One of the most ambitious river restorations ever undertaken in the United States is happening on the Penobscot River. By Virginia M. Wright Down East magazine The reporters call John Banks from far-flung places like India, China, and Japan. They want to know how Maine is freeing a river from dams that have devastated eleven Read More
Penobscot River Restoration
The Natural Resources Council of Maine is proud to be a founding member of the Penobscot River Restoration Project and the Penobscot River Restoration Trust. The Trust worked for more than a decade to restore magnificent runs of Atlantic salmon, shad, and other sea-run fish to the Penobscot River, the largest river in Maine. The Trust removed two dams that have blocked fish migrations for more than a century—the Great Works Dam and the Veazie Dam, and constructed an innovative, river-like bypass around the third dam on the river at Howland. Fish are using this bypass to access nearly 2,000 miles of historic habitat. The Penobscot River has worked hard for Maine people for hundreds of years. Now we need to take care of the river. NRCM’s membership in the Penobscot River Restoration Trust is one more example of our commitment to protecting and restoring Maine’s environment, now and for future generations.
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
A River In the Balance
Bangor Daily News editorial On Monday, crews began demolishing the Penobscot River’s Veazie Dam. It marked an important moment for sea-run fish, efforts to restore a complex habitat and unlikely partnerships. The day was notable not only for the state but also for the nation: The dam breaching is part of one of the largest Read More
Veazie Dam Demolition Begins on Penobscot River
The Associated Press Sun Journal news story VEAZIE (AP) — Removal of the Veazie Dam on Maine’s Penobscot River began Monday, a move that environmentalists are calling a monumental step toward resurrecting the river’s once-abundant marine life. Demolition of the 830-foot-long dam connecting Veazie and Eddington near Bangor on Maine’s largest river is part of Read More
Ceremony “and Eagles” Mark Beginning of Veazie Dam Removal
Gale Courey Toensing Indian Country Today Media Network news story The restoration of the Penobscot River in Maine has taken a monumental step forward with the breaching of the Veazie Dam, which will open up the river from Indian Island at Old Town to the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in more than 150 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
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
