Lamprey River

Coordinates: 43°03′54″N 70°54′18″W / 43.0651°N 70.9049°W / 43.0651; -70.9049

The Lamprey River is a 50.2-mile-long (80.8 km) river in southeastern New Hampshire, the United States. It rises in Meadow Lake in Northwood, and flows south, then generally east past Raymond, Epping, Lee, Durham and finally Newmarket. Here, it meets Great Bay, a tidal inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, to which it is connected by a tidal estuary, the Piscataqua River. The river from the Bunker Pond Dam in Epping to the confluence with the Piscassic River is part of the designated National Wild and Scenic River System.

Wildlife

The shoreline of the Lamprey River, its floodplain and its wetlands provide a wide range of valuable wildlife habitats. Its anadromous fishery is one of the strongest in the Great Bay watershed. Anadromous fish species that use the Lamprey River include shad, river herring, smelt and even Atlantic salmon. These fish are hatched in the river, then spend most of their lives out at sea, returning to the river to spawn. The fish species will move up the river as far as Durham, where they are prevented from moving further upstream by Wiswall Dam.