Town Must Alter Project to Help Endangered Salmon

Officials in a Maine town are delaying a public works project because of a requirement that they assess potential effects on endangered Atlantic salmon.

The Portland Press Herald reports that Brunswick officials want to replace a culvert that was overwhelmed during an August rainstorm that washed out a piece of road. The town learned this month that the project requires a U.S. Army Corp of Engineers permit and a review by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists. The small stream flows into the Androscoggin River, a federally designated Atlantic salmon watershed.

The town could be required to use costlier designs to avoid impacting the fish. Only three Atlantic salmon were recorded passing through the fishway at the Brunswick dam this year.