Before the 1830s, there were no dams on Maine’s Penobscot River. Atlantic salmon ran upstream in schools numbering 50,000 or more. Shad and alewives migrated 100 miles upriver. Twenty pound striped bass and Atlantic sturgeon ranged far from the ocean into New England’s second largest river.
Since 2013, the fish have had the renewed opportunity to retrace those routes imprinted in their DNA long ago. The removal of two dams and improved operations of a third has reconnected a significant portion of the Penobscot and those anadromous fish to their freshwater home. Hydropower generation, meanwhile, has not diminished at all.
The contemporary salmon run is considerably smaller than its historic counterpart. But after well over a century of manipulation, that’s to be expected. And even numbering around 1,000 fish in recent years, it still qualifies as the largest Atlantic salmon run remaining in the U.S. With the benefits of dam removals, their numbers are expected to grow. And as the fisheries rebound, other wildlife that feeds on migrating fish should also thrive.
When the Penobscot River Restoration Project is complete, eleven species of native sea-run fish will have renewed access to nearly 1,000 miles of aquatic habitat that stretches across rolling hills, wooded swamps, and marshes from the shadows of Maine’s highest peak, Katahdin, to the Penobscot Bay near the town of Bucksport.
Long dormant cultures will see revivals as well, from the original Penobscot Indian Nation historically dependent upon the fish to Down East traditions of canoe building, fly-tying, and angling embraced by generations past. The reconnected river will introduce a new age of anglers, hunters, boaters, and tourists to the Penobscot already known for its wild brook trout and landlocked salmon fishing on the West Branch, with stout whitewater paddling above.
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