Help improve the Mill River Sept. 14

Volunteers are needed on a major project that will improve trout habitat in the Mill River, one of the most valuable and storied wild trout streams in New England.

On Saturday, Sept. 14, the Nutmeg Chapter of Trout Unlimited, working with the Town of Fairfield, will reshape the Mill River along Congress Street. Once a meandering stream, the waterway was straightened due to development. Using a technique known as conifer revetment, turns and pools will be restored to a river known as one of the best wild brook trout habitats in Connecticut.

Trees were placed in the steam in August of 2018. Click here for a video from that day.

Work will begin at 10 a.m. on Sept. 14. Volunteers should park in the dirt area across Congress Street from the river. Please be careful crossing.

Bring gloves and be prepared to wade.

Those who wish to volunteer are asked to click here to RSVP to Nutmeg TU President Rich Rosen.

Conifer revetments use discarded natural Christmas trees to shore up the banks, collect sediment and reroute the river. Volunteers anchor now-dead evergreens in the water along the banks. There they will trap sediment and build up the bank, extending land into the water and creating a curve in the river.

In the fall of 2017, the Nutmeg Chapter received a grant from the Embrace A Stream program to support removal of invasive species and shoring up of the banks of the Mill River near the Easton-Fairfield border, along Congress Street in Fairfield.

Money was also raised when Nutmeg TU collaborated with the Candlewood Valley and Mianus chapters on showings of the Fly Fishing Film Tour earlier this year, as was done in 2017 and 2018.