The Hamant Brook project in Sturbridge consists of an undersized, perched culvert, a series of 3 dams with impoundments, and other stream impairments.  The culvert and downstream dam are located on Old Sturbridge Village property, while the two upstream dams are on Town of Sturbridge property.  Brook trout were only collected upstream of all of the impoundments and key riverine species, like fallfish and white sucker, were collected in decreasing abundances downstream of the impoundments.  These findings indicated a lack of fish passage due to the presence of barriers.  Through dam removal and culvert replacement, a major goal of the overall project is to create habitat connectivity for both riverine and coldwater species as well as extend the length of coldwater habitat.  The project and gaining town support started back in Fall 2007.  This past fall, we gained support to move forward on developing proposals for funding of stream restoration, including dam removal, in Hamant Brook and have been seeking match funding for the anticipated larger funding from Millenium.  The project outlined in the MET grant will contribute to the overall dam removal project by providing funding to remove a blown-out trail crossing (located upstream of the impoundments) and replace it with a new appropriately sized trail crossing in addition to some stream bank restoration materials.  Some of this funding would also be allocated to construction of a kiosk explaining the value of brook trout and coldwater habitat, the habitat restoration process, and credits to involved parties.  The full project, from start of engineering design, is expected to take up to another 2 years, hopefully no more than 3 years (depending on dam removal approach).  The MET project timeline is shorter and should occur in 1 year from the start of funding on July 1, 2010.