West Branch Brook

August 08, 2018

West Branch Brook is a headwater tributary of the Narraguagus River. The Beddington Lake Hydrologic Unit has been assessed as the top priority focus area for Atlantic salmon restoration in the Narraguagus River. The 30-00-0 road crossing of West Branch Brook was the largest road crossing project identified within the focus area. It had been assessed as a velocity barrier to upstream migration of multiple species of fish. This culvert has been on Project SHARE’s radar for quite some time.

A longitudinal profile of the culvert was measured on December 19, 2013. The importance of this culvert is that replacing it with a correctly sized open-bottom structure will allow access to over 137 units of juvenile Atlantic salmon habitat and 291 acres of alewife spawning habitat, some of the last unconnected habitat left in the Beddington Lake focus area .

Funding for replacement of this culvert, and others, was finally approved in 2017 and the planning began. Replacement began on July 30, 2018 and was completed on August 4, 2018. The approximately 11-foot diameter steel pipe was replaced with a 32-foot steel and concrete bridge.