Rt. 9 Narraguagus Project
In 2019 SHARE staff and partners began planning for a habitat enhancement project in the Narraguagus River near the Route 9 crossing. The limiting factors that were to be addressed during this project were a lack of overwintering habitat, poor proximity to all the habitat types needed, and a lack of summer rearing/refuge habitat. To address these shortcomings the final project was to include construction of 10 in-stream boulder clusters, 3 off-channel groundwater pools, and 3 engineered log-jams along with reopening 2 side channels and building floodplain to narrow the mainstem channel.
In 2020 initial permitting and exploratory/test work was completed. The goal was to determine the depth of bedrock below the streambed in the mainstem. To accomplish this an excavator was used to dig test pits in the streambed and measuring how deep the bed could be dug. The target depth was 6 feet. Only 3 of the seven pits reached the 6-foot mark, the rest ranged from 1.5 to 5 feet deep. While the equipment was on site, 2 of the boulder clusters were constructed to observe their interaction with ice and high flows.
SHARE and the partners began work of Phase 2 of the project August 2021. The 2021 work involved improving access into the river and an adjacent groundwater-fed stream, excavating the 3 groundwater-fed pools, opening one of the side channels, and constructing 2 more boulder clusters. Late in the year construction materials were sourced from local landowners/managers and staged near the project area. Over 220 pine trees were harvested with their roots intact, 1,250 cubic yards of stone fill was hauled, and truckloads of commercially harvested pine pulp was purchased for use as construction materials in 2022.
2022 saw the remaining projects being completed. The engineered log jams were constructed along with the placement of 2 boulder clusters, construction of the wooded floodplain, and opening the second side channel. In leu of the remaining boulder clusters piles of excess wood were placed along the river-right bank to help force flow into the ELJs. Bob Gubernick, a geologist with the U.S. Forest Service, flew in to aid in project oversight since he has worked on many of these types of projects over the years.
In 2023, the project partners spent a few days planting a variety of native plants on and around the log jams and wooded floodplain.
