Brownie Carson, NRCM Executive Director “Today’s vote by the Land Use Regulation Commission approving Plum Creek’s massive development plan for Moosehead Lake is deeply unsettling.” “It is unsettling because it may result in a level of future development, traffic, and increased congestion in the Moosehead Lake region that will forever damage one of Maine’s most Read More
Take Me to the River: NRCM Paddles the Kennebec
Natural Resources Council of Maine supporters and staff paddled the Kennebec River from Sidney, Maine, to Augusta on August 15, 2009. This event was one of 50 in celebration of NRCM’s 50th anniversary this year. It also commemorated the 10th anniversary of the removal of the Edwards Dam in Augusta. Thanks to all who joined Read More
After Plum Creek: A Provocation
by Robert Kimber Down East magazine September 2009 Sometime this fall the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) is expected to hand down its approval of Plum Creek’s massive development plan for the Moosehead Lake region. Back in 2005, when Plum Creek first submitted its plan, a friend of mine predicted how this saga would unfold: Read More
10 Years, 430 Dams
New York Times editorial Ten years have gone by since a modest but important moment in American environmental history: the dismantling of the 917-foot-wide Edwards Dam on Maine’s Kennebec River. The Edwards Dam was the first privately owned hydroelectric dam torn down for environmental reasons (and against the owner’s wishes) by the Federal Energy Regulatory Read More
Happy 50th, NRCM
Times Record editorial During a 1965 hike with fellow poet Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsburg looked across the panorama of mountains as they stood on Glacier Peak and asked incredulously, “You mean, there’s a senator for all this?” Snyder recalls that he quickly corrected his friend, saying, “There is not a senator for all that.” Sadly, Read More
Marking a Rebirth
by Keith Edwards, staff writer Kennebec Journal news story AUGUSTA — Sidney resident George Viles said he felt frustrated and anxious 10 years ago that the Edwards Dam was being removed. But on his first fishing trip after the Kennebec River ran free, he landed three striped bass, and a large smallmouth, in 20 minutes. Read More
Endangered Listing for Salmon Now Includes Kennebec
by Keith Edwards, staff writer Morning Sentinel news story AUGUSTA — Just more than two weeks before the 10-year anniversary of the removal of Edwards Dam, Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec River, as well as the Penobscot and Androscoggin rivers, were declared an endangered species by the federal government. While state officials decried the listing Read More
Success on Kennebec Bodes Well for Dam Removal on Penobscot
Feds give $6 million to help with Great Works project by Kevin Miller Bangor Daily News news story AUGUSTA, Maine — In the weeks leading up to the historic breaching of the Edwards Dam, there was little doubt that striped bass, sturgeon and salmon would eventually return to the Kennebec River north of Maine’s capital Read More
50 Years of Advocating for Maine’s Environment
Natural Resources Council of Maine celebrates its half century of advocacy by Chris Cousins Times Record news story AUGUSTA — In 50 years of existence, the Natural Resources Council of Maine has compiled a long list of achievements — ranging from the removal of dams to the successful push for a bottle bill in Maine. Read More