Helicopter-assisted Large Wood Additions, Narraguagus River, TWP 34, ME
Applicant: Project SHARE
Amount funded: $45,356
Total contributions leveraged: $120,846
This project will add wood complexity to a 0.42-mile reach of the mainstem Narraguagus River, assisting with remediation of legacy log driving effects on a Downeast coastal river. This project will provide necessary physical features that promotes instream habitat complexity that native salmonids need to complete their lifecycle and for their populations to thrive. The wood additions willl occur in a cold-water influenced reach in the upper mainstem of the Narraguagus river where there is not a convenient source of trees along the riparian buffer and there is not a local access point for trucking wood in from off-site. Project SHARE has reached an agreement with the Maine Army National Guard (Guard) for helicopter assistance to transport wood material to the restoration site. The Guard will use this partnership as a training opportunity for its pilots and crews. SHARE staff will use the wood material to constructs PALS to increase habitat complexity in the reach. This project will be the first of its kind in designated Atlantic salmon critical habitat.
Project SHARE has been working with many partners, including Maine FWCO, US Forest Service, and has successfully completed projects with EBTJV funding in the past. SHARE has already completed every connectivity project in this watershed, and now is focused on mainstem complexity. This particular proposal not only addresses the remaining need for wild brook trout and Atlantic salmon in this watershed, but proposes a new transport methodology that allows the placement of large wood in ideal cold water refugia locations that are currently inaccessible by roads and trails.
MeFWCO and Project SHARE, after several years of effort, have obtained helicopter support from the Maine Army National Guard. MeFWCO provided Maine Army National Guard a recently completed NEPA analysis (Categorical Exclusion) for ongoing large wood additions in the Upper Narraguagus River. The Private Land Manager (American Forest Management) allows Maine Army National Guard to access their land and has approved the project.
The scientific basis for this project is well documented and there is a full, separate monitoring and evaluation plan.
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