Three parcels at important locations in the Barton and Clyde River Watersheds are now permanently protected for fish habitat, flood resilience and public access thanks to a collaboration between the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and the Memphremagog Watershed Association.

“Protecting these parcels will make sure wild trout and salmon can continue to reach to miles of connected habitat,” said Pete Emerson, a Fish Biologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. “The total protected acreage across these three projects is small, but that is a bit of a red herring. Much more important is the strategic placement of these new conservation properties along the Barton and Clyde Rivers and their feeder streams.”

In East Charlson, the half-acre Whitcomb-Bedell parcel protects the confluence of Churchill Brook and the Clyde River. Owned for more than 100 years by the Whitcomb-Bedell family, the parcel adds to the department’s Clyde River Streambank Management Area and provides public access to Churchill Brook and opportunities to fish for the wild brook trout that call the waterway home.

In Glover, the three quarter-acre Brooks parcel protects the upper Barton River, providing expanded access to Clark Pond and offering opportunities for streambank management to benefit wild brook trout. The property shares a boundary with the department’s Clark Pond Access Area and completes a one-and-a-half-mile stretch of public access as part of the Barton River Streambank Management Area.

In Morgan, the eight-acre Cargill parcel protects the confluence of Sucker Brook and Valley Brook, two major tributaries to Lake Seymour. The streams support wild brook and brown trout, as well as landlocked Atlantic salmon. A five-year partnership between the department and the Seymour Lake Association also restored rainbow smelt, an important food source for trout and salmon, to these waters.

“Beyond their value for wild trout and salmon, each of these parcels expands public access and offers opportunities for management to enhance flood resilience,” said Patrick Hurley of the Memphremagog Watershed Association. “The parcels include acres of floodplain habitat, intact wetlands, and potential to restore areas eroded by this past year’s extreme flood.”

Funding for the three acquisitions, as well as for four parcels along the Johns River in Derby that were added to the department’s Johns River Streambank Management Area this past fall, was provided by the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission and Vermont Housing and Conservation Board.