Projects to Benefit Trout and Salmon Completed in Vermont

Rainbow Trout from Johns River. Photo/Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.

Three conservation projects that will improve angler access and protect fish habitats were recently completed in Vermont.

Salmon, photo courtesy Memphremagog Watershed Association.

Three parcels at important locations in Vermont’s Barton and Clyde River Watersheds are now permanently protected for fish habitat, flood resilience, and public access thanks to a collaboration between the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and the Memphremagog Watershed Association.

“Protecting these parcels will make sure wild trout and salmon can continue to reach to miles of connected habitat,” said Pete Emerson, a Fish Biologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. “The total protected acreage across these projects is small, but that is a bit of a red herring. Much more important is the strategic placement of this new conservation land along the Barton and Clyde Rivers and their feeder streams.”

In East Charleson, the half-acre Whitcomb-Bebell parcel protects the intersection of Churchill Brook and the Clyde River. The parcel adds to the department’s Clyde River Streambank Management Area and provides public access to Churchill Brook and its wild brook trout.

Brook Trout, photo courtesy Memphremagog Watershed Association.

In Glover, the three-quarter-acre Brooks parcel protects the top of the Barton River, providing expanded access to Clark Pond and offering opportunities for streambank management to benefit wild brook trout. The property shares a boundary with the department’s Clark Pond Access Area and completes a one-and-a-half-mile stretch of public access as part of the Barton River Streambank Management Area.

In Morgan, the eight-acre Cargill parcel protects the confluence of Sucker Brook and Valley Brook, two major tributaries to Lake Seymour. The streams support wild brook and brown trout, as well as landlocked Atlantic salmon. A five-year partnership between the department and the Seymour Lake Association restored rainbow smelt, an important food source for salmon and trout, to these waters.

Funding for the three acquisitions, as well as for four parcels along the Johns River in Derby that were added to the department’s Johns River Streambank Management Area this past fall, was provided by the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission and Vermont Housing and Conservation Board.