New Hampshire's Fish Habitat Program
Improving NH's Freshwater Fisheries
New Hampshire's Fish Habitat Program
Who We Serve: You, specifically anglers. The goal of Fish and Game's Fish Habitat Program is to protect, restore, and enhance New Hampshire's fisheries habitats, using a watershed approach, so that viable fish communities can be supported for their intrinsic value and long-term benefits to the public. We work in partnership with other state and federal natural resource agencies, regional planning commissions, town governments, non-government organizations, and landowners.
The Program has two related elements:
• Technical Assistance
• Fisheries Habitat Account
Technical assistance is what we do most and is essential to doing excellent work with our partners across New Hampshire. Much of this assistance is on prioritizing projects across the state, providing guidance on technical details of projects and being a full partner on dozens of projects each year. We also provide technical guidance to other state agencies on activities that have the potential to impact fish habitat, such as transportation projects.
The NH Fish Habitat Program came into existence in 2000, when RSA 214:1-g was enacted by the NH Legislature. This law created the Fisheries Habitat Account, which is funded by a $1 fee on each fishing license sold in New Hampshire. The fund can be used for certain activities, generally on-the-ground fish habitat improvement/restoration projects and land conservation. By law, the NH Fish and Game Department must submit an Annual Report to the New Hampshire legislature.
The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department studied fish communities in the Andrew Brook Watershed in 2008 and the Upper Warner River Watershed in 2009. These surveys were conducted before this collaborative partnership was formed. Over a two-week period in June 2012, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, with the aid of the local volunteers, Basil Woods TU members, and Warner Conservation Commission members, led the search for wild brookies in the many small tributaries of the Lower Warner River Watershed.
NH Fish and Game, NH Division of Forests and Lands, Trout Unlimited. Most work was completed in 2019. Ongoing research work to better understand wild brook trout habitat and habitat restoration techniques.