He’d offered their analysis of one’s Kennebec and its own prospective, detailing a brief history of one’s exhaustion of the immediately following-higher fisheries of your own Eastern Seaboard because of overfishing, dams and contamination.
Probably one of the most strong factors which he built to all of us you to definitely go out inside Waterville is that, off Labrador as a result of Florida, of all the canals moving on western Atlantic Sea, he finds the brand new Kennebec provides the ideal diversity from marine kinds, variety including Atlantic fish, Atlantic sturgeon, short-nosed sturgeon, striped bass, Western shad, alewife, blue-back herring, rainbow smelt, tomcod, American eel, and you will water lamprey. Merrymeeting Bay, a portion of the Kennebec estuary system, brings together half a dozen streams – a global rareness of rich and you can threatened diversity.
Over the nine age between routes, exceptional works might have been complete, including the China River Alewife Maintenance Step; performs one fully removed around three non-hydro dams and you may installed tech fishways (seafood ladders) on about three other sites. Maine Canals is a part of that really work, celebrating profits a year ago as more than 800,one hundred thousand indigenous mature alewives were mentioned diving for the river to own the first time since 1783.
It absolutely was a-thrill so you’re able to fly across the lake and you can discover one not as much as us, within the water, life is actually to reconstruct and rejuvenate dinner webs and you will liquids high quality. And additionally well worth honoring ’s the recent removal of new Walton’s Factory dam from inside the Farmington, where various other stream moves easily for the first time into the 240 years, due to Farmington voters which accepted plans put forward of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, arrangements that incorporated park advancements together with substitute for off a couple of road-stream crossings, to benefit nearby people and additionally Atlantic fish and brook trout.
The four mainstem Kennebec dams owned by the newest super-energy business Brookfield are still highly challenging. You will find read all the particular argument up against preservation and you can river maintenance, away from inquiries you to no fish will benefit so you can so much more unconventional thoughts you to definitely so many fish often go back. What do experts look for about the gurus?
Dr. Lynne Y. Lewis, teacher away from business economics within Bates University, recently shared with me the fresh new student thesis from this lady advisee, Tamsin Stringer; really works you to definitely builds on Lewis‘ individual investigations of your actual-community impacts out of dam elimination to the assets values. Stringer looked at personal property viewpoints to see how proximity to help you the new Kennebec River affects assets values. She investigated new different impacts to own locations having dams instead of locations instead, and additional requested if there’s a big difference between property values upstream as opposed to downstream regarding large dams. To accomplish this she examined solitary-house transformation data off Redfin, a real home checklist website, towards urban centers out-of Pittston, Gardiner, Farmingdale, Augusta, Hallowell, Vassalboro, Winslow, Waterville, Fairfield, Skowhegan, Norridgewock and you can Madison.
Most of the towns and cities she examined can be found towards chief stem of your all the way down Kennebec and to carry out the research she searched yourself sales regarding 2017 in order to 2022, tallying full of step three,099 household sales. The work integrated good regression data which have eleven details, regarding the measurements of the brand new residential property and you will point on lake.
Simply speaking, the job confirms one to 
homeowners downstream from Waterville’s Lockwood dam, where in actuality the river is free of charge flowing, most of the benefit from are closer to brand new lake. Upstream of this dam and also the three most other Kennebec dams, the latest river and you may dams keeps a terrible effect on assets values. Their study concluded that the newest cities where the dams is discover, Waterville, Fairfield, Skowhegan, Norridgewock, and Madison, every has actually negative beliefs.
Significantly more work in the realm of business economics is still around over. Will it be over quick sufficient to harmony this new dangers so you can all of our freshwater ecosystems, in which around the globe today a 3rd out of freshwater fish variety is threatened with extinction? Can the rebirth of your own Kennebec assemble environment and you can economic revitalization?