Westport land along Angeline Brook to be placed in conservation

WESTPORT — A locally rare trout habitat in Westport will be protected when 30 acres along Angeline Brook are placed into conservation.

The Westport Land Conservation Trust will acquire the land as part of the Angeline Brook conservation project, which is led by the Buzzards Bay Coalition. A state grant of $31,500 announced Thursday will go toward the purchase.

Although cold-water brooks are not rare statewide — Western Massachusetts is loaded with them — very few run into Buzzards Bay, making Angeline Brook an important habitat, according to Adam Kautza, a cold-water fisheries biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

"Angeline is one of the highlights in trout fisheries in that part of the state," he said in an interview.

It empties into the West Branch of the Westport River, allowing so-called "sea-run" or "salter" brook trout to swim into the salt water to feed. They do not migrate the way river herring do.

Kautza said cold-water brooks have been disappearing in Southeastern Massachusetts because of development. Because they are far apart, if a population crashes in one brook, fish may not be able to migrate from a neighboring one.

Cold-water brooks are fed more by groundwater than surface water, so the temperature stays more consistent and cooler than in other brooks.

Brendan Annett, the Coalition's vice president for watershed protection, said Westport is the only place in Massachusetts with a cluster of multiple streams that support salter populations of trout.

"Angeline Brook is probably the most significant of these streams in Westport," he said.

For the latest acquisition, the Coalition reached out to a landowner on the lower part of the brook, and the owner agreed to sell more than half the parcel — the 30 acres nearest the water — for conservation, he said. Another 24.5 acres will remain in private hands. The Coalition will hold conservation restrictions on both portions.

The project will yield benefits not just for trout, but also for water quality and habitat for other fish and wildlife, Annett said.

The land purchased by the Westport Land Conservation Trust will be added to the abutting Herb Hadfield Conservation Area, which comprises 158 acres.

"We're excited to expand the conservation area," said Ross Moran, executive director of the land trust. "It's one of our largest and most visited properties."

It will have walking trails, but not for a few years, he said.

The total cost of the project is $200,000, and the Coalition is still raising money. It hopes to complete the project in June.