The day of the Great Works Dam removal celebration dawned sparkling clear. For me it started early at the Veazie Salmon Club, and had a few moments by the Penobscot River before everyone arrived. The power of the river was palpable, especially after all the rain we’ve had. It coursed over the Veazie Dam, and I Read More
Clean Water
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.
As Trains Start to Carry Crude Oil Across Maine, Environmentalists Start to Worry
by Kevin Miller, staff writer Bangor Daily News news story The modern-day oil boom in the western U.S. and Canada is fueling interest in shipping crude oil by rail across Maine to a refinery in the Maritimes. But the prospect of long trains of oil-filled tanker cars rumbling through Maine also has state environmental officials Read More
‘It’s Easy for People in Maine to Forget What a Big Deal This Is’
by Tom Bell, staff writer Portland Press Herald news story INDIAN ISLAND — Work crews today began demolition of the Great Works Dam on the Penobscot River, the largest-ever river restoration project in eastern North America. Excavators began pounding the defunct concrete fishway in the middle of the dam following more than an hour of Read More
Recovering a River
Demolition of the Great Works Dam on the Penobscot, starting this week, is part of an ambitious restoration project that will open 1,000 miles of waterways to Atlantic salmon. by Tom Bell, staff writer Maine Sunday Telegram news story After 13 years of legal, political and engineering work, the largest-ever river restoration project in eastern Read More
Edwards Dam Success Foreshadows Penobscot River Project’s Future
by John Holyoke Bangor Daily News news story Twelve years ago — on July 1, 1999 — a crowd gathered on the banks of the Kennebec River in Augusta to watch as Edwards Dam was breached. First a trickle. Then a torrent. For the first time in 162 years, a 17-mile stretch of the Kennebec Read More
Celebrating a Big Moment for the Penobscot River
by Bill Houston Bangor Daily News op-ed Maine’s largest and arguably most impressive river, the Penobscot, is about to take a major leap toward a new future — and what a grand future it will be. As removal of the Great Works Dam begins this Monday, I will be there to celebrate the Penobscot and Read More
LePage Objects to Long-Planned Removal of Penobscot River Dam
by Susan Sharon MPBN news story Conservation groups, members of the Penobscot Nation and federal officials are preparing for an historic occasion next week when the first of two dams on the Penobscot River is demolished: the 200-year-old Great Works Dam. One dignitary who won’t be attending is Gov. Paul LePage. Instead the Maine Commissioner Read More
Maine Acquires 5,700 Acres around Seboeis Lake
Kevin Miller Bangor Daily News news story Maine officials on Monday announced the acquisition of more than 5,700 acres of land south of Millinocket in a deal that will protect an additional 2 miles of shoreline along Seboeis Lake while securing key snowmobile and ATV routes in the region. Several years in the making, the Read More
Mining Track Record Brings Worries for Maine
by Ernest W. Hilton Bangor Daily News op-ed Jeff Reardon of Trout Unlimited recently wrote an OpEd in the BDN in opposition to a legislative initiative to amend Maine mining laws to facilitate open pit mining in the Bald Mountain area northwest of Ashland. His major premise was that the sulfide mineralization in Maine rock Read More