Exit 31 Restoration Project on the Pemigewassett

Project at a glance

This project represents the largest and most involved project the chapter has undertaken to date. Presently we are in the implementation phase of a restoration plan for approximately 2900 feet of the Pemigewasset River in Woodstock, NH, west of Exit 31 off I-93. This area of the river is listed as impaired per NH Department of Environmental Services definitions and is characterized by on-going bank erosion leading to widening of the river channel and formation of multiple channels. In turn this degrades the cold water fisheries habitat. (see the full executive summary)

Preparation of the restoration plan was funded under a NH Department of Environmental Services Watershed Restoration Grant awarded to the chapter in 2003. The implementation project is being funded by NH DES, the NH State Conservation Commission, Davis Conservation Foundation and others pending. Todd Baldwin, past chapter president, was the key leader in spearheading this project for the chapter. In turn the chapter is participating with volunteers and other organizations, as well as state and federal agencies to achieve the following goals: stabilization of the rivers flow, reduction of bank erosion and land loss, enhancement of the in-stream and off channel fisheries habitat and restoration of a former 30 acre pond which has filled into a 19 acre spring fed pond.

Update 10/27/09:  Work is nearly completed on the upper Pemi River restoration project.  This marks the culmination of 5+ years of hard work by the chapter but mainly by Todd Baldwin, past president, who has nutured this from the beginning.  All total this project was near $450,000 in cost and resulted in stabilization of river bank, restoration of the main channel, work to control future bank erosion and land loss, enhancement of fish habitat and restoration of a former 30 acre pond fed by a cold water aquifer that will help maintain healthy water temperatures that trout thrive in.

Please see the gallery for additional photos.