The Wrack

It’s that time of year… fall is in the air and (if you’re a brook trout) love is in the air too! October and November is prime spawning time for Eastern Brook Trout. They’ve been fattening up all summer on aquatic insects. Now the mature females have bellies full of eggs and are looking for a spots with cold, clear water and loose, clean gravel where they can make their nests, called redds.

Back in July, Wells Reserve staff and interns teamed up with volunteers from the Sebago Chapter of Trout Unlimited and bravely struck out on an ambitious survey of road-stream crossings in the Kennebunk River, Merriland River, and Branch Brook. The teams worked hard and surveyed an amazing 81 road-stream crossings in only three days!

I led one of the survey teams and let me tell you, that data was hard-earned! Once we had located a crossing, we had to battle thick brush, mud, poison ivy and steep slopes of riprap to reach the stream. To measure the length of a crossing, we sometimes had to crawl through a culvert from one end to the other, dodging spider webs along the way. Besides being a fun excuse to go crashing through woods and splashing through rivers, this survey was an important way to gather data that will be used by town planners, landowners, conservation groups, and other stakeholders to reconnect stream habitat in these watersheds.

I want to share some pictures that highlight some nice days for research throughout the local area, including the Saco River, the Merriland River, Branch Brook, the Little River Salt Marsh, and Big Daddy's Ice Cream.

Have you ever wondered what watershed conservation is all about?  Do you often consider where the water in your local river travels, and how its care affects your community and others down the river?  Here at the Wells Reserve we work with watershed conservation on a day-to-day basis.  Watersheds are areas of land which share a common feature—all water that flows above or underground drains to the same place.  The Saco River watershed connects diverse areas such as North Conway, NH, and Biddeford, ME.  The lives of the people who live within these areas are affected by the health—conservation—of their watershed.

Goal

Assess occurrence of migratory fish species in Branch Brook to establish a baseline prior to anticipated restoration and improvement of an inoperable fish ladder.