Help restore endangered Atlantic salmon to the Kennebec River

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Take Action to Help Restore Endangered Atlantic Salmon to the Kennebec River

We need your help to restore the lower Kennebec
in order to save this iconic Maine species!

Atlantic salmon are on the brink of dying out in the Kennebec River. We need your help to restore the lower Kennebec and save this iconic Maine species! Please use this form to email your comments in support of the Department of Marine Resources' (DMR) new Kennebec River Management Plan Amendment.

The deadline to submit comments has been extended to Saturday, March 27, 2021.

Kennebec River looking toward Skowhegan, by Richard Flanagan.

Please comment in support of DMR’s management plan, which recognizes the need for removal of two of the four dams. Please also ask DMR to strengthen the plan to recognize that all four of these antiquated dams need to go. Learn more.

Key Points to Make in Support of the DMR Kennebec River Plan Amendment:

Atlantic salmon are on the brink of extinction in the U.S., and restoring them in the Kennebec is the best way to stop this. These four old dams are not worth driving this iconic species out of American waters forever.
DMR’s proposed amendment is a big step in the right direction. Please thank DMR for this and its recommendation to remove the Lockwood and Shawmut dams.
There are no successful restoration efforts for American shad or Atlantic salmon above multiple dams anywhere, even above just two dams!
The four dams on the Kennebec between Waterville and Skowhegan provide only six percent of Maine’s hydropower capacity. They are not worth the extensive damage they do to what was once Maine’s most productive river in terms of fisheries.
The estimated solar capacity coming online in Maine over the next five years dwarfs the capacity of these four Kennebec dams, even when considering that solar generators run at full capacity less of the time.

It’s best to personalize your comments as much as possible. Use the form to the right to personalize and send your email to the Department of Marine Resources.

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Take Action to Help Restore Endangered Atlantic Salmon to the Kennebec River

Maine Dept. of Marine Resources

Subject: I support DMR's Kennebec River Management Plan amendments

Message:

I am writing in support DMR's proposed Kennebec River Diadromous Resources Amendment and also to ask you to strengthen the proposed plan amendment to recommend removing all four of the dams between Waterville and Skowhegan. The plan builds on DMR’s strong record of restoration success in the Kennebec River after the removal of the Edwards and Fort Halifax Dams. DMR has a lot to be proud of in terms of the lower river’s rebirth below Waterville. The river teems with sea-run fish and all of the aquatic creatures that prey on them. The restoration of sea-run fisheries in the Sebasticook River has been spectacular. Above Waterville, however, the river tells a different story. The “interim” fish lift at the Lockwood Dam has never worked since its installation in 2006. It passes neither salmon nor shad effectively. Even the fish that do enter the lift cannot swim upstream, and it is my understanding that DMR has to transport them in trucks to suitable habitat. Although the various dam owners of the dams promised rapid fisheries restoration in the 1998 Kennebec Hydro Developers Group agreement, they have not complied. Brookfield, like the other dam owners before it, has proven adept at delaying compliance with fish passage requirements, all while claiming their power is “green.” Their power is not green based on the considerable harm the dams continue to do to the fish and wildlife that rely on the river. I support DMR’s recommendation in the plan to remove the Lockwood and Shawmut Dams. But, I think the plan should go further and recommend the removal of all four dams. There has never been successful restoration of American shad or Atlantic salmon over multiple dams (even two!) anywhere. Atlantic salmon are on the brink of extinction in the U.S., and the Kennebec is the most important river to restore them in. Brookfield has proven it can’t be trusted to take its fish passage requirements seriously. It has shown in the Kennebec and throughout Maine that its engineered fish passage systems rarely work well. I believe the time is past due to remove the four lower Kennebec dams between Waterville and Skowhegan. They are a small fraction of Maine’s overall hydropower capacity, and their generation isn’t worth the damage they cause. Over the next five years alone, Maine’s projected solar buildout will dwarf the capacity of these four dams even considering that solar generators run at full capacity less of the time. Thank you again for all of the work DMR has done to restore the Kennebec.

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