by John Holyoke, BDN staff Bangor Daily News news story EDDINGTON, Maine — Hundreds of onlookers stood on the banks of the Penobscot River on Monday morning, watching as demolition crews breached the Veazie Dam, continuing the process of opening the river to sea-run fish for the first time in almost 200 years. The Veazie Read More
dam removal
NRCM Statement on the Penobscot River Restoration Project Breaching the Veazie Dam
NRCM news statement “Today is a great day for the people, fish, and wildlife, of the Penobscot River. The removal of the Veazie Dam will give Maine’s largest river a new lease on life while maintaining hydropower production. The Penobscot River has worked hard for Maine people for hundreds of years. It’s time for us Read More
Dam’s Demolition Renews Hopes for Restored Penobscot River Fish Runs
by Susan Sharon MPBN news story In a scene repeated from the Penobscot River last year, when the Great Works Dam was demolished, the historic removal of another large dam began, in sections, today. This time it was the 830-foot-long Veazie Dam at head of tide in Eddington: first, a small trickle of water as Read More
Construction Workers Begin Veazie Dam Removal
by Caitlin Burchill WABI-TV news story Eddington – For more than a decade, the Penobscot Indian Nation, along with conservation groups, hydropower companies and state and federal agencies have worked together to come up with a plan to restore sea-run fisheries while maintaining hydropower. Monday was a huge step as crews began to breach the Read More
Reconnecting the Penobscot River with the Sea: Breaching Veazie Dam on Maine’s Penobscot River
Today, a local contractor (Sargent Corporation, Old Town) will begin to remove the Veazie Dam, re-opening the Penobscot River from Old Town, Maine to the sea for the first time in nearly 200 years. The removal of the 830-foot long, 30 foot high buttress-style Veazie Dam, built in 1913, is a monumental step in the Read More
Lower Kennebec River a Secret Jewel for Paddlers
Waterville to Gardiner stretch ‘kind of a little gem of a river trip that’s very accessible for people that live here,’s says state official by Paul Koenig, staff writer Morning Sentinel news story The paddling trip from Waterville to Augusta, or even farther south to Gardiner, is an underrated trip compared to more popular waterways, Read More
Return of Alewives on St. Croix River Celebrated
by John Holyoke, BDN staff Bangor Daily News news story BAILEYVILLE, Maine — For nearly 20 years, conservationists and, at times, state natural resource agencies, have sought to open the St. Croix River watershed to alewives. Those river herring had their passage at dam fishways officially blocked in 1995 due to concerns that their presence Read More
Sebasticook to the Sea: Alewives’ Perilous Lives Crucial to Ecosystem, Economy
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling, MaineTodayMedia staff Morning Sentinel news story BENTON — Alewives are little fish with a big story. Each year, billions of the silver fish hatch out of eggs in the cool waters of the Sebasticook River and embark on a dangerous journey to the sea and back again. Those that return must make it Read More
A Home Run for Maine Alewives
The Benton Alewife Festival is set to celebrate a record return of fish hatched from eggs that were laid in 2009. By Matt Hongoltz-Hetling, Morning Sentinel Portland Press Herald news story BENTON – Alewives are on pace for a record run in Benton, whose residents will celebrate their relationship with the migratory fish Saturday during Read More