Heroes of Conservation: 2008 Finalist

Jim Tripp and Sandra Millan-Tripp, The Fry Couple
Sculptor and Carpenter; Marine -Biologist and ESL Tutor, Old Lyme, Conn.

After noticing a decline in the herring runs, Jim and Sandra Tripp decided to turn their old family mill into a facility to rear herring and salmon fry and formed the Tributary Mill Conservancy in 2004. The conservancy became nonprofit in 2007 with the goal of spreading their method of fry rearing across New England.

Jim: We've lived on this brook quite a few years. With it being right here next to the coast and a tributary to the Connecticut River, it is a highway of animal diversity. My wife and I began to notice the alewife and blueback herring runs were thinning out. We decided to call the Department of Environmental Protection to do something about it.

Sandra: I grew up in Colombia and researched manatees and dolphins there and Puerto Rico, which is where Jim and I were married. I've always been interested in conservation, and it was only natural for me to try to help save fish and wildlife here in my adopted home.

Jim: My mother owns this mill, and without her support we never would have been able to do this project. We rebuilt the basement that the sluiceway ran through and ran pipes down from our pond to set up a gravity feed to start raising the herring fry.

Sandra: Since we were working with the DEP already, they realized that this program would work for Atlantic salmon as well. In just five years, we've raised over 200,000 salmon, and because the brook that runs through the mill is natural, the fry that we raise have some of the best mortality rates of any that the state stocks. We are fortunate enough to view the herring runs every year, but when our children started going to school, we realized that not everyone has that chance. So, we expanded the conservancy, to share this with the community.

Jim: Every project that we've undertaken has gone well so far. The experts came in and trained us, and now we're training others. We hope that this mill can be a prototype throughout the region to make sure we preserve these fish populations.

See Previous Heroes from:

Finalists Gale Dupree John Walther Bob Capron Nancy Craft Gordon and Terri Southwick Les Monostory Previous Months November September August July June May April March February	Finalists Howard Kern William Edwards Derek Fong Billy Sandifer Mark Taylor Jon Hillmer Previous Months November September August July June May April March February	Finalists Hod Kosman Chad Pregracke Andy Batcho Jim Tripp and Sandra Millan-Tripp Dale Rollins Charles Lane Previous Months November September August July June May April March February	Finalists Brian Maguire Joan Vernon Philip Babe Harlan Kredit Chris Scalley Robert Miles Previous Months November September August July June May April March February
Finalists Paul Morrow Jim Cummins Jeff Olson Ronnie Luster Steve Simmons Chris Tompkins Previous Months September August July June May April March February January