Restoring Fish Passage with a New Culvert Design

Culverts are structures that allow streams to pass below road crossings. Outdated and poorly designed culverts can limit fish passage, cause up‐stream sedimentation, and exacerbate flooding. To test a new, open‐bottom culvert design, CBEP funded a culvert replacement project in a tributary to the Pleasant River in Gray, Maine (see photo, right). The 14‐foot bottomless structure – one of the first installed in the region – spanned a six‐foot wide stream and was designed to restore fish passage. CBEP staff and partners are monitoring the site to learn how the small stream will respond.