#watervilleme — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #watervilleme, 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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How soon people forget...
A century ago, #FrancoAmericans were targeted in #Maine like today’s #Somali #immigrants
Opinion by Tommy Pinette, March 3, 2026
"Two years ago, I learned the infamous #KuKluxKlan exploded in popularity throughout Maine during its resurgence in the 1920s. Across the United States, the terrorist group amassed hundreds of thousands of new followers in a rather clever dissemblance as a community service and fraternal organization. At one point, in fact, approximately 30% of Maine’s native-born population were enrolled members of the KKK. Yet they did not target Somali-Americans, people on work visas, or permanent residents from Africa — they vehemently attacked the people we now call Franco-Americans.
"Prominent Franco communities in #LewistonME, #RumfordME, #OldTownME, #AugustaME, and #WatervilleME, called 'petits Canadas,' became targets of violence for the #KKK.
"One local history of the Franco-American community of Old Town recounts a horrific stand-off at French Island: holding torches and weapons, a mob of angry klansmen attempted to cross the bridge onto the island in order to burn it down. Only the rapid efforts of men in the community to block the bridge physically kept the island from going up in flames.
"And yet, I hear many of my Franco relatives talk poorly about immigrants. They repeat similar slogans to the ones President Donald Trump spreads about immigrants who come from Africa, particularly those from East Africa: “they shouldn’t be here … Somalia is not even a country” Animus defines how many Franco-Americans understand immigrants, the people who stand in the very same place their ancestors once stood a couple generations ago.
"Do not forget that our #WhitePrivilege came at a great historical cost in the forms of systemic French language suppression, decades of shameful stereotypes, and barriers to higher education. For almost 70 years, the state of Maine had a legislative policy of only offering public education in English. We must remember our ancestors, the memères and pepères who endured the same xenophobic insults immigrants in America face today."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/83Hi6#USPol #WorldPol #MainePol #NewAmericans #NewMainers #USHistory #MaineHistory #ICESucks #AbolishICE #Hypocrisy