As the name of the chapter implies, our focus is on our home waters, the Squannacook and Nissitissit Rivers.
Both rivers are fine examples of well managed streams that offer angling through all seasons of the year.
Additionally, the rivers and their tributaries provide focal points for chapter projects and gatherings.
This project, in partnership with Massachusetts Department of Ecological Restoration (MassDER) , Trout Unlimited Sqaun-a-Tissit Chapter and the Town of Pepperell, focuses on plans to remove a small dam and upgrade a stream crossing in the Keyes-Parker Conservation Area to benefit Eastern brook trout and other species. This project will contribute to the climate change resilience of the Sucker Brook system.
On Friday, Jan 11, Squan-a-Tissit Chapter board members, M. Rosser, R. Schott, and D. Armstrong met with Mass-DER (Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration) Dam Removal Specialist Nick Wildman and Pepperell ConsCom agent Paula Terrasi for a site visit at the Keyes-Parker Conservation Area in Pepperell, MA. The Squan-a-Tissit Chapter and the Town of Pepperell recently (12/18) received a Priority Project Status from Mass-DER to help with the removal of a dam and the replacement of a culvert on the Keyes-Parker Property in Pepperell. Upon receiving a Priority Projects designation the chapter is now eligible for DER technical services, including data collection, engineering, design work, permitting, project management and grants. The goal of removing the dam is to improve stream connectivity to improve habitat for brook trout and the endangered Brook Floater mussel, which relies on brook trout for part of their reproductive cycle. The Brook floater only occurs in a few streams in Massachusetts. You may have seen signs discussing the Brook Floater on signs posted along the Nissitissit. After the site visit at The Keys conservation area, the group decided to visit other areas of interest that the chapter has been monitoring as possible restoration projects such as the Sucker Brook culvert on Brookline Street where a drop off the culvert creates an aquatic wildlife barrier. While the group was in that area they also visit a previous restoration project by Squan-a-Tissit TU at the mouth of Sucker Brook. The group then ended their fieldtrip at a site on Gulf Brook to discuss the potential or a future project to remove a breached dam downstream of Lawrence Street. The Chapter is excited to have these new projects starting up to help To protect, re-connect, and restore our local waters !
A gallery of Squan-a-Tissit Conservation Success Stories
By the next generation, Trout Unlimited will ensure that robust populations of native and wild coldwater fish once again thrive within their North American range, so that our children can enjoy healthy fisheries in their home waters.
With all the revisions, additions, and deletions we strived to honor the original format as conceived by Fran Smith, Brian Tucholke, and all the original contributors. The guide when it first came out was considered by many, to be the best of its type in the country and the impressive quantity that were printed, bears this out. In fact, much of the information in the original edition required no alteration and has been reproduced in this revision. However, one major change is that the guide is not digitally formatted. The original editions were of the cut-paste and printing plate type that, while being the best technology of the day, severely limited ones options for revisions and reprints. Now, future guides can be revised and sent electronically to printers.
Most importantly, the ultimate purpose of this book is to provide funding so the chapters and council can pursue our interests in our cold water resources and perpetuate our fisheries.
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