Dam removals to restore brook trout habitat in Connecticut River tributaries
Mary Serreze | Special to The Republican
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]even small dams in the upper Connecticut River basin will be demolished, opening 140 miles of Eastern brook trout spawning habitat in New Hampshire and Vermont.
The project by the Connecticut River Watershed Council is supported by a $199,165 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in partnership with Eversource Energy, the parties recently announced.
Two of the dams are in southern Vermont — in Wilmington on Cold Brook, and off East West Road in Dummerston on a tributary of the West River.
Other Vermont dams are on the Charles Brown Brook in Norwich, on the Ompompanoosuc River in West Fairlee, and on the Passumpsic River East Burke. In New Hampshire, two dams will come down on the Clark Brook in North Haverhill.
“We believe removing old dams that are no longer serving a useful purpose is the best and most cost-effective way to restore the cold water tributaries of the Connecticut River,” said watershed council director Andrew Fisk.
The council also received grants from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the Conservation Alliance, American Rivers, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and local sources to help pay for assessments, engineering plans, state historic preservation work, and actual deconstruction and removal.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation protects and restores the nation’s fish, wildlife, plants, and habitats. Working with federal agencies, corporations, foundations and individual partners, the foundation has committed more than $3.5 billion to conservation projects since 1984.
NOTE: Featured Image – Dam removal in New Hampshire and Vermont aims to restore cold water fisheries. (Goldman Luther, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
