Clean, healthy waterways are vital to our day-to-day lives. They help ensure safe drinking water, suitable habitat for fish and other wildlife, and recreational opportunities that make Maine a special place to live, work, and visit. NRCM is working hard to protect and restore Maine’s lakes, rivers, and streams, now and for generations to come.
But Maine's waterways face huge challenges. For decades, paper companies and other mills along Maine's rivers have treated these great waterways as their own private dumping grounds. The pollution they discharge prevents our native fish from thriving and impairs the quality of life for the people who live in those communities.
Pollution is one issue, dams are another. Dams continue to choke waterways across the state. While some dams are strategically located to minimize damage to fisheries and generate significant amounts of renewable electricity, other dams are obsolete or destroy fisheries resources that are worth far more than the small amount of power they generate.
One such dam was the Edwards Dam. NRCM’s work with coalition partners to remove the Edwards Dam from the Kennebec has become a national model for success. Now, NRCM and our partners in the Penobscot River Restoration Trust are working to restore this vital watershed for the wildlife and people of Maine.
NRCM has served as the voice of Maine people by advocating for clean and healthy waterways. Find out more about the issues we work on and how you can get involved to ensure clean and healthy waters for Maine.
Maine Lakes at Risk from LePage Administration
Report Documents Damage to DEP’s Lake Protection Efforts NRCM Press Release The Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) today released an investigative report documenting damage caused to the State of Maine’s lake protection efforts under the Administration of Governor LePage. Although Maine’s lakes are among our state’s most valuable natural resources, the NRCM report finds Read More
More Dam Relicensing Slips Past Maine’s DEP
The agency misses deadlines and loses its say on five water-control projects, but says the impact will be ‘zero.’ by Colin Woodard, staff writer Portland Press Herald news story The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has again missed critical deadlines and cost the state its authority to set terms in the federal relicensing of dam Read More
Dam Owners Should Help Finance Kennebec Fish Run Restoration
by Clinton B. “Bill” Townsend Kennebec Journal op-ed The Kennebec River once hosted enormous runs of Atlantic salmon, river herring and other fish that live part of their lives in fresh water and part in the ocean. By the 19th century, however, those resources had become only a fast-fading memory. Water pollution, over-harvesting and impassable Read More
Hopes for a Fish Revival as a Dam is Demolished
The dismantling of the Veazie Dam will help give 11 species of fish better access to 1,000 miles of spawning habitat. by Jess Bidgood New York Times news story EDDINGTON, Me. — There is a bend in the Penobscot River here, embanked by an Indian burial ground, through which millions of fish used to make Read More
Removal of Veazie Dam to Free Historic Paddling Route on Penobscot
By Aislinn Sarnacki, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story Water burst through the Veazie Dam on July 22, a day that marked the beginning of its destruction. By the end of the year, the river will flow free. And after the ice melts next spring, canoeists and kayakers will be able to paddle from Read More
A River In the Balance
Bangor Daily News editorial On Monday, crews began demolishing the Penobscot River’s Veazie Dam. It marked an important moment for sea-run fish, efforts to restore a complex habitat and unlikely partnerships. The day was notable not only for the state but also for the nation: The dam breaching is part of one of the largest Read More
Veazie Dam Demolition Begins on Penobscot River
The Associated Press Sun Journal news story VEAZIE (AP) — Removal of the Veazie Dam on Maine’s Penobscot River began Monday, a move that environmentalists are calling a monumental step toward resurrecting the river’s once-abundant marine life. Demolition of the 830-foot-long dam connecting Veazie and Eddington near Bangor on Maine’s largest river is part of Read More
Ceremony “and Eagles” Mark Beginning of Veazie Dam Removal
Gale Courey Toensing Indian Country Today Media Network news story The restoration of the Penobscot River in Maine has taken a monumental step forward with the breaching of the Veazie Dam, which will open up the river from Indian Island at Old Town to the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in more than 150 Read More
Down Comes Another Dam
New York Times editorial On Monday, a demolition crew will begin removing the Veazie Dam on the Penobscot River just above Bangor, Me. The Veazie is the lowest of the Penobscot dams and closest to the river’s mouth on the Maine coast. It is also critical to the entire Penobscot River watershed, which covers nearly Read More
Banner photo: Allagash Wilderness Waterway by Sam Horine
