Concord, NH - The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Aquatic Resource Mitigation ("ARM") Program has awarded funding from the Aquatic Resource Mitigation Fund for thirteen projects totaling $2,231,700.

The NHDES ARM Fund, established by law, is a mitigation option for certain projects impacting wetlands and not able to provide other forms of mitigation. An ARM Fund Site Selection Committee is charged with identifying proposals to be funded by selecting high priority projects that most effectively compensate for the loss of functions and values from the projects that paid into the Fund. According to the law, the projects determined to be appropriate for receipt of ARM Fund monies are subject to approval by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the NH Wetlands Council.

UpState Projects receiving funds include:

Androscoggin River Service Area:
$61,000 to permanently protect 6.6 acres of land to add to the Milan Community Forest, which will be protected through a conservation easement. A management plan will be written with an objective for habitat protection. The proposed acquisition is located on the Androscoggin River with approximately 420 feet of river frontage. Approximately 13% of the parcel is in the 100 year flood plain.

Lower Connecticut River Service Area:
$362,385 for the fee acquisition of 995 acres of the Smith Pond Shaker Forest property in Enfield. The property contains 114.5 acres of wetlands, 16,900 linear feet of perennial stream and 13,100 linear feet of intermittent streams. This represents almost 6 miles of stream habitat and 5.2 miles of stream-bank on perennial streams. The remote 68 acre Smith Pond is the stunning wetland centerpiece of the property, and it is surrounded by other high quality wetlands and mature forest. Intact forested buffers will cover at least 370 acres of the property and over the long term should provide the highest quality context for all of the wetlands and streams, particularly as natural levels of course woody debris are added to the various ecosystems.

Middle Connecticut River Service Area:
$100,000 to conserve 203 acres of forest land, 4,327 linear feet of frontage on the Ammonoosuc River, and over 7,500 linear feet of streams that drain across the site and into the Ammonoosuc including Black Brook and Barrett Brook, which are Order 1 and Order 2 streams. This section of the river represents the beginning of the upper section of the Ammonoosuc River which is extremely bouldery with rapids and is an excellent fresh water fishery. The site is located upstream from municipal water sources at Lisbon and Woodsville and nearly the entire area is within either the "Highest Ranked Habitat in the Biological Region" or supporting area according to the NH Fish and Game Wildlife Action Plan.

Upper Connecticut River Service Area:
$5,000 to complete aquatic restoration work in the Nash Stream watershed in the towns of Odell and Stratford. The Nash Stream restoration project is a phased, multi-year effort to restore channel processes and habitat quality/connectivity so that the watershed supports an intact aquatic ecosystem, including native coldwater fish. In this final phase Trout Unlimited will restore over two miles of instream and riparian habitat that was damaged by a catastrophic dam break and subsequent channel alteration and complete up to 13,580 linear feet (2.6 miles) of tributary wood replenishment in the East Branch.

For more information on the NHDES Aquatic Resource Mitigation Program, visit the NHDES website at www.des.nh.gov and use the A to Z list to find the program page or contact NHDES Mitigation Coordinator, Lori Sommer, at lori.sommer@des.nh.gov or (603) 271-4059.


Posted 12/03/15