Down East fishways undertaking might get almost $8M from Congress
Efforts to revive entry to the St. Croix River for a number of sea-run fishes moved an enormous step nearer to actuality on Thursday.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee voted 28-0 to approve almost $7.8 million to exchange a failing fishway positioned on the Woodland Dam, which is owned by Woodland Pulp, an merchandise championed by Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the highest Republican on the panel.
The cash is included within the Inside, Atmosphere and Associated Companies appropriations invoice. It’s awaiting approval by the Home of Representatives and Senate.
If accepted, the brand new cash might be added to a $2 million grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Nationwide Fish Passage Program that was introduced in April for the restoration that might assist restore heritage fish within the space.
The Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration introduced in November 2022 that additionally it is offering $5 million for the work at Woodland Dam by way of the America the Lovely Problem, which is a partnership of the Biden-Harris administration and the Nationwide Fish and Wildlife Basis.
“Restoring the failing fishway at Woodland Dam on the St. Croix River would enable for better passage of essential species like river herring and American eels, that are important to the households and communities who depend on the well being of Maine’s lobster and elver fisheries,” Collins stated.
The St. Croix River types the japanese boundary between elements of Maine and Canada.
The brand new fishway, positioned on the Woodland Pulp mill, will exchange a construction put in within the Sixties that’s too small, poorly designed, a security hazard, and hampers fish migration.
It’s anticipated to provide fish that spend elements of their lives each within the ocean and in recent water the chance to to succeed in spawning areas that have been a part of their historic habitat.
“This undertaking is a superb instance of balancing restoration efforts with safety of a significant regional employer,” stated Sean Ledwin, director of the Bureau of Sea Run Fisheries and Habitat for the Maine Division of Marine Assets. “Constructing this state-of-the-art fish passage at Woodland Dam on the St. Croix River will restore native sea-run fish passage to over 600 miles of historic fish habitat and enhance the mill infrastructure at Woodland Pulp, the biggest employer in Washington County.”
DMR is working to revive six anadromous species within the St. Croix, giving them entry to greater than 60,000 acres of habitat. The species affected embody alewives, blueback herring, Atlantic salmon, eels and shad, whose populations had declined after a sequence of dams constructed on the St. Croix prohibited fish from reaching their spawning grounds.
The Woodland Dam efforts will coincide with the elimination of the Milltown Dam, positioned downriver in Calais and St. Stephen, New Brunswick. The dam, owned by New Brunswick Energy, was initially inbuilt 1881 to energy a cotton mill and was one of many oldest hydroelectric dams on this planet, based on a narrative from CBC.
Taking out the Milltown Dam will restore 10 miles of the St. Croix to fish.
