Plans Afoot to Restore Housatonic River After PCB Damage

The proposed project could improve habitat for Burbot, a state-listed endangered species, and provide high, sustainable ecological and recreational benefits when unobstructed fish passage is restored to nine miles of the Blackberry River.

Fish passage will be sustainable without need for human intervention following construction, says the Department of Environmental Protection's Inland Fisheries Division, which estimates the cost of the Blackberry River Fish Passage Restoration at $500,000.

The project is on the recommended "short list" of proposals to restore natural resources in Connecticut's Housatonic River Basin that was issued last week.

After months of sorting through 92 proposals, the Natural Resource Trustee SubCouncil for Connecticut presented a list of 31 proposals for funding acquired in a settlement with General Electric, GE, in 1999.

The settlement included $7.5 million for projects in Connecticut aimed at restoring, rehabilitating or acquiring the equivalent of the natural resources and recreational uses of the Housatonic River that were injured by the release of PCBs from the General Electric facility in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

That fund has now grown to just over $9 million.

The total cost of the 31 proposals on the short list is estimated at around $12.5 million. This is $3.5 million more than the approximately $9 million in grant money that is available.

Eight of the 31 proposals deal with aquatic natural resources, nine address riparian and floodplain resources, and 15 are to enhance recreational services.

The proposals on the short list will now undergo further detailed analysis by a consultant who will make an even shorter list that will fit within the available funding.

Connecticut's Housatonic River (Photo courtesy Housatonic River Basin)

The total request in the aquatic category is $1,942,354.

The most expensive item on the Aquatic Natural Resources grant short list is the Trout Unlimited Salmon Kill Restoration and Enhancement $617,260.

This would enhance the riparian corridors and instream habitat of 1.8 miles of Salmon Kill Creek by installing instream habitat structures, stabilizing streambanks, and increasing the vegetation in the riparian buffer.

Also on the short list for a Aquatic Natural Resources grant is the Transylvania Brook Culvert Crossing at East Flat Hill Road estimated at $480,000.

This project proposes to replace a perched twin pipe culvert that prevents fish passage and to stabilize stream embankments directly upstream from the culverts that are currently experiencing a significant erosion problem.

The use of these funds is the responsibility of the Natural Resource Trustee SubCouncil for Connecticut, known as the Connecticut SubCouncil.

This body includes members from the natural resource trustees from the state of Connecticut, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In addition, the commissioner of environmental protection formed the Connecticut Trustee's Advisory Group to provide the DEP with input from specific regional interest groups including recreational, environmental, planning and governmental organizations.

The short list of proposals can be found on the project website.

The public will have until January 4, 2008 to submit written comments regarding the recommended short list. Comments should be sent to: Laura Fontanella, DEP/IFD, 79 Elm St., Hartford, CT 06106. Verbal comments on the report will be accepted at the January 22, 2008 public meeting at 7:00 p.m. at Kent Town Hall.

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