal of invasive plant species in and around our waterways such as Water Chestnuts and Japanese Knotweed. We are partners with RI DEM on a lake management plan for Central Pond and Turner Reservoir in East Providence and volunteer annually for the herring count at the Hunts Mills Falls.