Stewardship – Page 3

Bioengineering at Mink Brook

May 1, 2014

UVLT's Jason Berard installs willow stakes at Mink Brook - May, 2014 — UVLT’s Jason Berard installs willow stakes at Mink Brook – May, 2014

When Tropical Storm Irene blasted through our region a few years ago, it altered the path of Mink Brook here in the preserve, most visibly just above the log bridge. The stream abandoned one channel and the force of the current moved north, creating new erosion that we have monitored ever since. In 2014, we installed a “bio-engineering” project to restore stream-side habitat and slow erosion. In April, our volunteers cut stakes of live willow at Birch Meadow Farm in Fairlee (a riverfront farm conserved by the Upper Valley Land Trust) and kept them dormant in a snowbank on the north side of a Lyme barn. Weeks later, when conditions were right, the stakes were driven into the eroded streambank. They are now beginning to sprout! Their roots and shoots should help knit the bank together, protecting water quality by settling sediment, reducing erosion, and shading the water to keep it cool, and providing habitat for perching birds and cover for brook trout – naturally.

Invasive Species Treatment at Mink Brook

May 14, 2012

As part of an on-going project with the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Hanover Conservancy has conducted a treatment to control invasive Japanese Knotweed along the corridor of Mink Brook in the Mink Brook Nature Preserve. A special permit has been issued for this work, carried out by a licensed professional under the supervision of our eco-forester, Ehrhard Frost. Our project is funded by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Aggressive non-native plants like Japanese knotweed, honeysuckle, bittersweet, and glossy buckthorn steal habitat from native plants and wildlife. We are in the middle of a three-year project to control them.

In the spring of 2012, we began the next phase of this project, replanting with 2000 native trees and shrubs that are well-adapted to growing conditions at Mink Brook Nature Preserve.

Wild Brook Trout at Mink Brook

July 13, 2011

The Mink Brook watershed, Hanover’s largest, harbors healthy populations of wild brook trout, even in some of its smallest tributaries. Fisheries biologists from New Hampshire’s Fish and Game Department, working with volunteers from Trout Unlimited, the Conservancy’s Mink Brook Stewardship Committee, and Hanover students conducted a thorough study of the Mink Brook watershed in July, 2011.

The study is part of the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, a region-wide effort looking at habitat for wild brook trout. At Mink Brook, biologists examined details of each section’s habitat characteristics, measured water temperature, and recorded the length, weight, and species of each fish captured. Fish were “borrowed” from the water by electro-fishing – a wand sending a weak electric current through the water temporarily stuns the fish, which can then be scooped up with a net and transferred to a bucket for study. All fish were returned to the brook after their brief examination.

Mink Brook is among the streams under study by Dartmouth for survival of young Atlantic salmon, and a number of young salmon turned up.

Bioengineering at Mink Brook

Invasive Species Treatment at Mink Brook

Wild Brook Trout at Mink Brook

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