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NORWAY — The Twin Bridges stream crossing, a project of the Western Foothills Land Trust, was completed in October, a long-awaited move that will help Crooked River landlocked salmon and brook trout have another mile of spawning habitat available.
The work was made possible after the Clean Water for Maine bond was passed by voters in 2014, which earmarked $5,400,000 for vital improvement projects including stream crossing and culvert upgrades.
Projects that came under the bond were to benefit public infrastructure by replacing failing culverts, open up fish spawning habitat, eliminate undersized and other impassable culverts and reduce erosion impacts to streams, brooks, and lakes.
The Western Foothills Land Trust, which had just purchased three working forests parcels within the Crooked River watershed when the bond was passed, was awarded money to upgrade a logging trail crossing on on the 252-acre Twin Bridges parcel in Otisfield. The site includes a mile of frontage on the river and a section of a significant tributary stream that runs from Little Pond.
The crossing included two repurposed pipe culverts that were undersized and hanging and would have blocked upstream passage for any aquatic species, most likely for decades, the trust said in a news release.
The trust had already worked with the local Natural Resources Council office on a hanging culvert at its Roberts Farm Preserve in Norway. The culvert was replaced by a steel span /concrete decked bridge designed and installed by Dirigo Timberlands of Anson, via a cost-share contract. Dirigo was also chosen for the Twin Bridges crossing.
Removal of the culverts and replacement with the steel and concrete bridge were completed in less than two working days in October, and storms that droped 8 inches of rain “tested the new crossing, and it passed with flying colors, the broad span of the new bridge easily accommodated the torrents that have done so much damage throughout the state,” the release said.
Other plans for the site, working with the Otisfield Conservation Commission, are demonstration forests, recreational trails, preserve signs, a kiosk and a potential parking area
The Western Foothills Land Trust and conservation partners in the Crooked River Watershed, continue to work towards increasing the pace of forest conservation within the Sebago Lake Watershed, with the overall goal of protecting drinking water quality in the Sebago Lake reservoir. The restoration of this fishery is part of that greater work, the release said.
