AUTUMN 2016 THE NEWSLETTER OF MAINE RIVERS MASSE LUMBER MILL DISMANTLED As Part of Plan to Restore Migratory Fish Using trucks to move Alewives are native thousands of fish into to China Lake but a lake isn’t exactly the haven’t been seen way nature intended, there for generations, but sometimes that’s not since mills and what it takes. In the dams were built spring of 2014 Maine’s more than one Department of Marine hundred years ago. Resources stocked A migratory species, 21,000 adult alewives adult alewives (also in China Lake as Above: Volunteers collect data during drawdown of Masse mill pond known as river an important first Below: A winning 5th grade poster with an alewife’s lament: herring or by their step in the Alewife “Help me I am stuck! Get this dam breached, please!” Latin name, Alosa at the 2016 China Lake Association annual meeting Restoration Initiative. pseudoharengus) Another important migrate every spring step took place this from the ocean to summer when the lakes and ponds to collapsing Masse reproduce before saw mill, on the site migrating back to of the former Masse the ocean. They are Lumber Company a small silvery fish, in East Vassalboro, known as the “fish was dismantled. And that feed all” because the mill pond behind of the great number of the Masse Dam has been drawn down, allowing creatures that eat them-- from whales, eagles and re-vegetation to occur in anticipation of the dam osprey to turtles, brook trout, otter and mink. removal. continued on page 2 www.mainerivers.org 1 Masse continued from page 1 Spearheaded by Maine Rivers, the Alewife Restoration Initiative (ARI) is an ambitious partnership of organizations and community members working together to re-establish fish passage past six Outlet Stream dams; dams that block native migratory fish trying to make their way upstream to China Lake from the Sebasticook River. The goal of the project is to restore an annual run of 800,000-950,000 adult alewives. American eel, blueback herring, sea lamprey, white sucker and brook trout will also directly benefit from the project. Associated with the former Masse Lumber Company, the saw mill and dam date back to Before its removal the decrepit Masse saw mill was about 1795. Now removed, the saw mill had collapsing onto the Outlet Stream become a serious liability for the East Vassalboro moved permanently out of the stream. The project Water Company, LLC (EVWC), owners of the provides tremendous benefits to customers of property. EVWC is a small public water company the East Vassalboro Water Company, the small that serves about 200 people. Running under investor-owned company that could not afford the mill, the company’s water pipes were at these important upgrades. risk of damage and contamination as the old Removing the Masse saw mill was a considerable saw mill building slowly sagged, with window undertaking. The old mill had been listed on frames popping out panes of glass and floors the National Registry of Historic Places in 1982. collapsing into the stream channel. As part of Before it could be taken apart, the entire history the restoration work, water pipes, including a of the site had to be fully documented according cast iron water main just below the dam and to precise specifications of the Maine Historic water lines located in the impoundment, will be Preservation Office. While that work was being done, volunteers from the Maine Forest and Logging Museum in Bradley visited the site to look for historic equipment that they were able to bring to the museum where it will be part of their rotary sawmill display. Historic machinery was also donated to the Vassalboro Historical Society. While the saw mill has been dismantled and dam will be removed, the historic grist mill remains on the site, with the Outlet Stream flowing by. The project has not been without controversy; Data is collected before the dam removal dam removals always face challenging the status 2 www.mainerivers.org Masse concluded St. Croix Returns quo, even with widespread support for fisheries This year a total of only 33,016 river herring were restoration. Project partners will be submitting counted at the Milltown, the first dam on the St. an Individual Permit to the Maine Department Croix; a large drop from the previous year and of Environmental Protection for the removal of millions below the river’s vast potential. Plagued the Masse Dam. Leaking and no longer serving by known technical problems, the Milltown a purpose, the last time significant repairs were fishway’s issues are being addressed jointly by made to the dam was 1957. Meanwhile, work Canadians (the dam is owned by New Brunswick continues at the five other sites on Outlet Stream. Power Corporation) and Americans as the US federal fisheries agencies and Passamaquoddy A version of this article appeared in the Town Line. tribal members remain engaged in restoring this international waterway. Hydropower Not So Green Going with the flow to collect data that will assist with After All installing fish passage at China Lake’s Outlet Dam New research to be published in BioScience indicates that reservoirs behind dams contribute significant amounts of methane, a greenhouse Not So Fast in Orland gas, to the atmosphere. Unlike natural lakes, In June, residents of Orland voted 433 to 242 man-made reservoirs and impoundments flood in favor of retaining the Orland Village Dam. existing ecosystems of trees and vegetation, Built in the 1930s the dam was owned by Verso which emit gases as they decompose underwater. Paper until 2010 when it was turned over to Drawing down impoundments also exposes the Town. Once home to a prolific alewife the shoreline and alters the pressure of water river, the Narramissic River fishery has greatly on the reservoir, allowing methane to bubble declined. Dam removal would benefit not into the atmosphere. As research has advanced, only alewives but also American eel, blueback estimates of the amount of methane put into herring, American shad, rainbow smelt, the atmosphere by reservoirs have increased brook trout, Atlantic salmon and, possibly, 25%. Unlike power plants that only emit carbon shortnose sturgeon. Voting to retain the dam, when they operate, hydroelectric dams as well as the community opted for dam maintenance non-hydro reservoirs created for irrigation and costs and eventual costs associated with federal drinking water, appear to continually pollute the requirements for fish passage. atmosphere. www.mainerivers.org 3 Reflections on a Year of Advocacy on the Stream By Tina Wood Cobbosseecontee Stream, One small voice, one “The gathering place of tiny step led to another many sturgeon,” in Abenaki, and another until quite has captured my heart. a passionate group was I didn’t intend to spend created to inform change every free moment helping on Cobbossee Stream. Our Gardiner folks understand simple motto, “Do one the need to preserve, small thing for fish passage protect and create fish a day” keeps the load light passage on our gem of as we navigate a course a stream in downtown through, over and around Gardiner, it was just that three downtown dams. this sweet little waterway Together as a community behind old shattered we demonstrated for fish forgotten mills and abandoned industrial sites passage, celebrated alewives and migration was the closest wild place to my home in the leafy through art, we led nature walks on our stream, neighborhood perched above it banks. Its roar we hosted educational workshops and forums and and gurgle called to me, the whistle of osprey we went on field trips to educate ourselves on the beckoned me down over the weedy banks to possibility of fish passage on the stream we love. explore. The beavers and muskrats captivated Over three! We can do it! Won’t you join me with their busy work circling in the pools, Upstream as we begin another year of advocacy while the eagles and herons used the stream as and fun on the stream? Or advocate for your a supersky highway. Foxes, fishers, otters, minks stream in your backyard. It will change your ran the banks as thousands of alewives struggled life and help create a vibrant natural resource to pass derelict granite dams. The townspeople for the wildlife who call it home. -Tina Wood is would not abide the magnitude of loss and an artist, teacher and resident of Gardiner. Visit destruction if they only knew and they would Upstream’s Facebook page for updates. want to celebrate the life the stream supported. Alewife art images courtesy of Tina Wood and Upstream 4 www.mainerivers.org Maine Rivers Board of Directors Welcomes Two New Members With a long and successful history of advocacy efforts to support healthy rivers, the Maine Rivers Board of Directors is pleased to welcome Chuck Verrill of Islesboro. For many years Chuck practiced law in Washington D.C., most recently at Wiley Rein LLP, where he is now of counsel and Chair Emeritus of their International Trade Practice. Chuck has been an Adjunct Professor of International Trade Law at Georgetown University Law Center since 1978 and a Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke Law School. Chuck has acted as pro bono counsel on a number of river restoration issues involving the Penobscot, Kennebec, Sebasticook, and St. Croix Rivers. For the past several years, he has been president of Islesboro Islands Trust. Chuck has six children and eight grandchildren, and is an avid fly fisherman and devoted fan of Duke basketball. Dave Courtemanch spent much of his career with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection as the Director of the Division of Environmental Assessment, responsible for monitoring and assessment of the state’s lakes, rivers, wetlands, marine, and ground water.