Penobscot River Restoration Trust news release Old Town, Maine—On Monday, June 11, demolition of the Penobscot River’s Great Works Dam begins. This is a major step toward allowing the river to flow free from Old Town to the Gulf of Maine for the first time in generations. For centuries, dams along the Penobscot River have Read More
dam removal
Maine Dam Removal Aims to Rescue Fish Species
by David Abel Boston Globe news story BRADLEY, Maine – When the steel claw of an excavator slashes into the berm of the Great Works Dam on Monday morning, it will mark the start of a multimillion-dollar project to allow endangered and dwindling species to return to their historic spawning grounds along Maine’s longest river, Read More
A Damned Dam On The Penobscot River
by Susan Sharon NPR news story Like most members of the Penobscot Nation, Scott Phillips grew up near the Penobscot River and learned to paddle and fish as a young boy. He took to it like a duck to water. He became a competitive racer and eventually opened his own business selling canoes, kayaks and 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
Great Works Dam Removal Celebration
Statement by Lisa Pohlmann, NRCM Executive Director Today is a great day for the Penobscot River and all of the wildlife and communities that depend upon it. The removal of the Great Works Dam is a landmark in the Penobscot River Restoration Project. We are on our way to giving Maine’s largest river a new 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
