by Ron Joseph Kennebec Journal op-ed In mid-July, five adult Atlantic salmon were live-trapped at Waterville’s Lockwood Dam, the first of four Kennebec River dams blocking the upstream passage of salmon, alewives and other sea-run fish. The salmon, ranging in weight from 10 to 20 pounds, were trucked upriver of Waterville’s dams and released in Read More
Edwards Dam and Kennebec Restoration
For more than a decade, NRCM and the Kennebec Coalition worked to open up the Kennebec River to sea-run fish past the Edwards Dam in Augusta. In a precedent-setting action, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decided that the ecological value of a free-flowing river was greater than the economic value of a dam. The Edwards Dam was removed on July 1, 1999.
Today, millions of alewives swim from the Atlantic Ocean up the Kennebec every spring in what is perhaps the largest alewife run on the eastern seaboard.
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
It’s About “Dam” Time
I have worked at NRCM for more than 16 years. During that time I have seen a lot of amazing progress made by NRCM and others to protect Maine’s air, land, water, and wildlife. I have attended press conferences, legislative bill signings, member events, public hearings, annual meetings, and many other activities related to our Read More
Returning to Sea—by David Wilkins
Editor’s Note: Alewives are river herring, a term that also includes their close relatives the blueback herring and American shad. Alewives spend most of their life at sea. In early to mid-May, alewives leave the ocean, enter Maine’s coastal rivers, and make their way upstream to spawning habitat in lakes and ponds, sometimes traveling more Read More
10 Years, 430 Dams
New York Times editorial Ten years have gone by since a modest but important moment in American environmental history: the dismantling of the 917-foot-wide Edwards Dam on Maine’s Kennebec River. The Edwards Dam was the first privately owned hydroelectric dam torn down for environmental reasons (and against the owner’s wishes) by the Federal Energy Regulatory Read More
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
10th Anniversary of Removal of Edwards Dam on the Kennebec
Read 10th anniversary press release by NRCM and its Kennebec Coalition partners Remarks by NRCM Executive Director Brownie Carson on 10th anniversary of Edwards Dam removal Brief history timeline of Edwards Dam Environmental, economic, and recreational benefits of removal of the Edwards Dam Whatsthedampoint-Bates1-6-09 – article featuring NRCM board member Lynne Lewis, from Bates College Bates Magazine, January, 2009. Read More
Edwards Dam Gone 10 Years Today
Ten years ago the Edwards Dam in Augusta, Maine, was removed from the Kennebec River and the river has totally come alive. The coalition of groups that worked on this project for more than a decade knew that the benefits would be enormous, and they have been. The Edwards Dam had blocked the river since 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
