NEWRY — Work this summer to replace one of three bridges on Branch Brook Road is winding down just as another engineering problem is cropping up elsewhere in town.

Selectmen at Monday afternoon’s board meeting learned that contractor D. A. Wilson and Co. of Bethel has finished the $134,545 bridge project spanning Branch Brook.

This week, the crew is paving approaches to the 16-feet-wide by 40-feet-long bridge, according to Administrator Loretta Powers.

Their next project involves taking out a beaver dam on Dug Hill Brook, which runs under Sunday River Road to Sunday River by the Sunday River Schoolhouse.

“They’ve got a nice little beaver dam in there,” Powers said on Tuesday morning of the area’s first beaver problem to her knowledge.

Selectmen got permission from Maine Warden Service Warden Norm Lewis to take out the dam. Powers said D. A. Wilson will have to rent a mini-excavator to root it out this week.

“It’s not going to be very accessible,” she said. “They will first need to reach the dam, and then scoop it out.”

In other business, Brent Angevine, chairman of the Bethel Water District Board of Trustees, described the district’s desire to change the Bingham Trust deed to allow wood harvesting on 2,384 acres of Newry land on the southern side of Barker Mountain.

To protect the water quality of Chapman Brook Watershed on the land, the 84-year-old trust forbids timber harvesting other than selling small cuttings to pay taxes on the land.

However, a heavy rainstorm a few years ago destroyed the watershed, filling the brook with clay and tons of debris.

That’s why the district has proposed changes to the trust, which are currently under review by the Office of the Maine Attorney General.

According to Angevine, any amendments to the trust will require court action.

The district wants to use money from the timber project to upgrade the West Bethel water system.

At the same time, Powers said the district would like to have its 1972 lease of some of the land to Sunday River Ski Resort legalized.

The district currently pays $4,000 in taxes to Newry on the 2,384 acres, which are in tree growth.

Powers said the district is seeking support from Newry selectmen while attempting to amend the trust.

Angevine said the ski hill lease was up for renewal this summer. However, given the language of the trust, district trustees were uncomfortable with their position.

In August, they came to terms with the Newry ski resort, agreeing to a one-year extension of the lease, which Angevine said was in the language of the existing lease.

That, he said, would allow the district to research its legal standing on the matter. According to their lawyer, the district is right to continue the lease, based mostly on 37 years of uncontested history behind the lease.

A long-term extension to the lease is currently being crafted.

Angevine said that this spring the district contacted Rep. Jarrod S. Crockett, R-Bethel, who, in turn, contacted the Office of the Maine Attorney General on behalf of the district to try and amend the trust.

The district wants to:

• Clarify ownership of the property in the water district’s name, so it can continue to benefit Bethel ratepayers and taxpayers.

• Give the district the right to harvest timber in the Chapman Brook Watershed, consistent with established sound forestry practices.

• Allow the land lease with Sunday River Ski Resort for ski trails and infrastructure.

• Establish greater public access for trails and recreation.

Powers said selectmen, who want to wait until the matter is settled, took no action on the request for support.

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