View of Goodall Brook, looking upstream from Emerson Street bridge.
Photo: Melissa Brandt
By Melissa Brandt
York County Soil & Water Conservation District
Maine boasts some of the best eastern brook trout fishing waters in the world. They thrive in cold, spring-fed waters searching for a bite to eat or accessing gravel beds to spawn in the fall. It can often take two years for brook trout to mature enough to breed, and that means habitat is critical to support the smallest fry to the larger fish.
Folks do not often think of urban streams as brook trout habitat, but even in a small, shallow urban waterbody like Goodall Brook in Sanford, the trout are present.
The City of Sanford has partnered with York County Soil & Water Conservation District for over 20 years of stream restoration and water quality improvement projects in Goodall Brook. This work has been funded through an EPA Clean Water Act 319 grant program administered by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and matched by the city. The primary restoration project completed this past fall as part of the Phase III grant comprised of adding woody debris to a straightened, shallow section of Goodall Brook where Emerson Street crosses the brook. This stretch runs from just below Goodall Park, then passes under Emerson Street and continues toward the Northern Great Works River and eventually connects to the Piscataqua River watershed before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. The headwaters start at the top of Hanson Ridge, and the brook enters a pipe as it makes its way through a highly developed area, reaching daylight behind the old Edison School.
In previous phases of this work, woody debris was added to several sections of Goodall Brook using the knowledge of geomorphologist John Field to prescribe just the right application of shading, structure, and habitat to create better flow and protect the stream banks. In this most recent phase, the work included adding woody debris through a technique called chop and drop. The crew from Caribou Springs, a Maine-based company out of Gilead specializing in this type of stream restoration, identified large trees meeting the requirement in the plan to literally cut and drop the tree into the stream channel. Stumps are left in place, and trees are cabled to them as well as where they cross one another to prevent movement in large storms. Because Goodall Brook is prone to little or no flow in dry times of the year and because the geography is pretty flat, tucking woody debris and larger branches into the felled trees can begin to create movement as water makes its way through the stream channel. Over time, scouring the bottom will create small pools, areas that can provide spawning habitat, shade to keep the stream cool and provide additional habitat for all the aquatic insects that the trout feed on.
In addition to the habitat project, the YCSWCD worked on outreach projects that included the creation of informational pet waste materials such as a brochure reminding pet owners of the importance of picking up waste on a regular basis. The brochure is available at City Hall, libraries, and online. It also contains a list of pet-friendly places to visit in the region. In addition, signs encouraging folks to clean up after their pets have been installed alongside pet waste bag dispensers at Soldiers and Sailors Park. The city has several of these pet waste dispensers around Number One Pond and city property where pets are allowed. Picking up after your pet prevents pathogens and parasites from entering the watershed and reduces the impact of bacteria on water quality. It’s pretty easy to scoop it, bag it and put it in the trash.
The project hosted two stream cleanup events at Benton Park where a bike, six bags of trash and two shopping carts were pulled out of the stream. Most of Goodall Brook passes through dense residential areas behind a lot of houses and is hard to access. Keeping trash out of the stream prevents downstream neighbors from having trash wash up in their backyards, keeps contaminants out of the water, and prevents wildlife from getting tangled or impacted by the trash. Every little bit helps.
In addition to this project, Sanford has installed several new tree box filters on Kimball Street and Twombley Road that will collect stormwater and pretreat it through a filter medium before it enters the watershed.
Just a few weeks after the chop and drop was completed, adult brook trout were observed making their way through the woody debris in the stream channel.
The district hopes to continue this type of work and to continue to support the city with cost sharing. If you would like more information on this project, contact York County Soil & Water Conservation District at 207-324-0888 ext 214 or email melissabrandt@yorkswcd.org or reach out to Matthew Hill, P.E. engineer with the City of Sanford at mehill@sanfordmaine.org
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