Millions of dollars are coming to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York waterways to improve habitat for the native Eastern brook trout.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection announced Wednesday it will lead the multi-state partnership to help restore the fish to waterways in parts of all three states.

The grant for $3.5 million was announced by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation as part of nearly $122.5 million awarded through the America’s Ecosystem Restoration Initiative: America the Beautiful Challenge. This is a competitive grant program funded by President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, other federal conservation programs and private sources.

Recipients agreed to at least $8.7 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of $131.1 million spread among 61 grants supporting landscape-scale conservation projects across 42 states, 19 Tribal Nations, and 3 U.S. territories. The match for the Eastern brook trout grant is $389,200, for a total project amount of $3,889,200.

Eastern brook trout, known as brookies, are the official state fish species for New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York — and considered an indicator of good water quality, the N.J. DEP said in a news release. Prized by anglers, it’s the Garden State’s only native trout species.

Like the lake trout, it’s part of the genus Salvelinus, different from other trout species familiar to local anglers. Rainbow trout are in the genus Oncorhynchus, while brown trout are in the genus Salmo, though all three genera are part of the subfamily Salmoninae in the family Salmonidae.

The grant will fund cold-water conservation projects in priority watersheds over the next four years, including removing barriers such as dams and culverts, enhancing in-stream habitat, restoring floodplain habitat and mitigating upstream stressors that can lead to higher water temperature, according to the release. It is focused on safeguarding the biodiversity of the Appalachian Corridor highlands and streams within the three states, according to the N.J. DEP’s release.

“New Jersey is proud to be part of this effort,” stated New Jersey Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette. “This species holds a special place for anglers and anyone who cares about the health of our cold-water streams and lakes.

“We thank the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for this opportunity and look forward to working with our partner states in developing projects that will enhance habitat not only for Eastern brook trout, but for other cold-water fish species as well.”

Amy Wolfe, director of Trout Unlimited’s northeast coldwater habitat program, told the public radio station WHYY the tri-state initiative is the first of its kind in the region: “Our goal in this will be to focus on projects that can reconnect fragmented habitat and reduce pollution from sediment runoff and from other land use impacts in these areas.”

Biden launched the America the Beautiful Challenge grant program in 2021, setting the nation’s first-ever goal to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, according to the N.J. DEP release.

The program being administered by N.J. DEP Fish & Wildlife is a collaboration with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Trout Unlimited, the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the Wildlife Management Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“This initiative is fundamentally about aligning implementation resources with identified projects to help conserve a priority species for all three states and our partners,” stated Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Executive Director Tim Schaeffer. “In so doing, we are affirming a commitment to landscape-level conservation that capitalizes on unprecedented partnerships here in the Northeast.”

Steve Hurst, chief of fisheries for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, says in the release: “The work that will be accomplished under the America the Beautiful Challenge grant marks a new phase for the already successful joint venture, as states will now use the knowledge compiled over the past 20 years to collectively improve upon the habitat brook trout depend upon in the Delaware watershed.”

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.