Shawsheen River

The Shawsheen River winds for about 25 miles through all or parts of 12 communities in northeastern Massachusetts before emptying into the Merrimack River in Lawrence. With the decline of its industrial base, and especially since passage of the Clean Water Act in the 1970s, local citizens have begun looking at the Shawsheen River as a resource for outdoor recreational opportunities such as canoeing, hiking, biking, fishing and sightseeing. However, it was difficult to find out where such opportunities existed and how to take advantage of them. The Massachusetts Division of Fish, Wildlife and Environmental Law Enforcement (Fish & Wildlife) established a goal of providing an easily-accessible and complete graphic representation of the various recreational opportunities along the Shawsheen River from its source to its mouth. Originally envisioned to be simply a hard copy map, an interactive web-based version was also needed to encourage maximum distribution and usage. Both versions would need to be easy to use.