#thenatureconservancy — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #thenatureconservancy, aggregated by home.social.
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4 Dams Set for Removal in #Maine Will Open Hundreds of Miles of #River for #Salmon, #Herring and #Sturgeon
By Andy Corbley, Oct 15, 2025
"In Maine, ownership of 4 large dams has been transferred to #TheNatureConservancy in a sale it hopes will return the river they operate on into prime habitat for salmon for the first time in a century.
"Operated by #BrookfieldRenewables, the dams along the lower #KennebecRiver prevent ocean going, freshwater fish like salmon from accessing #AncestralSpawningGrounds upriver.
"On September 15th, 2025, The Nature Conservancy (#TNC) and #Brookfield signed a purchase and sale agreement for the four dams totaling $138 million.
"The Kennebec River is fed by #SandyRiver in the heart of Maine before running down to the #GulfOfMaine past the towns of #SkowheganME and #WatervilleME. The Weston, Shawmut, #HydroKennebec, and Lockwood dams are located in intervals along this stretch, called the #LowerKennebec.
"The federal regulatory process for decommissioning a dam, as seen in the recent parallel in #California, where four dams were removed to make way for salmon, needed more than 5 years from start to finish. As a result, TNC will look to gather another $30 million in funding to create a nonprofit that will manage and oversee the decommissioning process, during which the dams could continue to generate power for 5 to 10 years.
"That would include working with Sappi North America, whose Somerset Mill, located between the town of Skowhegan and the #ShawmutDam, to find a solution to the company’s long-term water needs, which are currently met by this dam.
"Their twin goals in the decommissioning project are to return free-flowing conditions to the lower Kennebec River to support regionally-#endangered #NorthAtlanticSalmon, while doing so in collaboration with existing stakeholders in the dams’ activities, Sappi included.
" 'TNC and its partners are 100% committed to developing a solution with Sappi that fully addresses the Somerset Mill’s long-term water system needs,' the organization wrote in a statement. 'We understand the vital role of the Somerset Mill for the forest products industry and the state’s economy.'
"#AtlanticSalmon are considered near-threatened worldwide, but certain stocks in the North Atlantic have almost completely disappeared. Access to Sandy River via the lower Kennebec would open up hundreds of miles of prime habitat for spawning and coming of age.
"Brookfield maintains dams higher up the river, but these areas are considered to be of poor habitat quality. Those dams also happen to produce substantially more electricity than the dams along the lower stretch of the river—those set to be removed.
"The Maine Monitor reports that fishing advocacy groups have argued for the dam’s removal for 'decades.' #RiverHerring [#Alewives], the federally-protected #AtlanticSturgeon, and #AmericanEel all rely on Maine’s freshwater rivers to either spawn or feed before swimming out to sea.
"The current predicament finds around one-twelfth of the historic spawning population of Atlantic salmon returning to the Kennebec via the gulf, where they’re captured at #LockwoodDam and actually trucked up the roads past the next three dams to spawn. During the reverse journey many do not survive the journey to the gulf past the industrial infrastructure.
"The removal of the #KlamathRiver dams this time last year produced incredible results immediately, with fish finding their way back upstream far past the farthest dam to spawn within a single season, proving that ancestral instincts can remain intact despite generations of fish not being able to act on them.
"But examples also lie closer to home, with dams removed years past along another Maine river, the #PenobscotRiver, resulting in long-term economic and environmental improvements."
#SolarPunkSunday #DamRemoval #Maine #EndangeredSpecies #WaterIsLife
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#Maine - The #SchoodicToSchoodic Initiative
"Together we can save one of the last places along the #EasternSeaboard where #wildlife can roam to and from rocky #shores and inland #woods seeking food and refuge.
"Seventy-five percent of Maine’s native plants and animals are vulnerable to the impacts of #ClimateChange. As temperatures warm, these threatened species will have to move significant distances to survive, but too often #development makes this impossible.
"Over the past several decades we’ve been working in partnership with #FrenchmanBayConservancy, #TheNatureConservancy, the #StateOfMaine, and other partners to conserve key 'stepping stones' of land between #DonnellPond Unit (state-conserved land surrounding #SchoodicMountain and #TunkLake) and the #SchoodicDistrict of #AcadiaNationalPark (on the #SchoodicPeninsula) to create a protected corridor for #wildlife. Through over 60 conservation projects, #MCHT and partners have conserved more than 55,000 acres from 'Schoodic to Schoodic.' MCHT has played a role in three-quarters of those projects.
"Still, the corridor is not sufficiently protected and critical lands are under threat of development."
Learn more:
https://www.mcht.org/conservation-work/initiative/the-schoodic-to-schoodic-initiative/#SolarPunkSunday #WildlifeCorridors #MaineCoastHeritageTrust #Nature #MaineCoast #Acadia #ProtectNature
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#Maine - The #SchoodicToSchoodic Initiative
"Together we can save one of the last places along the #EasternSeaboard where #wildlife can roam to and from rocky #shores and inland #woods seeking food and refuge.
"Seventy-five percent of Maine’s native plants and animals are vulnerable to the impacts of #ClimateChange. As temperatures warm, these threatened species will have to move significant distances to survive, but too often #development makes this impossible.
"Over the past several decades we’ve been working in partnership with #FrenchmanBayConservancy, #TheNatureConservancy, the #StateOfMaine, and other partners to conserve key 'stepping stones' of land between #DonnellPond Unit (state-conserved land surrounding #SchoodicMountain and #TunkLake) and the #SchoodicDistrict of #AcadiaNationalPark (on the #SchoodicPeninsula) to create a protected corridor for #wildlife. Through over 60 conservation projects, #MCHT and partners have conserved more than 55,000 acres from 'Schoodic to Schoodic.' MCHT has played a role in three-quarters of those projects.
"Still, the corridor is not sufficiently protected and critical lands are under threat of development."
Learn more:
https://www.mcht.org/conservation-work/initiative/the-schoodic-to-schoodic-initiative/#SolarPunkSunday #WildlifeCorridors #MaineCoastHeritageTrust #Nature #MaineCoast #Acadia #ProtectNature
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#Maine - The #SchoodicToSchoodic Initiative
"Together we can save one of the last places along the #EasternSeaboard where #wildlife can roam to and from rocky #shores and inland #woods seeking food and refuge.
"Seventy-five percent of Maine’s native plants and animals are vulnerable to the impacts of #ClimateChange. As temperatures warm, these threatened species will have to move significant distances to survive, but too often #development makes this impossible.
"Over the past several decades we’ve been working in partnership with #FrenchmanBayConservancy, #TheNatureConservancy, the #StateOfMaine, and other partners to conserve key 'stepping stones' of land between #DonnellPond Unit (state-conserved land surrounding #SchoodicMountain and #TunkLake) and the #SchoodicDistrict of #AcadiaNationalPark (on the #SchoodicPeninsula) to create a protected corridor for #wildlife. Through over 60 conservation projects, #MCHT and partners have conserved more than 55,000 acres from 'Schoodic to Schoodic.' MCHT has played a role in three-quarters of those projects.
"Still, the corridor is not sufficiently protected and critical lands are under threat of development."
Learn more:
https://www.mcht.org/conservation-work/initiative/the-schoodic-to-schoodic-initiative/#SolarPunkSunday #WildlifeCorridors #MaineCoastHeritageTrust #Nature #MaineCoast #Acadia #ProtectNature
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#Maine - The #SchoodicToSchoodic Initiative
"Together we can save one of the last places along the #EasternSeaboard where #wildlife can roam to and from rocky #shores and inland #woods seeking food and refuge.
"Seventy-five percent of Maine’s native plants and animals are vulnerable to the impacts of #ClimateChange. As temperatures warm, these threatened species will have to move significant distances to survive, but too often #development makes this impossible.
"Over the past several decades we’ve been working in partnership with #FrenchmanBayConservancy, #TheNatureConservancy, the #StateOfMaine, and other partners to conserve key 'stepping stones' of land between #DonnellPond Unit (state-conserved land surrounding #SchoodicMountain and #TunkLake) and the #SchoodicDistrict of #AcadiaNationalPark (on the #SchoodicPeninsula) to create a protected corridor for #wildlife. Through over 60 conservation projects, #MCHT and partners have conserved more than 55,000 acres from 'Schoodic to Schoodic.' MCHT has played a role in three-quarters of those projects.
"Still, the corridor is not sufficiently protected and critical lands are under threat of development."
Learn more:
https://www.mcht.org/conservation-work/initiative/the-schoodic-to-schoodic-initiative/#SolarPunkSunday #WildlifeCorridors #MaineCoastHeritageTrust #Nature #MaineCoast #Acadia #ProtectNature
-
#Maine - The #SchoodicToSchoodic Initiative
"Together we can save one of the last places along the #EasternSeaboard where #wildlife can roam to and from rocky #shores and inland #woods seeking food and refuge.
"Seventy-five percent of Maine’s native plants and animals are vulnerable to the impacts of #ClimateChange. As temperatures warm, these threatened species will have to move significant distances to survive, but too often #development makes this impossible.
"Over the past several decades we’ve been working in partnership with #FrenchmanBayConservancy, #TheNatureConservancy, the #StateOfMaine, and other partners to conserve key 'stepping stones' of land between #DonnellPond Unit (state-conserved land surrounding #SchoodicMountain and #TunkLake) and the #SchoodicDistrict of #AcadiaNationalPark (on the #SchoodicPeninsula) to create a protected corridor for #wildlife. Through over 60 conservation projects, #MCHT and partners have conserved more than 55,000 acres from 'Schoodic to Schoodic.' MCHT has played a role in three-quarters of those projects.
"Still, the corridor is not sufficiently protected and critical lands are under threat of development."
Learn more:
https://www.mcht.org/conservation-work/initiative/the-schoodic-to-schoodic-initiative/#SolarPunkSunday #WildlifeCorridors #MaineCoastHeritageTrust #Nature #MaineCoast #Acadia #ProtectNature