South Portland Middle School sixth grader Baeddan Norton releases brook trout at the Trout Brook Nature Preserve along with his classmates in May. The city just received a federal grant to help improve the health of Trout Brook. The students had been raising brook trout and learning about their life cycle, habitat requirements, and aquatic insects. Shawn Patrick Ouellette / Portland Press Herald

The city of South Portland received a $272,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s National Coastal Resilience Fund to enhance Trout Brook’s environmental infrastructure. The funding will support engineering designs for five key culvert upgrades implementing “Stream Smart” crossings, according to a press release from the city. These structures will enable natural flow of sediment, debris and fish during extreme weather events while preventing structural damage and local flooding. It will also help restore Trout Brook to a more natural waterway, moving away from its current function as an urban drainage system.

The grant will also fund designs for strategic green infrastructure installations throughout the watershed, implementing stormwater treatment systems to filter polluted runoff before it reaches Trout Brook. Additionally, the funding supports the development of a restoration plan for Sawyer Marsh, addressing legacy impacts from agricultural ditching operations conducted before the 1940s.

These initiatives, which will be implemented next year, align with the city’s Trout Brook Watershed Management Plan, which serves as a comprehensive restoration guide, outlining strategies to counter development-related impacts that currently prevent Trout Brook from meeting water quality standards.

“Thanks to (the Water Resource Protection Department’s) smart and strategic work, our Trout Brook improvement project is one of only two projects in the state to receive this highly sought-after funding,” said City Manager Scott Morelli in the release. “This award is an important step in our coastal resiliency efforts and will result in stronger infrastructure, cleaner waterways, and a healthier natural environment in South Portland.”