ARLINGTON — The habitat restoration project to improve conditions for native brook and brown trout will continue this year after Trout Unlimited awarded $7,500 toward the work.

The project began in 2006 and entails adding woody debris and slate rocks to the river to protect trout from flooding, provide shade and create places for them to feed.

60 percent federal match

According to Doug Lyons, president of Trout Unlimited Southwest Vermont Chapter, the grant was issued to the local chapter, which will give it to the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance, which spearheads the project.

"Our chapter will be adding an additional $5,000, and it will have a 60 percent federal match," Lyons said.

The national grant, the local donation and the match from the Green Mountain National Forest Service, bring the grant total to over $20,000, Lyons said.

"We're hoping to get another half-mile of the river done," Lyons said. "We're just going to build off from where the project first started."

Cynthia Browning, former executive director of the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance, said the group has been working with landowners along the river and the project will now move upstream from work that began near Twin Rivers Farm in 2006.

"It's really, really, exciting," Browning said. "We hope to just keep going with it."

While the habitat is being repaired, the groups will be attempting to halt any erosion problems, increase buffer zones and stabilize the banks, Browning said.

The project began with grants from the Orvis Company and donations. The local Trout Unlimited Chapter will also be hosting a pancake breakfast on May 10 with the proceeds going educational programing and the restoration project.

"We're going to keep on looking for more money as long as we can," Lyons said.

The local chapter applied for the grant through the national organization's Embrace-a-Stream program. Funding is provided primarily by Trout Unlimited members.

A committee is comprised of volunteers and scientific advisors from all over the country that evaluates all proposed projects. The program has funded over 900 projects since its inception in 1976.