Pepperell Conservation Commission Unanimously Backs Sucker Brook Dam Removal Project

PEPPERELL — April 17, 2018 — Pepperell Conservation Commission backs removal of Kyes Park dam on Sucker Brook. The commission voted unanimously April 17 to support the Squannassett Trout Unlimited Chapter's proposal to remove the roughly five-foot stone dam at Kyes Park Conservation Area, authorizing associated data collection, sediment sampling, and preliminary design work. Alex Hackman of the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration, who has managed about 26 dam removals statewide, told commissioners his office was opening a competitive funding application in approximately June 2018 and needed a letter of dam-owner support to advance the project — a threshold Tuesday's vote clears. Pete Hazelton, aquatic ecologist with MassWildlife's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, testified that Sucker Brook holds populations of the eastern pearl shell mussel — described as globally rare and potentially living 70 years in Massachusetts — alongside the triangle floater, both of which rely on brook trout as a larval host; removing the dam, he said, would expand habitat for all three mussel species present. The Trout Unlimited chapter reported approximately $40,000 in available funds, which Hackman estimated at roughly half the project cost.