Lamprey River wide range of valuable wildlife habitats. Its anadromous fishery is one of the strongest in the Great Bay watershed. Anadromous fish species that use the Lamprey River include shad, river herring, smelt and even Atlantic salmon. These fish are hatched in the river, then spend most of their lives out at sea, returning to the river to spawn. The fish species will move up the river as far as Durham, where they are prevented from moving further upstream by Wiswall Dam. The river is also rich in species of freshwater mussels. The river is managed by the New Hampshire Fish
Coonamesset River cranberry bogs that run to the rivers edge. Long ago nearly the entire river may have been bordered by red maple or white cedar swamp when the Wampanoag fished for herring. After European settlers arrived in 1660, the river was initially known as the Five Mile River. Philip Dexter located Falmouth's first grist mill at its mouth around 1700, and by 1795 there were three mills along the river with a corresponding decline in fisheries. A "herring war" began in 1798 with a bylaw giving an elected committee the right to remove any obstructions to allow fish free passage from