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Traveling over the Kennebec River is an interesting experience and i also try grateful to your possible opportunity to look at the watershed off more than, to see and you may look at the efforts which were heading toward more than many years adjust the seas associated with shortly after amazing plus after tragically polluted waterway.
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Nine years back, almost exactly towards day, I would personally encountered the same possibility to travel over the lake following the your day-long Appointment into Kennebec prepared within the Waterville of the Maine Rivers, many thanks again on the kindness of your nonprofit LightHawk.
Preservation biologist Dr. John Waldman try the conference’s keynote speaker and you may registered me personally on the the 2014 flight. He’d given his testing of one’s Kennebec as well as possible, listing the history of exhaustion of one’s once-great fisheries of the Eastern Seaboard due to overfishing, dams and you can contaminants.
Probably one of the most strong affairs which he designed to you you to day during the Waterville is the fact, out-of Labrador down to Fl, of all streams flowing with the west Atlantic Sea, the guy finds out new Kennebec provides the better assortment off aquatic variety, species which include Atlantic salmon, Atlantic sturgeon, short-nosed sturgeon, striped bass, Western shad, alewife, blue-right back herring, rainbow smelt, tomcod, American eel, and you may water lamprey. Merrymeeting Bay, the main Kennebec estuary system, integrates half a dozen rivers – an international rarity from rich and you will endangered diversity.
Over the nine many years ranging from routes, remarkable work has been finished, for instance the China River Alewife Fix Initiative; performs you to completely got rid of around three low-hydro dams and you may strung tech fishways (fish ladders) within around three websites. Maine Streams are an integral part of that work, celebrating success a year ago as more than 800,000 local adult alewives have been measured swimming to the lake getting the 1st time just like the 1783.
It actually was a thrill so you can travel along side lake and you can discover you to definitely below united states, in the water, life is actually back once again to rebuild and refresh eating webs and you can drinking water top quality. Including really worth remembering is the present removal of this new Walton’s Mill dam into the Farmington, where another weight circulates freely the very first time in the 240 many years, as a result of Farmington voters exactly who accepted arrangements put forward because of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, agreements you to definitely integrated playground developments and the replacement for of a few roadway-stream crossings, to profit neighborhood community as well as Atlantic salmon and brook trout.
The five mainstem Kennebec dams owned by the fresh mega-energy organization Brookfield will still be highly tricky. I have heard most of the sort of dispute facing maintenance and you may river restoration, out-of issues one to zero fish can benefit to significantly more bizarre opinion you to definitely unnecessary fish tend to come back. Exactly what do researchers see about the benefits?
Dr. Lynne Y. Lewis, teacher off business economics at Bates College or university, has just shared with me personally this new student thesis from the girl advisee, Tamsin Stringer; really works you to generates on the Lewis’ own research of your real-globe has an effect on of dam removal toward property beliefs. Stringer looked at private possessions viewpoints to see just how proximity so you can the fresh Kennebec Lake influences property beliefs. She examined the varying influences getting towns and cities that have dams instead of cities instead, and further questioned when there is a big change ranging from possessions beliefs upstream versus downstream out-of highest dams. To do so she examined solitary-house conversion process studies off Redfin, a bona-fide estate checklist web site, into places out of Pittston, Gardiner, Farmingdale, Augusta, Hallowell, Vassalboro, Winslow, Waterville, Fairfield, Skowhegan, Norridgewock and you will Madison.
The metropolitan areas she examined are found on main base of your own lower Kennebec in order to carry out the study she checked in the home conversion from 2017 so you’re able to 2022, tallying complete of step 3,099 home conversion. The task included a good regression research that have eleven variables, regarding the size of this new home and you may length into river.
Simply speaking, the job confirms you to definitely property owners downstream of Waterville’s Lockwood dam, where in fact the river is free of charge moving, all benefit from becoming closer to this new river. Upstream of these dam together with around three most other Kennebec xmatch love tekst dams, the latest river and you may dams has an awful effect on assets viewpoints. This lady data concluded that the locations where in fact the dams is actually located, Waterville, Fairfield, Skowhegan, Norridgewock, and Madison, every enjoys negative values.
Far more operate in the world of business economics is still around over. Would it be complete quick sufficient to equilibrium brand new risks in order to all of our freshwater ecosystems, where globally today a third from freshwater fish varieties are endangered with extinction? Is the fresh new revival of your own Kennebec gather environmental and you will monetary revitalization?