Fostering the Flow Between Land and Sea

We are collaborating with state and federal agencies, the Penobscot Indian Nation, and private and municipal dam owners in restoration efforts throughout the watershed, with a focus on critical headwater habitat. The Crooked Brook Flowage/Baskahegan Dam Fishway will reconnect almost 96 miles of upstream habitat and may increase the alewife run to 2 million fish.

At the request of tribal, federal and state partners, TNC is now engaged in a major restoration effort on the mainstem of the river. The watershed covers about 1,600 square miles in the U.S. and Canada and is the heart of Passamaquoddy ancestral homeland. The watershed represents the largest opportunity for alewife restoration in the North Atlantic, with potential returns estimated at 20-30 million fish.

In Maine, thousands of roads constrict waterways and prevent fish and other aquatic organisms from reaching critical habitat. We partner with tribal, state, federal, nonprofit and private landowners to plan for and carry out needed upgrades. Our freshwater program works with communities on upgrading infrastructure to ensure fish passage and reduce flood risk.

In partnership with other nonprofits and Maine’s Department of Marine Resources, we are engaging community scientists along the coast in monitoring smelt populations in coastal rivers. Since smelt are highly sensitive to shifts in water temperature, information about their location will indicate how our coasts and coastal rivers are changing in response to the climate crisis.

TNC Maine is supporting the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians (HBMI) and partners to restore connectivity at a watershed scale to hundreds of river miles in a 5-million-acre portion of the Wolastoq-St. John River basin in Aroostook County, the homelands of the HBMI and Mi’kmaq Nations. The project supports tribal priorities and will open the door to unprecedented federal funding to make these river networks more resilient and road networks safer.