By Jay Field MPBN news story OLD TOWN, Maine – Whitewater canoeists and kayakers from across the country are in Maine for a competition event that wouldn’t have been possible just three years ago. The Penobscot River Whitewater Nationals Regatta got underway in Old Town Thursday, with races scheduled to take place through Sunday afternoon. Read More
fisheries restoration
Penobscot Dam Removals Enable National Paddling Event
By Nok-Noi Ricker, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story OLD TOWN, Maine — Removal of the Great Works Dam in Bradley and the Veazie Dam, part of the Penobscot River Restoration Project, had an added benefit for those who like whitewater, according to organizers of the upcoming Penobscot River Whitewater Nationals Regatta. “It’s got Read More
Howland Fish Bypass Construction to Start Next Month
by Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story HOWLAND, Maine — Construction of the $3.5 million fish bypass at the former Howland tannery site is likely to begin next month, ending 11 years of preparation, officials said Friday. Construction crews already demolished the former powerhouse attached to the Howland Dam on the Read More
Fish Bypass Construction Starts in Howland While Hunt Goes On for Developer of Former Tannery Site
By Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story HOWLAND, Maine — Preparation work for the construction of a $3.2 million fish bypass and the marketing of the former Howland tannery site are underway, officials said Tuesday. Workers from SumCo Eco-Contracting LLC were installing security fences and silt control devices at the site 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
Dam Removal Tells New Chapter in Maine History
Throughout history, Maine has always relied on its rivers, and that will not change now. Maine Sunday Telegram editorial The history of Maine is told by its rivers. For native people they were the source of food and transportation. For European shipbuilders, they were the highways into a trackless forest. For a century they provided 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
Breaching of Dam, Restoring Salmon’s Passage Unite Many
By Alyssa Botelho, Globe Correspondent Boston Globe news story EDDINGTON, Maine — Two yellow bulldozers clamped down on the face of the hulking Veazie Dam on Monday, cracking open the concrete buttress that has separated Maine’s Penobscot River from the Atlantic Ocean for nearly 200 years. The breach, the culmination of an innovative $62 million Read More