The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) announced the approval of two Aquatic Resource Mitigation (ARM) Fund project grants totaling more than $275,000. The funds will replace a deficient culvert in Bath and conserve land in Tuftonboro.
The approvals included an amended Aquatic Resource Mitigation (ARM) Fund grant to Trout Unlimited, Concord, increasing the total grant amount from $111,500 to $241,930. These funds will be used to replace a deficient culvert on West Bath Road in Bath. The amendment also extends the project completion date to December 21, 2028.
Also approved was an ARM Fund grant to Moose Mountains Regional Greenways of Union, in the amount of $35,000 to conserve a 22.8-acre parcel of land in Tuftonboro.
“The ARM Fund Program funds projects that restore, enhance or protect aquatic resources, off-setting associated impacts from development,” said Department of Environmental Services Commissioner Bob Scott. “By funding and supporting these projects in our state, we are making a difference in the important areas of preservation and restoration.”
The ARM Fund Program manages mitigation payments for 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.
Over $35 million in compensatory funds have supported 141 projects, including irreplaceable-resource preservation, aquatic barrier removal (culvert replacement and dam removal), and living shoreline projects, since New Hampshire’s ARM program began in 2006.
