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
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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
Another Reason to Celebrate: 10 Years of a Free-flowing Kennebec
I just attended my 20th high school reunion this past weekend. 20 years ago, I was graduating from high school. That is hard to believe. What is harder to believe is that that was around the time that NRCM and its partners in the Kennebec Coalition started the decade of hard work to remove the Edwards Read More
NRCM Turns 50
Bangor Daily News editorial In 1959, the environment was a vague concept to most and protecting it was not a priority. That was the year the Natural Resources Council of Maine was formed to protect the places and values that, in many ways, have come to define Maine. The group, which celebrates its 50th anniversary Read More
Millions of Fish Return to Maine River
The Kennebec River has been surging with life this spring as millions of alewives (river herring) travel inland from the sea to reach spawning habitat that was inaccessible before two key dams were removed in 1999 and 2008. Osprey and Bald Eagles have been well fed, and the entire river ecosystem has benefited, as a Read More
NRCM Gives Award to Law Firms in Portland, D.C. for River Restoration Efforts
Augusta, ME – Two law firms, Verrill Dana in Portland, Maine, and Wiley Rein in Washington, D.C., have been awarded a 2008 Natural Resources Council of Maine Environmental Award for their tireless efforts to free the Sebasticook River by removing the Fort Halifax Dam in Winslow. For about 100 years, the Fort Halifax Dam at Read More
Revitalized River Flows to Healthy Future
by Larry Grard, staff writer Kennebec Journal news story There was a time within many people’s lifetimes when almost no one would have fished the confluence of the Kennebec and Sebasticook rivers in Winslow. Tanneries, factories and mills dumped municipal sewage into the Kennebec and its tributaries, fouling the waters as they flowed through Augusta Read More
The Long View on Kennebec Hydropower and Fish Restoration
by Dick Anderson Kennebec Journal op-ed For the past five years, this editorial page has hosted a debate over the future of the Fort Halifax dam. The dam’s owner, FPL Energy, proposed removal in 2002. In filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), FPL reported that even without fish passage costs, the dam lost Read More
Battle of Fort Halifax Drawing to a Close?
Kennebec Journal editorial The end may finally be in sight for the long-running conflicts over the Fort Halifax Dam on the Sebasticook in Winslow. The dam is an integral part of the state and federal government’s plan to restore native, migratory fish such as alewives, shad, sturgeon and atlantic salmon to the upper reaches of Read More