Audubon Connecticut's Wetland In lieu Fee (ILF) Program allowed for the continuation of a multiphase project initiated by Trout Unlimited (TU) to restore reaches of the Salmon Kill, a low order upper perennial watercourse in northwestern Connecticut.

Restoration measures were needed to address habitat fragmentation issues for native Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) – a keystone coldwater fishery species for a reach of this riverine system in Salisbury, CT. The landowner is the Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust and the adjacent pasture is leased to a cattle farmer who raises grass-fed beef and is supportive of the project.

Seven discrete reaches of the Salmon Kill Creek are in various stages of restoration.  Prior to the application to the ILF program, construction at Sites 1 and 6 had not yet commenced due to lack of funding.

Trout Unlimited acquired $122,000 of ILF Program funding to implement the proposed restoration measures at Sites 1 and 6 - two reaches of the stream that bisect agricultural lands used as cattle pastures. At both Sites 1 and 6, various wood treatments, plantings, and channel modifications were funded by the ILF program. These treatments provided stabilization of bank erosion, and provided habitat cover and other stream attributes conducive to coldwater fisheries. These attirbutes serve to improve the habitat not only for a wild population of the native Brook Trout but also for Brown Trout (Salmo trutta - a Greatest Conservation Need species in CT) and the state special concern Slimy Sculpin (Cottus cognatus) also known to occur within the Salmon Kill Creek.

Completed: 2018          Project Proponent: Trout Unlimited          ILF Funding: $122,000