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09/28/2021 12:59 PMWestbrook’s Kirtland Landing will be closed from Oct. 12 to 22 to undergo improvements. The work will be done by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services.
Kirtland Landing is a town-owned property located off of Route 145 in Westbrook. It’s a popular spot for mariners to launch boats with access to Menunketsuck River, Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, and Long Island Sound. Thanks to a grant from the Federal Lands Transportation Program of the Federal Highway Administration, $170,000 will be used to spruce up the property. Due to the work, the landing will be closed for about 10 days.
As part of the improvements, the landing will have more parking, a modernized boat ramp, a stabilized riverbank, a streamside buffer, and it will be landscaped to look nicer and more like a park.
Rick Potvin, a representative from Fish & Wildlife Services, explained more details about the work to the Harbor News. Potvin said that the grant program exists to “pay for projects on municipal land that improves access to federal land.”
While the landing is Town of Westbrook property, it is only about 2,000 feet upstream from the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, which is federal property. It’s not uncommon for people to launch a kayak from the landing and paddle into the refuge to investigate the salt marshes. That fits the goal of the grant.
Potvin said that the park hasn’t been upgraded in a while, thus making the work paid for by the grant much needed. Besides fixing the boat launch itself, Potin said that stabilizing the riverbank will prevent erosion and the streamside buffer will help curb pollution.
“We really want to decrease runoff into the Menunketsuck River,” Potvin said.
“I think this has been a fantastic partnership between the town, the Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Federal Highway Administration and now people will be able to enjoy the landing and all it as to offer,” said Potvin. “It’s something that needed to be done and was done at very little cost to the town or taxpayers.”
Project updates will be posted to the refuge’s website www.fws.gov/refuge/stewart_b_mckinney and Facebook page.