BROWNSVILLE – The Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission (SWCRPC) and the Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC) announced on Wednesday the successful removal of a concrete dam on Mill Brook, located behind the West Windsor Volunteer Fire Department on Route 44 in Brownsville, Vermont.
SWCRPC and CRC partnered on this river restoration project in order to restore fish passage. Removal of the dam opens 26 miles of stream to aquatic organism passage, including native brook trout. The project also will improve water quality and reduce water temperatures in Mill Brook, all according to a press release.
The concrete dam, which was originally built to impound water for snowmaking withdrawals at the Ascutney Mountain Resort, was removed and replaced by a series of in-stream rock weirs (or steps) to allow for fish passage and at the same time ensure capacity for firefighting withdrawals.
“This dam removal was identified as a priority and SWCRPC reached out to the Town for approval to remove it in order to improve water quality in Mill Brook,” SWCRPC Assistant Planner Chris Yurek, who coordinated the project, said in a press release. “CRC was happy to partner on this project and we look forward to wrapping up the restoration this fall with tree plantings at the site,” said CRC River Steward Ron Rhodes.
Funding for this project was provided by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation’s Ecosystem Restoration Program (ERP), the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife via a Watershed Grant, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Fish Passage Program, and the High Meadows Fund.
SWCRPC is a compact of 10 municipalities in southeastern Vermont, founded in the late 1960s. The 10 member towns are Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish, Chester, Ludlow, Reading, Springfield, Weathersfield, West Windsor, and Windsor.
CRC is a membership-based nonprofit working to protect the watershed of the Connecticut River from source to sea through on-the-ground projects, public education and advocacy. To learn more or to support local rivers, visit www.ctriver.org.
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