$258,285 awarded from Aquatic Resource Mitigation Fund to restore and protect aquatic resources in Hillsborough

Concord, NH –The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) announced that the Governor and Executive Council recently approved an Aquatic Resource Mitigation (ARM) Fund project in Hillsborough for $258,285. The grant awarded to the Town of Hillsborough will allow restoration and protection of the 2.6-acre former Woods Woolen Mill site. Restoration efforts at this former industrial site will include the addition of topsoil and native plants to provide a natural habitat. The project will also re-connect floodplain to the Contoocook River, create riverbank and upland habitat and improve water quality at the former mill site.

The project reconnects two areas of state priority habitat identified in the New Hampshire Fish and Game (NHFG) Wildlife Action Plan (WAP). The project will protect and restore similar functions and values to what was lost in the Contoocook River watershed by the permanent impacts that generated the funds. This includes shoreline anchoring, wildlife and aquatic habitat, flood storage, sediment and nutrient retention and water quality. The project continues restoration efforts led by the Town of Hillsborough, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Removals Program, and the NHDES Brownfields Program. Once restoration is complete, the areas will be permanently protected, and additional public access will be enabled.

The ARM Fund Program manages mitigation funds paid to offset unavoidable impacts to aquatic resources. Competitive grants fund projects that restore, enhance and preserve aquatic resources and associated upland buffers across nine watersheds, also called service areas. More than $35 million in compensatory funds have supported more than 140 projects, including irreplaceable-resource preservation, aquatic barrier removal (culvert replacement and dam removal), and living shoreline projects since the program began in 2006. The goal of the program is to meet the federal goal of “no net loss” of functions and values of aquatic resources by supporting restoration, enhancement, and preservation.

For more information about the ARM Fund Program, please visit the website or email des.arm@des.nh.gov.