WOOLWICH
The Kennebec Estuary Land Trust and the town of Woolwich received $30,262 from the Coastal Communities Planning Grant fund last week to restore the Nequasset fishway.
The fishway is located off George Wright Road near Nequasset Road. It permits adult alewives to run into Nequasset Lake to spawn, and the juvenile alewives to safely get down to the sea a couple of months later.
The funds will go to purchase construction materials. The fishway consists of a concrete pool and ladder,dating from 1955. Currently, the baffles on the ladder are made of wood, which need to be rebuilt every year. The funds will pay for aluminum baffles.
However, the funding does not include the costs of labor to do the work, Alicia Heyburn of Kennebec Estuary Land Trust said.
“It was a generous award, but it’s not the full amount we need,” she said. “We will need a new viewing platform as well. That’s still very much of a desire.”
She said that the platform would be part of the the next phase of development.
KELT has an application in to the National Fish and Wildlife Federation, and is expecting to hear whether their preliminary application has been accepted, and whether they will be invited to submit a full application, in the next several weeks.
In the meantime, the process of replacing the fishway is moving forward.
The engineering has been done by Wright Pierce Engineering, and all permits have been acquired for the project.
“Bids are going out soon,” Heyburn said. “Construction will begin in June, just after the spring fish run.”
There is a six-week timetable for the project. Because the juveniles return to the sea in August and September, the work must be completed by then.
Private contributions are also being solicited.
“One man made a donation and said that he is helping out because cod are his favorite fish,” she said. “He knows that alewives are the primary food source for Gulf of Maine cod.”
Tax deductible contributions can be made to KELT, and earmarked for the fishway project.
Some funding will also come from the Bath Water District, which is the owner of the dam and the fish ladder. The town of Woolwich was the applicant for the grant, and KELT is managing the project.
In the spring, KELT will do its last pre-restoration fish count. They hope to see improvement in the numbers after the project is built.
“Come down and see a great migration without having to go to Africa to see the wildebeest,” Heyburn said. “And help count fish.”
In the past, KELT has had help with the fish count from students at Chewonki and Hyde Schools, and the general public.
In addition to the Woolwich fishway, Coastal Communities grants were also made to Augusta and Bristol for restoration of alewife runs, to Brunswick for a community project to remove invasive green crabs, to Damariscotta for an engineering study on coastal hazards, and to Washington County Council of Governments to help working waterfronts prepare for climate change.
ghamilton@timesrecord.com
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