Randolph — A newly awarded grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation will provide the remaining funds needed to remove an old dam in Randolph and restore about 98 miles of trout habitat along the Third Branch of the White River.

The 80-foot-long and 5-foot-high dam on the east side of Randolph’s Main Street Bridge has long been a problem for migrating trout, said Mary Russ, executive director of the South Royalton-based nonprofit White River Partnership.

“Fish can’t actually pass over it to go upstream,” she said, and the dam no longer is useful.

The dam was built in the 1940s to provide erosion protection to an earlier Main Street Bridge. That protection isn’t needed anymore, thanks to a 2007 bridge replacement project, Russ said.

It was a fisherman who first drew attention to the dam, said Ron Rhodes, a member of the Greater Upper Valley chapter of Trout Unlimited. In 2012, a central Vermont angler sent a video to Vermont Fish and Wildlife that showed brown trout attempting in vain to jump the dam.

By removing the dam, Rhodes said, brown and brook trout will be able to travel up the White River to spawn. It also will open up more of the river for paddling and improve its capacity to handle flooding.

“Whether a fisherman or paddler, these dams are presenting an issue for use,” Rhodes said.

Working alongside the town of Randolph, the nonprofit American Rivers organization, the Nature Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Trout Unlimited, Russ said, about $160,000 has been raised to remove the dam.

“This is the last key piece of funding,” she said of the $96,000 Charitable Foundation grant and a $10,000 Trout Unlimited Embrace-A-Stream grant awarded this month.

Russ said the groups are working with an engineer and plan to select a contractor in June and begin work in August. Although fundraising for the dam removal is complete, she said, groups will work in future years to plant trees and manage the site. Trout Unlimited plans to donate the proceeds of this spring’s White River Open Fly Fishing Tournament to help meet the site’s long-term needs.

The Charitable Foundation also awarded a roughly $42,000 grant to the Connecticut River Watershed Council for the engineering, design and permitting required to remove a dam on the Ompompanoosuc River in West Fairlee.

Like in Randolph, the Ompompanoosuc dam also impedes the travel of fish, according to Rhodes, who also serves as the North Country river steward at the council.

He said the dam was built near a privately owned farm field in the 1980s and used for small-scale hydroelectric power until the owner died. The dam no longer is in use, and the grant will pay for an engineer who will assess and plan for its possible removal next year.

Two projects in Haverhill also are slated to receive a combined $10,000 in Charitable Foundation grants. One is for buffer plantings along the Connecticut River, and the other is for the planned removal of three small dams along Clark Brook.

The grants come from the Charitable Foundation’s Upper Connecticut River Mitigation and Enhancement Fund, which has awarded more than $13 million to help restore, protect and enhance the Connecticut River’s watershed since 2003.

Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.