FOSL letter to FERC 11-26-10

This letter informs FERC that the DEP has been irresponsible in its participation in the relicensing of Eel Weir dam, FERC project number 2984. This letter places on the official licensing record the impacts of the present post 1997 lake regulation on Sebago Lake, the Presumpscot River, Casco Bay, and the Gulf of Maine, global warming, and ocean acidification.

November 25, 2010
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
Mail Code: OEP, PJ 12.3
888 First Street, N.E.,
Washington, DC 20426

Re: Project No. 2984-080-Maine, Eel Weir Dam , S.D. Warren Company(SAPPI)
Friends of Sebago Lake (FOSL) request:
1. A return to the historic 1910-1986 uniform outflow policy.
2. Additional relicensing studies request including the impact of abnormal
outflows for sustained time periods affecting lake wetlands and silica
depletion in the Sebago Lake water continuum.

Dear Secretary Bose,

It is time for the FERC and the licensee, S.D. Warren Co., to restore the outflow policy provided below for Eel Weir Dam which will re-establish ecologically beneficial conditions for Sebago Lake, the Presumpscot River , the Presumpscot River Estuary, and Casco Bay.

1. Return to historic pre 1982 uniform outflow range flows and lake levels.
2. Outflows would only be adjusted for lake levels entering the 25th and 75th percentile and again at the 10th and 90th percentile. This would allow low, average or high water levels in any season as precipitation dictates, yet prevent extreme low outflows or damaging violations of the flowage easements.
3 Average flows must be adjusted upward if changing climatic conditions i.e. climate change, continues to cause increased annual rainfall averages.
4 End any “yo-yo” river level flow operation due to eel or fish passage.
5. When water levels reach the historic 1910-1986, 10th, 25th, 75th and 90th weekly percentiles, flow changes must be adjusted instantaneously.



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If the present FERC approved 1997 Lake Level Management Plan (LLMP) was replaced with the outflow policy outlined on page one, the following beneficial impacts would occur:

1. End the continuing multi million dollar losses from wasteful hydropower
spillage that has occurred over the past 14 years due to the present LLMP .

2. Increase flood prevention storage capacity and mitigate excessive spillage.

3. Decrease occurrences of above full pond episodes and destructive flowage
easements violations.

4. Reverse increasing trophic state trend and improve water quality.

5. Maintain adequate dry space of septic systems in low lying areas in the summer
and end the phosphorus contributions from presently flooded septic systems .

6. Restore healthy biodiversity and nutrient filtering
functions of lake wetlands.

7. Control and eradicate invasive species like milfoil naturally.

8. Restore Maine’s most outstanding inland beaches.

9. Reduce harmful silica retention in inland freshwaters and subsequent silica
depletion in Casco Bay.

10. Restore healthy saltwater diatom populations allowing suppression of harmful
algae blooms.

11. Reduce monetary losses of the shellfishery industry due to increased “red tide”
closures of shellfish beds.

12.High flow events and lake levels below the pre 1982 historic 25th percentile
would scrub the river bottom and restore the Songo River to natural clear
sandy bottom habitat suitable for salmon and trout propagation. A return to
clear, open, and non- milfoil choked stream habitat would deter the recently
introduced pike.

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13.End the erosion of millions of cubic feet of riparian glacial till, clays, beach deposits and topsoils due to increased water level averages and constant high lake levels that has occurred since the 1997 LLMP went into effect.


It is baffling that an unprecedented delaying hold for a FERC hydro relicensing {project number 2984-042} has occurred since 2005. The reason for this 5 year delay is a Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MeDEP) study to determine how much lower allowable Presumpscot River flows can be reduced in the summertime without dissolved oxygen levels failing to meet minimum Class C
standards. The MeDEP justifies their flow study because SAPPI’s S.D. Warren mill is no longer discharging pulp effluent into the Presumpscot River and Smelt Hill Dam at the Presumpscot River outlet has been removed. Now, DEP claims less outflow is needed to dilute the pollution and sustain minimum dissolved oxygen concentrations. The further reduction in Sebago Lake minimum outflows sought by MeDEP, at the bequest of high water interests would, during droughts, guarantee adherence to minimum lake level targets of the 1997 FERC ordered LLMP.

This MeDEP Presumpscot River flow study has set a precedent that an impact of outflow discharge volume on water quality (dissolved oxygen) downstream of Sebago Lake is part of the relicensing process and the purpose of the information gathered during the study is to modify the LLMP. During the 1,750 plus days since the FERC final p-2984 license document was readied for final State Water Quality Certification (WQC) new evidences are surfacing that indicate the impacts of the present FERC Sebago Lake LLMP are significantly more broad and harmful to the entire Sebago Lake water continuum than we ever could have imagined.

The MDEP has ignored the harmful impacts of a double digit fold increase in river low flow events from 1997-2009 as compared with the period from 1910-1986 (23. Kasprzak). A comparable freshwater flow change on any northeast U.S. river would have “profound” impacts on the river estuary (22. Nixon et al). In addition “a twenty-six fold increase in high flow events” during the same time period is disrupting the natural abilities of Casco Bay’s estuarine systems to process nutrients and pollutants (25. Kasprzak). FOSL requests that impacts of the present unnatural regulation regarding silica depletion (DSi) in the Sebago Lake water continuum (Presumpscot River Estuary-Casco Bay) and the significant physical impacts of river-estuarine flow changes be studied and analyzed.
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FERC recommended in the 2005 Environmental Assessment for p-2984 that Sebago Lake wetlands be studied on a 5 year cycle. The last lake wetland
monitoring studies occurred in 2002. My request for new wetland plant studies,
biogeochemical assessment of wetland soils, and determination of dissolved silica concentrations and ratios with the other elements of nitrogen, phosphorus and iron is consistent with FERC’s 2005 Final Environmental Assessment p-2984
recommendation. FERC’s recommendation:

“Therefore, we recommend that S.D. Warren monitor wetlands around
Sebago Lake consistent with the program required for the 1997 LLMP, but
on a 5-year cycle. This monitoring program would afford S.D. Warren
the opportunity to document any long-term changes in wetland
cover and plant diversity. “(13. p.91 Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission Final Environmental Assessment
FERC Project 2984 Eel Weir Dam)

In depth wetland studies should commence as soon as possible because no Sebago Lake study exists that provides information on lake wetland vegetation changes since 1997 Lake Regulation Plan was implemented (21. Wilcox "Site Visit and Evaluation of Wetland Conditions at Sebago Lake"). Wetland vegetation is a key determinant of biogenic silica recycling.

The current unnatural freshwater flows of The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s current Sebago Lake LLMP, FERC hydro project number p-2984-Eel Weir Dam, create the chemical, physical and biological conditions that reduce the flow of sufficient dissolved silica. The increased depletion of dissolved silica is resulting in degradation of Sebago Lake, the Presumpscot River, the Presumpscot River estuary, Casco Bay and is harming fisheries in the Gulf of
Maine.

Below is a list of some impacts of the present unnatural regulation of Sebago Lake that contribute to dissolved silica depletion factors in Sebago Lake, the Presumpscot River and Casco Bay.

The reduced summertime outflow volume necessary to maintain near full pond lake levels result in a longer flow retention time of Sebago Lake and the Presumpscot River waters. This additional seasonal water residence time of lake and river waters allows for increased freshwater diatom population growth and
silica deposition (3. Ragueneau et al). Higher freshwater diatoms numbers
page four
contribute to additional depletion of the available lake and river reservoir of
dissolved silica (15. Stoermer ). The present lake regulation compounds the
existing impacts of other dams in the Presumpscot River for dissolved silica
retention and depletion. This impact is a commonly known part of the “artificial
lake effect’(4. Wang).
Reduced lake level fluctuation and constant high summer water levels increase anoxia in lake wetlands and lake sediments. This is now the case for Sebago Lake’s wetlands because now significant tracts of the lake wetland bottom sediments are never exposed to the air especially in the warm months. This lack of oxygen prevents dissolution of biogenic silica found in dead diatom shells and
some plant matter buried in the sediments. This recycling of biogenic silica is
lost to the water continuum because the diatom shells and dead plant matter
silicate is permanently sequestered in the wetland bottom sediments. Biogenic
silica is readily recycled under oxygenated conditions (16.Allanson, 6. Struyf).
The constant higher summer lake levels with reduced fluctuation reduces groundwater charge inflow to the lake. Groundwater is significantly higher in dissolved silica than surface water. The reduced summer groundwater charge lowers the available dissolved silica in the summer time 10. Hurley et al). Less lake level fluctuation as is presently the case leads to less contact of surface waters with soils and groundwater in the riparian zone and thus reducing weathering fluxes (19. Humborg et al). It is obvious that dissolved silica influx would be reduced. In addition, the constant high summer lake levels increase phosphorus contribution from septic systems in low lying beach areas thus further increasing diatom growth and uptake of dissolved silica ( 24. C-E Groundwater Study).
The present increases in low flow events affects the rheotaxis of anadromous fish. The anadromous fish species and the fish that pursue them for food up the estuaries stir the sediments. This piscatory stirring of estuary and river sediments thus helps to supply silica and other vital nutrients to coastal waters(1.Yahel et al).
Elevated phosphorus levels in the lake water column increase the uptake of dissolved silica by freshwater diatoms. The unnatural regulation increases phosphorus concentration to the lake due to shoreline erosion and diminished functions of wetlands to safely store nutrients. The lake’s natural buffering mechanisms that safely process nutrients are compromised. Lake wetlands of Sebago Lake are inundated through the summer months. Lake bottom sediments with increased layers of organic deposition have reduced exposure to the air. As a result the sediments become anoxic. Under the anoxic conditions phosphorus is released from the soils instead of being safely and permanently sequestered in
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the sediments.(9.Salki). Freshwater diatom populations will increase until
dissolved silica is depleted. When this happens non-silica algae dominate(12.
Struyf). Often, this is why algae blooms occur in late summer when summer
diatom growth tends to reduce silica concentrations.
Unnatural lake regulation changes the population of aquatic plant species(18. Changes in the Emergent Plant Cover Netly-Libau Marsh). Cattails and variable leaf milfoil thrive under the present unnatural lake regulation while native
species do not. Newspaper articles describe “enormous recent growths of milfoil
in the lower Songo River (20. Portland Press Herald July 15, 2010). Also,
monocultures of cattails will eliminate other plant species important for
maintaining high water quality (17. DCR Massachusetts). Explosive growth of
variable leaf milfoil in Sebago Lake’s coves and tributary river outlets has
harmed the historic ecosystem habitat. These invasive plants reduce oxygenation
of bottom sediments which increase phosphorus releases which further fuel
freshwater diatom growth. This compounds the harmful impact of
creating anoxic sediments and waters by creating geochemical changes in the
sediments which affects the dissolution and recycling
of biogenic silica.


The Disruption of the Silica Cycle by Unnatural Freshwater Flow(abnormal dam outflow discharges)

Freshwater diatom populations increase due to various impacts of unnatural lake regulation. Lake wetlands that never dry out or gain exposure to the air during the growing season have become anoxic. This results in the transport of phosphorus from bottom sediments which increases diatom population growth. These freshwater diatoms absorb available dissolved silica and biogenic silica to form their frustules (shells). Freshwater diatom frustules are larger than saltwater
diatoms and generally require larger volumes of dissolved silica than saltwater
diatoms. When diatoms die they sink to the bottom sediments. Now that lake and lake wetland sediments are more anoxic because of constant water inundation due to the present unnatural lake regulation, the biogenic silica both from plant matter and diatoms is not readily recycled as would occur under naturally fluctuating water levels and subsequent oxygenated conditions. In addition, the increased retention time of lake waters because of reduced outflows in the warm months of the year gives more opportunity for silica to be buried in sediments and
permanently removed from the silica cycle. When less dissolved silica reaches
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coastal waters, saltwater diatom populations can not maintain sufficient numbers. Healthy saltwater diatom populations suppress harmful algae blooms like red tide. Diatoms are the gold of the food chain and responsible for the historic superior
fishery of the Gulf of Maine. Watersheds with ten percent or greater lake area are already subject to natural silica depletion. Dams further the reduction of dissolved silica in the water continuum (18. Conley et al). Because of these existing factors, coastal waters are sensitive to the additional limitations of dissolved silica by the present flow regulation. Diatoms are regulators of ocean acidity and atmospheric carbon dioxide. Unnatural freshwater flows on a global scale may be one of the
larger contributors to climate change, to the demise of the ocean fishery, and to increased ocean acidity. Unnatural freshwater flow is a growing world wide problem but is essentially unnecessary in Maine.

Request for Additional Studies

Friends of Sebago Lake requests that FERC require additional studies for the
presently delayed relicensing of Eel Weir dam, FERC Project number 2984 to determine the impacts of the present lake regulation on silica depletion of Sebago Lake, the Presumpscot River, the Presumpscot River Estuary and Casco Bay.
The following impact studies of the present Sebago Lake LLMP regarding silica depletion should include:
Aeration and redox changes in wetland bottom sediment geochemistry affecting biogenic recycling of silica from wetland sediments (2.Struyf)
Lake wetland aquatic plant species population changes and resulting impacts on
diatom growth.Lake groundwater contributions of dissolved silica comparisons
with post 1997 lake management and pre-1986 management.
Identifying post 1986 flow regulation induced sources of increased phosphorus contribution to lake waters and subsequent effects on diatom populations and DSi.
4.Estimation of additional growth of diatom populations from longer summer
water flow retention time.
5.Determining seasonal dissolved silica concentrations in various areas of Sebago
lake waters .
Effect of increased low flows on rheotaxis of anadromous fish and subsequent
loss of stirring of silica rich estuary and river sediments. Reductions of
freshwater flow are generally associated with an overall negative impact on the
fishery.
7. Relationships of changes in lake regulation and increased occurrences of
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numbers and intensities of red tide events in Casco Bay. Red tide events have
increased in numbers and intensity since the 1970’s. In the 1970’s the Maine
Legislature passed legislation promoting lake regulation that maintains high
lake levels with reduced annual fluctuations.
Relationship of silica depletion in the Presumpscot River- Sebago Lake water
continuum and the quality of the fishery in Casco Bay. Present unnatural flow
regulation is increasing lake temperature due to longer retention time of warm
summer upper epilimnetic water, reduced “colder” groundwater flow in the
summer and fall and subsequent increased “warmer” groundwater flow in late
fall and early winter. No doubt exists that earlier ice- outs, non iced-over winters
and warmer summer lake waters are a result of climate change. However, the
1997 lake level regulation plan is adding to increased lake temperatures and
accentuates the impact of climate change. The question arises is how much does
the lake regulation increase lake temperatures in addition to climate change and
what is the impact on freshwater diatom growth and dissolved silica uptake.

Because the MeDEP has steadfastly placed the relicensing of Eel Weir dam on hold for the last eight years and ignored evidence of growing profound degradation in the Sebago Lake continuum, we officially request of the FERC to additionally require investigation and study of the gravity of the environmental impacts of Sebago Lake’s unnatural freshwater outflows on Casco Bay, the Gulf of Maine, and the economies that depend on their health. It is critically important for ecological and economic considerations that scientifically appropriate lake, lake wetland and silica depletion studies as described in this letter be required before the final issuance of the Eel Weir Dam p-2984 license as proposed in the Final 2005 Environmental Assessment. If the LLMP was returned to the proposed historic uniform outflow policy outlined on page one, these additional studies would not be necessary.
Thank you.

Sincerely,
Roger Wheeler

Roger Wheeler, President of Friends of Sebago Lake
PO box 385
Fryeburg, Maine 04037

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cc: Nancy Skancke (SAPPI)
Dana Murch MeDEP)
Steve Kasprzak (FOSL)
Douglas Watts (FOSL)
Paul Lepage (State of Maine)
Beth Nagusky (MeDEP)
Ted Tibbals (FOSL)
Olympia Snowe
Susan Collins
Brad Goulet (SAPPI)





























page nine
Bibliography
1. Fish activity: a major mechanism for sediment resuspension and organic matter remineralization in coastal marine sediments, Gitai Yahel1,6,*,**, Ruthy Yahel1,2,**, Timor Katz3,4,**, Boaz Lazar3, Barak Herut4, Verena Tunnicliffe1,2,51Department of Biology, University of Victoria, PO Box 3020, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3N5, Canada -2VENUS, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2Y2, Canada 3The Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel -4Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haifa 31080, Israel -5School of Earth & Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, PO Box 3055, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3P6, Canada -6Present address: School of Marine and Environmental Science, Michmoret 40297, Israel
Silica: an essential nutrient in wetland biogeochemistry,Eric Struyf and Daniel J Conley -GeoBiosphere Science Centre, Department of Geology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden-Department of Biology, Ecosystem Management Research Group, University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium
Responses of Coastal Ecosystems to Anthropogenic Perturbations of Silicon Cycling, Olivier Ragueneau, Daniel J. Conley,Aude Leynaert, Sorcha Ni Longphuirt, and Caroline P. Slomp
A Promising style of growth velocity model of green algae and diatoms in local lake area ,Zhihong Wang, Fuyi Cui, Wenxuan Chen and Jie Jia , Chinese Journal of Geochemistry Volume 25, Supplement 1,
Freshwater marshes as dissolved silica recyclers in an estuarine environment (Schelde estuary, Belgium) Eric Struyf 1 Contact Information, Stefan Van Damme1, Britta Gribsholt and Patrick Meire (1)Department of Biology, Environmental Management Research Group, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1C, B-2610, Wilrijk, Belgium
KNAW), Korringaweg 7, 4401 NT Yerseke, The Netherlands Journal Hydrobiologia Issue Volume 540, Numbers 1-3 / May, 2005
page ten

7.Silica fluxes and trapping in two contrasting natural impoundments of the upper
Mississippi River, by: L. Triplett, D. Engstrom, D. Conley, S. Schellhaass
Biogeochemistry, Vol. 87, No. 3. (26 March 2008), pp. 217-230.

8.Biogenic silica in freshwater marsh sediments and vegetation (Schelde estuary,
Belgium) E Struyf, S Van Damme, B Gribsholt, JJ … - 2005 – vliz.be

9.The world's 10th largest lake under threat: Lake Winnipeg, the
economic mainstay of Manitoba, Canada.
Author: Mr. Alex Salki, Freshwater Institute Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

10.Ground Water as a Silica Source for Diatom Production in a Precipitation-
Dominated Lake
JAMES P. HURLEY 1, DAVID E. ARMSTRONG 1, GALEN J. KENOYER 2, and CARL J.
BOWSER Water Chemistry Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wisconsin

11.VARIATION OF SILICA AND DIATOMS IN A STREAM
WUN-CHENG WANG ,RALPH L. EVANS
Water Quality Section, Illinois State Water Survey,

12.The Global Biogeochemical Silicon Cycle Eric Struyf & Adriaan Smis & Stefan Van Damme &
Patrick Meire & Daniel J. Conley

13. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Final Environmental Assessment
FERC Project 2984 Eel Weir Dam, p.91
“S.D. Warren proposes to replace the existing wetlands
monitoring program with a similar monitoring program, having a 5-
year monitoring cycle. Our analysis in section V.C.4
(Terrestrial Resources) shows that, in the 5 years after
implementation of the 1997 LLMP, wetlands have changed little.
In addition, we do not expect our recommended changes to the LLMP
to have any significant effects on wetlands. Thus, continuing to
monitor wetlands annually is unnecessary. Therefore, we
recommend that S.D. Warren monitor wetlands around Sebago Lake
consistent with the program required for the 1997 LLMP, but on a
5-year cycle. This monitoring program would afford S.D. Warren
the opportunity to document any long-term changes in wetland cover and plant
diversity”.
page eleven


14.The Role of Freshwater Inflows in Sustaining Estuarine Ecosystem Health in the San
Antonio Bay Region, www.harc.edu Contract Number 05-018 September 15, 2006
page eight
15.Stoermer, E.F. and J.P. Smol, The Diatoms: Applications for the Environmental and Earth
Sciences, page 159 June 1999, Cambridge University Press

16. Some factors governing the water quality of microtidal estuaries in South Africa,
BR Allanson
Institute for Water Research, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa

17. www.mass.gov/dcr/watersupply/lakepond/factsheet/Variable%20Milfoil.pdf
Changes in the Emergent Plant Cover Netley-Libau Marsh Between 1979 and
2001 Delta Marsh Field Station(University of Manitoba) Occasional
Publication No. 4 , November 2004

18. The Transport and Retention of Dissolved Silicate by Rivers in Sweden
and Finland, by Daniel J. Conley, Per Stalnacke, Heikki Pitkanen and
Anders Wilander © 2000 American Society of Limnology and
Oceanography.

C. Humborg, M. Aigars,M.RTH and V. Ittekkot, Decreased silica lad-
sea fluxes through damming in the Baltic Sea catchement-
significance of particle trapping andhydrological alterations August
2005

20. “Weeding out Trouble”, Portland Press Herald July 15, 2010

21. Dr. Douglas Wilcox,"Site Visit and Evaluation of Wetland Conditions at
Sebago Lake." 2008

22. Scott Nixon, Stephen B. Olsen, Elizabeth Buckley, Robinson Fulweiler,
Managing Freshwater inflows to estuaries Lost to the Tide: The Importance of
Freshwater Flow to Estuaries 2004 Final Report submitted to the Coastal
Resources Center, Narragansett, RI: University of Rhode Island, Graduate
School of OceanographyFi

Steve Kasprzak letter to Susan Collins June 9, 2010 Friendsofsebago.blogspot.com

Sebago Lake Groundwater Study, C-E Environmental, Inc. prepared for Portland Water District, September 1991
page twelve

Steve Kasprzak letter to Beth Nagusky, Acting Commissioner of MeDEP,
Nov. 4,2010



10



























page thirteen





page

A Ray of Hope for Atlantic Sturgeon and a Vindication for Jasper Carlton.

At last, a ray of hope. In 1997 a man named Jasper Carlton from the Biodiversity Legal Foundation in Colorado filed a scientific petition to protect Atlantic sturgeon from going extinct under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Jasper's ESA petition was denied, illegally, by Bruce Babbitt and the Clinton Administration. Mr. Carlton and I discussed this quite a bit over the phone then. Now, in 2010, NOAA has proposed listing the Atlantic sturgeon as an Endangered Species thanks to Jasper's advocacy and, unfortunately, to the sturgeons' increasing paucity, including right off the WTC site in the Hudson River in NYC where they used to be common in the 1980s. So common that a large kill fishery for them was authorized and encouraged. Oops.

Atlantic sturgeon are native to the Presumpscot River and its estuary.

http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/press_release/2010/News/NR1025/index.html

FERC Consultant Admits to Stealing Tens of Millions of $$$ from U.S. Citizens but is still "On the Job and Shovel-Ready."

Dam at Saccarappa Falls, Presumpscot River, Westbrook, Maine c. 1900.

---

And the sun rises in the east. The Louis Berger Group, a New Jersey corporation hired by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to prepare the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Presumpscot River in 2001 has admitted to 'knowingly and systematically' defrauding the U.S. Government for work in Afghanistan and has agreed to pay a $70 million fine.

According to McClatchy News Service (formerly Knight Ridder), the $70 million fine "may" be the largest fine ever paid by a government contractor for defrauding U.S. citizens.

In 2001-2002, FERC hired the Louis Berger Group to prepare a scientific study of the benefits and impacts of removing the three lowermost dams on the Presumpscot River (Saccarappa, Little Falls and Mallison Falls). The study, which was a key part of FERC's decision to not order the removal of the dams, was so inept that FOSL and Friends of the Presumpscot River had to spend 100s of hours writing extensive comments to FERC trying to correct its factual errors.

Now the Louis Berger Group has admitted to overbilling and defrauding the U.S. Govt. of tens of millions of dollars related to engineering and construction contracts in Afghanistan and has agreed to pay the largest criminal fine in U.S. history for a consulting firm that defrauded U.S. citizens. But not to worry, reports indicate the Louis Berger Group will still be allowed to continue doing billion dollar consulting work for the U.S. government. In Afghanistan and elsewhere. Hopefully not on a river near you.

After all, being caught and admitting you stole tens of million dollars from your employer, the people of the United States, is not a fireable offense.

Greenwashing circa 1932: How Maine's Rivers Were Destroyed

This newspaper advertisement from the Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine) in 1932 illustrates one of the first uses of mass media to 'greenwash' the effects of a large corporation on publicly owned rivers.

What this advertisement doesn't say is that the large dams on Maine rivers built by Central Maine Power in the 1930s wiped out the last remnants of the native, migratory fish runs of Maine's large rivers.

This is the purpose of 'greenwashing.'

---

Source: Microfilm of the Kennebec Journal at Maine State Library, State Capitol Complex, Augusta, Maine.

Oldest Known Photograph of Sebago Lake

By Douglas Watts

The other day, while doing historic photographic research for a regulatory filing for Friends of Sebago Lake, I came across this photograph on EBay and purchased it for $25. It is Sebago Lake circa 1870 from a nice gentleman named Ken Burkhardt of Albany, New York. This is a stereo-opticon photo. Above is the right-side image on the mount. Click on the photo to bring it up to full size. This is the full stereo mount it is taken from:



For those unfamiliar, stereo-opticon photographs were very popular in the 1870s-1880s and were made to be viewed through a special viewer that functions as binoculars. The camera used to take the stereo photos contains two separate lenses which produce two prints with a separation distance corresponding to the distance between your left and right eyes. By looking at the two images through the viewer, the two images merge into one, creating a strong 3D effect. Below is a typical 1870s-1880s stereo-opticon viewer:



The plastic GAF "viewmaster" viewers popular with children in the 1960s and 1970s employed the same trick of perspective to make images look "3D." Stereo photos are still used for aerial land surveying because the increased perspective allows elevation changes to be easily seen and quantitatively estimated. Because this photograph is in stereo-opticon format its date can be reliably fixed to the 1870s-1880s era. Judging by the view, it appears the photo was taken at one of the big beaches on Sebago: Long Beach in East Sebago or perhaps at Songo Beach in Casco.

What "jumps out" (pardon the stereo pun) about this photo is the enormous expanse of level sand. The sand is so high that the waves are breaking 100 feet offshore from the photographer's position. The bed of coarse stone at the bottom of the photo suggests the photographer was standing at the top of the "swash" zone of the lake, ie. close to the natural high water mark.

This photograph indicates that there must be more images out there from this period and probably this photographer, who is not identified in the mount. The back of the mount reads in faded, fancy quill pen, "Sebago Lake, Me."

Finding more photos of Sebago Lake from this era would be ... umm .... very useful.

Friends of Sebago Lake was Right !!!

By Douglas Watts
Friends of Sebago Lake
October 2010

On October 5, 2010, Maine Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Commissioner Roland 'Danny' Martin made history. He is the first Maine fisheries commissioner since 1875 to use his powers under the State of Maine's fishway law to order a fishway built on a dam on the Presumpscot River, the outlet of Sebago Lake, Maine's deepest and second largest freshwater body.

Martin signed the Department's Final Order requiring S.D. Warren Company to build fishways at their Cumberland Mills Dam on the Presumpscot River in Westbrook, Maine. The passageways must be operational for the spring 2013 run of migrating fish. This Order is under the State of Maine's Fishway Law.


View Larger Map

While the passageways could be ready by spring 2012 (with construction in 2011), the job is indeed complex because, as the photo above shows, the falls at the dam have been extensively altered and steepened by blasting during the past 150 years and the site of the fishway is directly underneath the S.D. Warren mill buildings, making the use of the heavy equipment at the falls a challenge. The falls, by the way, are called Ammoncongin.

For Friends of Sebago Lake, this decision is a vindication for a long, independent advocacy effort we undertook with Friends of Merrymeeting Bay in 2007-2008 when the State of Maine and S.D. Warren and two conservation groups, Friends of the Presumpscot River and American Rivers, secretly negotiated in 2007 a disastrous agreement which would have taken back most of the hard-won fishway requirements at the five Warren dams above the mill in exchange for Warren voluntarily providing fish passage at the Cumberland Mills Dam by 2012-2013.

Upon hearing of this secret agreement in summer 2007, FOSL expressed to State officials its deep concerns about the legality and wisdom of the deal. The State did not respond, so FOSL published an open letter in the Portland Press-Herald on Thankgiving Day, 2007 demanding a public hearing be held. [1]

In Jan. 2008 we and Friends of Merrymeeting Bay met with key state staff in Augusta to discuss our concerns. At this meeting, Maine's assistant Attorney General, Jan McClintock, told Dept. of Marine Resources Commissioner, George Lapointe that the state had to conduct a public meeting under state law about the secret settlement agreement.

The State agreed to hold a public hearing in South Portland in Feb. 2008. While FOSL publicized the meeting, the State did not, and didn't even publish a public notice for the meeting. Nobody in the general public knew about the meeting. Clearly, the State didn't really want to hold the public hearing and didn't really want the general public to even know about the meeting. We informed the State of this by letter on March 7, 2008. To make matters worse, the State provided only a seven day public comment period on their plan, guaranteeing they would receive no public comments. Weirdly, we noted, the same year the State had published a draft plan for restoring the same fish species on the Penobscot River and conducted widely publicized meetings on it, with a generous public comment period. Why the stark difference?

At the public meeting, FOSL and FOMB members told the State the proper course of action was for the State to use its legal rights to require S.D. Warren to build fishways at the dam pursuant to the State's fishway law. By doing this, we argued, there was no reason for the State to give back the key fish passage requirements at the next five dams in order to secure Warren's voluntary agreement to build a fishway at Cumberland Mills. Our message to the State was: your job is to make S. D. Warren obey the law.

At this meeting, the State and FOPR representatives repeatedly warned that if the State enforced the fishway law, Warren would sue and the case would be tied up in court for years. Therefore, the 'compromise' was the only viable solution. FOSL responded by demonstrating through a timeline that even if Warren appealed a fishway ruling to the Maine Supreme Court the fishway would be delayed at most by 2-3 years, meaning the fishway would be in operation by 2012-2013, which is exactly the timeline their own 'compromise' plan hoped for.

FOSL member Ted Tibbals told the State it was sending a terrible message to private, corporate dam owners, and to the people who own Maine's rivers (the public): if the State is afraid to enforce its own laws just because the dam owner might sue, these corporations will lose all respect for the law. Ted Tibbals called it what it was, a backroom shakedown by a multi-billion dollar corporation in the face of a cowering, weak-kneed State government. We asked: where is the spine?

Our concerns were summarized in formal comments submitted to the State in March, 2008.

When it appeared the State was determined to continue with its illegal 'compromise' agreement, FOSL made a formal notice under the Maine Right to Know Law for all public documents regarding the agreement including how it was negotiated. After much balking by the State, it agreed to turn over the documents in the spring of 2008. Simultaneously, FOSL circulated a lawsuit draft to the State in which we threatened to sue the State for violating state law for conducting these secret negotiations and to ask the court to throw out the negotiated settlement as illegally approved by the State Marine Resources Commissioner.

At the same time, FOSL researched the full legal ramifications of the 'compromise' agreement. It called for re-writing all five of the federal licenses and state permits issued to Warren for its five hydro dams on the river which had been issued in 2003. The agreement removed all of the hard and fast requirements at the dams and totally removed any requirements for fish passage ever at the Dundee Falls Dam, thus preventing any fish passage ever to Sebago Lake. As written, the agreement would have made it nearly impossible to ever get fish passage at Warren's dams above Saccarappa, which is only one mile above Cumberland Mills.

FOSL and FOPR had fought hard for these license requirements from 1998-2002, and they were already highly compromised by not including removal of any of the five dams (we both had requested Warren's three lowermost low-power dams be removed to restore critical habitat for native Atlantic salmon).

So now the State and FOPR were 'compromising a compromise' -- with Warren getting all the benefits and the river and public getting nothing. Same old story. Big corporation threatens the State, the State backs down, and the public, whom it works for is left high and dry. Not to mention the fish, who get nothing.

Then we learned we held a potent poison pill. Under the U.S. Clean Water Act, the State must issue "water quality certifications" when hydrodams are relicensed. These certifications were issued by the State for Warren's dams in 2003 and contain good, but not great, fish passage deadlines at Warren's five hydrodams on the Presumpscot. But at least they are well-defined and legally enforceable.

From 2003-2006, Warren challenged these state orders all the way to the Maine Supreme Court and then to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost every time. We even got a 9-0 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. And now the State wanted to throw all of these winning decisions away. Allowing companies to break one law to cajole them to obey another law is not good public policy. But this was the path the State had embarked upon.

FOSL then realized that for the State's 'compromise' deal with Warren to go through, the State would have to re-write all of these water quality certification orders and we could appeal them to the Maine Board of Environmental Protection and the Maine Superior Court. The original orders were already on shaky legal ground under the Clean Water Act for being far too weak; and the changes the State wanted to make were totally illegal. Who said? The State said in 2003 when it issued the original orders requiring time-specific fish passage deadlines at all five dams. The State was now taking the same position S.D. Warren had in 2003 -- that there was no 'real' legal requirement for fish passage at S.D. Warren's Presumpscot River Dams. The State was forcing itself into a position of arguing with itself: a common occurrence at Sebago Lake.

So FOSL decided to pull the trigger. We told the State that if they continued to pursue their compromise settlement with S.D. Warren we would challenge any revision to the state water quality certifications issued in 2003 and would go to court if necessary. We knew this would kaibosh the State's secret sweetheart deal with Warren because they all knew what they were doing was illegal. [2]

In late spring of 2008, S.D. Warren announced without explanation it was abandoning the negotiated agreement.[3]

This forced the State back to Square One: using its powers under the State fishway law to compel Warren to let fish go past its dam at its expense. Last year the State ruled it had the authority to order Warren to build fishways; and on Oct. 5 of this year the State issued its final Order for Warren to build the fishways. Warren has said they will abide by the ruling.
[4]

So for all that rigamarole, FOSL turned out to be right. By the State doing its job of enforcing the laws on the books, Warren buckled, since it knew all along that it could not succeed in a court challenge. All the time, Warren was bluffing the State and the State, for a while, was willing to buckle until FOSL said no. Now, the Cumberland Mills Dam will have fish passage on the exact same time schedule as would have been provided by the State's plan of giving away to Warren all of the hard-fought gains the State had made in fishway requirements at the next five dams. We saved the State from itself.

So What About the Fish?

The Oct. 5, 2010 State Final Order says a fishway is required to be operational at Cumberland Mills Dam by May 1, 2013. The fishway is slated to be a "Denil" fishway which, according to our research, is a design that may not be easily used by American shad. [5]

Our review of the Commissioner's May 12, 2010 preliminary Order shows some disturbing details. Most important is that the multi-page Order does not contain a single mention of the Presumpscot River's most important native fish species, the Atlantic salmon. This is odd since in 1869, Charles Atkins, Maine's first Fisheries Commissioner, selected the Presumpscot as the first river to be restored in Maine because it was such as outstanding Atlantic salmon river. The 2010 Order's failure to even mention Atlantic salmon highlights and emphasizes a continuing bias and apathy against Atlantic salmon in the Presumpscot by Maine's fisheries agencies.

The truth is that Atlantic salmon have never left the Presumpscot River, even though people have spent the last 200 years doing almost everything imaginable to make them go extinct. There are likely a few Atlantic salmon in the lower Presumpscot and its tributaries below Westbrook right now spawning. In the 1970s, Maine Atlantic salmon biologists were shocked to find spawning salmon and wild baby salmon in the Piscataqua River, a small tributary of the lower Presumpscot in Falmouth several years after the head of tide Smelt Hill Dam had been breached. During this same period, anglers in Westbrook often caught large sea-run Atlantic salmon directly below S.D. Warren's mill in Westbrook at the base of the Cumberland Mills Dam.

Atlantic salmon are highly migratory fish and will often 'stray' from one river to another out of sheer curiosity and a search for suitable spawning habitat. Because the Presumpscot is now fully accessible from Casco Bay to Cumberland Mills it is possible in any year that several or more salmon from other Maine rivers will explore the Presumpscot and, finding it to their liking, decide to stay and spawn in the fall, thus beginning the process of their natural restoration to the river.

The fishway design proposed for Cumberland Mills Dam, a Denil fishway, is well known to be capable of use by Atlantic salmon. However, the Commissioner's Order states the fishway will only be operated from May 1 to July 15 of each year. This schedule is for alewives, blueback herring and American shad. This operation schedule is perfectly suitable for these species, since they all migrate upriver in the spring and early summer and then quickly spawn and go back down to sea. But Atlantic salmon spawn in late October and November.

In Maine, salmon may migrate upriver at any time from late April to October since they do not spawn until Halloween. Under the fishway operation schedule mandated in the 2010 Order, the fishway at Cumberland Mills will be totally shutdown on July 15 of each year. This would make it impossible for Atlantic salmon coming up the Presumpscot after July 15 from getting past Cumberland Mills. They will face, as they have for over a century, a completely impassable dam.

As important, adult Atlantic salmon have a penchant for going up rivers in the spring and then swimming back to tidewater a few weeks or a month later before finally going back upriver later in the season to prepare to spawn. Nobody knows why salmon do this, except they can, and except it might be in part because they do not have to reach their spawning grounds until Halloween. This means an Atlantic salmon that passes the Cumberland Mills Dam fishway in June may swim back down river a week later and upon returning in August or September find a dry fishway and a blank, impassable wall. [6]

This flaw in the Commissioner's Order is important because the Order has the force of law. It spells out in great detail what the dam owner, S.D. Warren, has to do and what it does not have to do. And by the plain language of the Order,Warren can shut down the fishway on July 15th of each year and not re-opened until May 1 of the next. This could all be fixed by the Order simply stating the fishway must be operated until November, which is done on all other Maine salmon rivers including the Androscoggin, Kennebec and Penobscot.

Why this omission? The short answer is that none of the state and federal fisheries agencies, or FOPR and American Rivers, appear to have any interest in ever restoring Atlantic salmon to the Presumpscot River or even allowing those Atlantic salmon who are naturally restoring the river to have a fighting chance at succeeding. Why is this? Myopia and amnesia.

So this is a really big problem.


View Larger Map

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Saccarappa dam on left, Cumberland Mills dam in upper right.

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The next dam on the Presumpscot is Saccarappa, about 1.25 miles upriver. Its federal license calls for fishways to be built within two years of when passage is built at Cumberland Mills. This two-year delay is stupid, because S.D. Warren owns both dams. All fish passed at Cumberland Mills in Spring 2013 will swim up to the base of Saccarappa in about one hour, not in two years. S.D. Warren should be building fishways at Saccarappa simultaneously with Cumberland Mills. They are a multi-billion dollar company and have known this time was coming since 2003. They fought the law and the law won.

First Presumpscot Fishway Built Since 1879

The Cumberland Mills Dam fishway will be the first built on the Presumpscot River since 1879. That's a long time.

In 1875, Maine's Fisheries Commissioner reported to the Maine Legislature:

"The first fishway on the Presumpscot was built by the Cumberland Mills, and finished this last spring. The plan of the fishway was by Mr. Charles G. Atkins, after a design by Robert G. Pike, Esq. of Middletown, Conn. Of its success, one may judge from the following extract from a letter of our genial friend, Mr. Hammond: 'I had supposed your fishways were intended for fishes in the upper walks of life, such as salmon, trout &c., &c.; but I find our new fishway is used by the mudsills, the suckers, the chubs, the pouts, even the lampreys. What is to be done about?' Our reply was that the 15th Amendment admitted all!

"Our esteemed friend, Hon. George Warren, who is something of what Harriet Martineau defined Daniel Webster, viz., 'a steam engine in breeches,' has given us an admirably built fishway at Saccarappa. Two have been constructed at that village; an excellent one by the "Westbrook Manufacturing Co." A fishway after design and plan of Mr. Atkins, has been promptly built over the dam at their works, by the Oriental Powder Mills, at Windham. Four others on the Presumpscot will be completed by the month of May, by Mr. Lindsey and Messrs. Holland & Law. Messrs. Dennison and Brown are building a factory at Little Falls. These gentlemen have assured us that the fishway ordered for their place will be completed by next spring."

In 1876, the Maine Fisheries Commissioner reported:

"The Presumpscot river may now be pronounced as accessible to salmon and alewives, as far as Mallison Falls dam. Everybody ostensibly connected with that property is bankrupt. To the County Attorney is referred the decision as to what course to pursue. Of the fishways already built on the river, there was more or less departure in all from accurate obedience to the plans furnished, and some alterations will be required before we shall accept them in the name of the State."

In 1879, the Commissioner reported:

"On the Presumpscot river, within the present year the chain of fishways has at last been completed. The old fishway at Mallison Falls, that was not built according to the original design and was utterly inadequate to its purpose, has been torn down and replaced by a new and efficient fishway. Other fishways on the river have been repaired and improved, and a fishway has been constructed over the new dam at Wescott's Falls, at the head of the river .... A large number of sea-salmon were placed in the headwaters of the Presumpscot River in 1876, but from our own observations and experience, there has been no expectance of the matured fish in the river until the spring of 1880 or 1881, at which time they will find fishways provided to them over all the dams between Lake Sebago and the ocean."

In 1880, the Commissioner reported:

"There are now eight fishways upon this [Presumpscot] river, a new one having been completed at 'Wescott's falls.' to allow the fish to pass the dam at the head of the river, the outlet of Sebago Lake. So that every dam upon the Presumpscot is provided with a fishway. Some much needed improvements have been made to the fishway at Cumberland Mills, and some improvements are required at the upper dam at the head of the river."

"On the Presumpscot, at its sources on Crooked River, a very great number of unusually large fish have been taken by poachers for the two or three last years. The exceptional size and number of the fish has given increased incitement to the nefarious practice of spearing on the spawning bed. The very remarkable size of these fish and their unwonted number, warrant the conclusion that they are sea salmon planted by us in the headwaters of the river at Norway and other tributaries of Sebago in past years. The first salmon fry were planted in the Presumpscot in 1875. A large fish of thirteen pounds was taken below the dam at the outlet of Sebago last June with hook and line. A man named Paul is now under arrest for spearing a fish weighing twenty-four pounds on Crooked river the middle of October. Several others have been arrested for spearing fish and there are also many other cases which will be prosecuted in due course. We feel warranted in the conclusion that most of these fish are results of our planting sea salmon, not only from the reasons we have assigned above, but from the added fact that we have now a series of eight good fishways on the Presumpscot river from Cumberland Mills to Sebago."

In 1895 the Commissioner reported:

"During the time covered by this report, fishways have been built, improved or repaired on the following rivers: -- Presumpscot, Georges, Penobscot, Orange and Aroostook."

And here the road ends.

What Happened After 1895?

In less than a decade (1875-1880) the Presumpscot River became the first 'restored' salmon and shad river in Maine and the first large river with functioning fishways all the way to its headwaters. Sea-run Atlantic salmon swam from Casco Bay in downtown Portland to Sebago Lake and the Crooked River for the first time since the 1730s. This was the most ambitious native fish restoration project ever undertaken in the history of the United States. And it was successful.

But by 1910 this restoration project was destroyed -- due to a new fad called hydroelectric power.

During the period 1900-1915, S.D. Warren built the enormous 50 foot high Dundee Dam on the river for hydroelectricity; the North Gorham Dam was built by Central Maine Power to a great height, again for hydroelectricity. The Eel Weir Dam was built at the outlet of Sebago Lake for hydroelectricity. The old, low sawmill dams at Saccarappa, Mallison Falls, Little Falls and and Gambo Falls were all raised much higher and reconstructed with massive, concrete power canals to create hydroelectricity.

The wooden fishways which had been meticulously designed and built and repaired at the dams for the past 25 years were all dismantled and removed. The Dundee Dam was built with no fishways at all. In about 20 years, from the last Fisheries Commissioner report in in 1895 to 1915, the Presumpscot River had gone from fully passable to completely impassable.

Worse, the raising of the dams for hydropower flooded out all of the remaining free-flowing sections of the river; the short reaches between the dam spillways and the power canals were dewatered. Not a single record exists of how and why this happened.

The only witness for this destruction we have is from a man named William Converse Kendall, who wrote for the Boston Zoological Society two seminal scientific books on the salmon and trout of Maine. In 1917 Kendall wrote:

"Presumpscot River Jumper (Plate 9)

"Since the Jumper is now extinct and since salmon of similar peculiarities have been described from no other waters, it has seemed desirable to write a separate brief history of the fish.

"In the Presumpscot River, which is the outlet of Sebago Lake, the Sebago salmon used to breed and in the spring of the year, large well conditioned salmon were found in the stream. Later they disappeared. Prior to the erection of the dam at the head of the river, and later while the fishway was effective, most, if not all, of the salmon returned to the lake. In later years, the fishway having become impassible, some the fish continued to disappear, where to, no one knows. If they went to sea they doubtless would have been notice at the dams and mills lower down in the river. However, small salmon resided in the river year around. Until the new dam was built at the head of the river and the water diverted by a canal these small salmon, known as "Jumpers" were found in the upper part of the river below the dam at North Gorham.

"The large salmon were always distinguished from the so-called "Jumper." The local name 'jumper' was given to a small but very active fish of peculiar coloration., which attained a weight of at least three or four pounds, and which were also usually distinguised from the lake salmon of like size occuring in the river at the same time. Adolescent salmon, with their bright silvery scales, more pointed snout, subequal jaws, more forked tail, black crescentic and doubled X spots, and with or without red spots caught in the same locality were regarded as lake salmon.

The 'jumper' was more trout-like in form, had a blunter snout, included lower jaw, scarcely crescentic tail. It usually had no black spots but dark brown, chocolate colored and brick red or brown spots surrounded by brick red on the body, and always red spots along the side. The sides of the abdomen were usually brassy yellow. They were doubtless old fish of long-time residence in the river. They appear now to be extinct, the locality below the North Gorham dam having been more recently ruined by the erection of a dam farther down [Dundee Dam] which backs the still water nearly up to the North Gorham Dam."

Not A Single State Record Exists

Except for William Converse Kendall's description above, not a single state record exists describing what happened on the Presumpscot River when it was destroyed by a slew of new dams in the 1900-1915 era. This was confirmed by extensive historic research that I did in 2004-2005 for FOSL and FOPR at the Maine Archives and Maine Legislative Law Library while gathering legal documents to force S.D. Warren to build a fishway at the Cumberland Mills Dam.

In these archives are every law passed by Maine during this period and every single official report made by the state's Fisheries Commissioners to the Maine Legislature. After 1895 not a single mention is made of the Presumpscot River in these fisheries commissioner reports. It's as if the Presumpscot stopped flowing and fell off the map.

As part of this research, I found and tracked every iteration and revision of the state's fishway laws from 1869 to present. None of these revisions contained any amendments which exempted the Presumpscot River from the state's fishway laws. But there was a clue from 1913. Up until this year, the State of Maine required fishways to be maintained at all dams in the state on rivers native to salmon, shad and alewives. This was a mandatory requirement. In 1913 the Legislature repealed all of these laws, going back to 1869, and replaced them with a generic law stating that the State Commissioner of Fish & Game, at his discretion, could require fishways on dams. [7]

This law change was the death knell for the restoration of Presumpscot and Sebago and for rivers all over Maine. So long as the Fisheries Commissioner decided not to formally require a fishway to be built or maintained, then dams all across Maine could be impassable to fish. This change in the law allowed any dam owner to rip out the existing fishways at their dams, even if they were working perfectly. The law also 'grandfathered' in perpetuity all dams in Maine that lacked fishways. This is why there is no physical trace left of the large, carefully built timber fishways at the dams on the Presumpscot built and rebuilt between 1875 and 1895. The dam owners ripped out every shred of them once the state gave them legal license to do so in 1913.

1913 stands as the end of Maine's ambitious and highly successful 50-year effort to restore and maintain its native fisheries after the Civil War. After 1913 the State just gave up and the rivers became empty and silent.

Maine's current state fishway law is identical in substance to the 1913 law. My research, by reading every single Maine Fisheries Commissioners report from 1900 to present, found that since 1913 Maine's fisheries commissioners rarely exercised their authority under the law to require fishways be built or maintained at dams. [8]

Why Has The Fishway Law Never Been Used?

Julius Caesar said at the Rubicon River, the die is cast. In 1913 the Maine Legislature said the same thing. In passing this 1913 law, Maine's Fish & Game Commissioner was given sole authority to require a fishway at any dam in Maine or to require its maintenance.

Only the dam owner can appeal an adverse decision in court. Maine citizens who want a fishway have no legal right to ask for a fishway or to ask an existing one be maintained. They can only write a letter politely asking the Fisheries Commissioner to exercise his authority to require a fishway or maintain one. And if the Commissioner declines, citizens have no legal recourse. All power is vested in the Fisheries Commissioner.

The fruit of this legal change became obvious in the 20th century. After 1913, the state rarely used its authority to order fishways at dams. Not because no fishways were needed -- the 20th century marked the almost total extirpation of the last remnant runs of sea-run fish in Maine's rivers due to impassable dams and pollution. By any metric, fish passage at dams was better in the 19th century than in the 20th.

In the late 1960s, an Augusta, Maine couple, Gemma and Richard Dumont, wrote a letter asking the Maine's Fish & Game Commissioner, Rodney Speers, to use his powers under the state's fishway law to order the owners of the Edward Dam, at the head of tide on the Kennebec River, to build a fishway for salmon, shad and alewives. Mr. Speers ignored their letter. The Dumonts were not easily cowed. They hired a lawyer and filed a "Writ of Mandamus" in Kennebec County Superior Court asking the court to order Commissioner Speers to answer their letter. The court denied their request. The Dumonts took their complaint to the Maine Supreme Court.

In 1968, the Maine Supreme Court handed down one of the worst decisions it has ever written, Dumont v. Speers. In this ruling the Maine Supreme Court said the Maine Legislature had granted the Fish & Game Commissioner sole authority to decide whether or not to order a fishway at a dam. If the Commissioner decided not to order a fishway for any reason or for no reason at all, citizens like the Dumonts had no legal rights to challenge the decision. This 1968 Maine Supreme Court decision has rendered the state's fishway law non-functional. The evidence for this is that the Commissioner Martin's 2010 Order is the first time the state's fishway law has been used since before World War II.

2010: A Renaissance or Another False Hope?

It is important to closely examine what happened on the Presumpscot River from 1875 to 1900. In this just five years, the Maine Fisheries Commissioner succeeded in legally coercing all of the dam owners on the Presumpscot to build fishways at their dams. These fishways were maintained until at least 1900. Yet, even with full fish passage attained and sea-run Atlantic salmon spawning in the Crooked River for the first time since the 1730s, all of these achievements were wiped away and dashed by 1910 when all the fishways carefully designed by Charles Atkins were ripped down, new dams were built over the old dams and the river was shut off again to all of its sea-run fish.

Why should we believe Commissioner Martin's actions in 2010 will be less ephemeral than Commissioner Atkins' actions in 1875?

We can't. The reason is the Maine fishway law is terribly written. If he wants, Commissioner Martin can forget or refuse to enforce his 2010 Order at any time. This is exactly what happened in 1900. The Maine Commissioner of Fisheries in 1900, for reasons unknown, lost all interest in keeping fishways maintained on the Presumpscot or on any Maine river. So the dam owners ripped the fishways out or let them fall apart. Under the Maine's fishway law and Dumont v. Speers, nobody can sue the Maine Fisheries Commissioner to enforce this new 2010 Order. But the dam owner can sue to stop it at any time. This is how bad a law it is.

With the 2010 gubernatorial election, Commissioner Roland 'Danny' Martin will be out of a job in January 2011. A new Maine IF&W Commissioner will be appointed by a new Governor. In 2011 this new Commissioner can freely ignore Danny Martin's 2010 fishway Order. Nobody can stop her. This is because the state's fishway law is still governed by Dumont v. Speers.

Atlantic salmon can swim 25 miles in one day.

The distance between Casco Bay and Sebago Lake is about 21 miles. Adult Atlantic salmon can, if motivated, swim this distance in one day. This means a Presumpscot/Sebago Lake Atlantic salmon can swim from downtown Portland, Maine to Sebago Lake in one day. Once in Sebago, the salmon can swim into the cool waters of Sebago to feed on native rainbow smelt and prepare for its autumn journey up the Crooked River to spawn in the fall. This is what happened at Sebago for 11,000 years until the 1730s, and then the 1830s, and then the 1930s and now the 2010s.

Atlantic salmon would be spawning in the Crooked River tomorrow if the State of Maine would stop letting them be blocked by artificial dams. But the State of Maine has no interest in restoring Atlantic salmon to the Presumpscot River and Sebago Lake and the Crooked River. In fact, they actively oppose it.

The State of Maine has pretended to forget the entire natural history of the Atlantic salmon in the Presumpscot River and Sebago Lake. This takes an awful lot of pretending to forget. And since the State of Maine has access to all of the historical documentation that FOSL has (we gave it to them), this pretending to forget is not by accident.

Maine Did It In 5 years in 1875 -- Why Can't We Do It In 50 Years?

In just five years, from 1875-1880, fishways were built all the way from Casco Bay to Sebago Lake; and giant Atlantic salmon swam up these fishways into Sebago Lake and into the Crooked River where they spawned. That was 130 years ago.

Today, the best and most prominent scientific and legal "experts" tell us this is absolutely impossible. There is no way it can be done. To even think of it is ludicrous.

In 1875 the telephone nor electricity nor airplanes nor light bulbs existed. But in 1875, in just five years, the Maine Fisheries Commissioners got fishways built on the Presumpscot dams so as to allow Atlantic salmon swim from Casco Bay to Sebago Lake, a distance of 21 miles.

And now, in 2010, we are told this same feat cannot be done in less than 50 years, and may never be achieved.

How dumb have we become?

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1. Our outreach efforts were hampered by the editorial staff of the Portland Press-Herald, who refused for two months to print our op/ed asking the State to hold a public meeting on the plan. The PPH staff told us they didn't believe the subject was 'newsworthy.'
2. We presented a more detailed narrative of these efforts in July 2008 in a story called "Presumpscot Dam Deal is Dead."
3. See the Portland Press-Herald story here.
4. The Portland Press-Herald has not even done a news story on this. But the Westbrook American Journal did on Oct. 13, which is how FOSL learned about it.
5 . See here. And here.
6. See Baum, E.T. 1997. Maine's Atlantic Salmon: A National Treasure at 22: "To complicate this matter further, Maine's salmon do not always migrate in an upstream direction. Returning to tidewater after migrating several miles upriver earlier in the year is common for an Atlantic salmon. They may migrate back into the same (or even a different) river later in the year."
7. Public Law, Ch. 206, 1913.
8. One of the last times the State Fish & Game Commissioner used his powers to order a fishway was in 1962 on the Crooked River at Bolsters Mills. This order was successfully challenged by the dam owner to the Maine Supreme Court in Cobb v. Bolsters Mills Improvement Society. 158 Me., 199 (1962), because the Commissioner failed to specify in detail in his Order the type and size of the fishway required at the dam.

Last Song for the Salmon

The salmon, the leaper
Is now just about gone.
Because the rapids that thundered
Are now still as ponds.
Concrete walls tall as prisons
Called dams keep them out.
Like mall parking lots
Where trees used to sprout.

And we sing our song for the salmon.

No one has an answer
No one has a plan.
We all know who did it
But we can't find the man.
He's hiding out somewhere
We choose not to see.
But he's always been standing
between you and me.

And we sing our song for the salmon.

I once waded a month
To put a hook in your mouth.
You had fought for an hour
When I pulled you out.
You died in my hands
And your eyes quietly closed.
What I felt I won't tell
What you thought no one knows.

And we sing our song for the salmon.

You were the last of your kind
And now I am too.
The last of my kind
To ever know you.
Like a dream disappears
Once you're awake
Like the branch that you bend
Is the one that you break.

And we sing our song for the salmon.

As the memories wash out
The ignorance flows.
In a flood down the river
To the ocean it goes.
If excuses were salmon
We'd have quite a few.
They'd be long as our legs
And wearing our clothes.

And we sing our song for the salmon.

If I was the river
And you were the fish.
I'd let you swim up and down me
And do as you wish.
Because without you
There's not much left of me
Just a long lonely ditch
Falling into the sea.

And we sing our song for the salmon.

We sing our song for the salmon.

So we sing our last song for the salmon.

-- Douglas Watts, 9/18/2010.
Cushnoc, Kennebec River, Augusta, Maine.

Unnerving release of organic stained water and aquatic plant growth from Haydn Bog after 2 inches of rain from Hurricane Earl

The first picture was one of many "aquatic plants clumps" that washed out of Haydn Bog after the 2 inch rain of Hurricane Bob. The almost opaque brown water seen best from the Tibbal's dock was coming from Haydn Bog about 10 hours after Hurricane Bob went by. We have never seen this much brown water and it extended the length of Long Point then was head down toward the Portland Water District pushed by a westerly wind. The big question is whether or not the "bad" milfoil in the Songo, Muddy River, and Northwest River is washed out across the lake in this moderate rain events. How much organic stained water from other wetlands similarly laden with organic particles and staining is washing into the lake . How can the Portland Water District now change their tune and say that the Sebago Lake water is as clear and nutrient free as ever?

Yay !!! I finally finished my American shad spawning video, but I only got underwater footage of the babies. They are cutesy little buggers. These were filmed in the Kennebec River, but right now, the little baby shad are trying to survive their first year in the Presumpscot River, due to the removal of the Smelt Hill Dam in 2002. They must now be allowed to swim all the way to Sebago Lake.

Songo river- erosion and milfoil part two

Part Two

The following photos are of the Songo River. Unnatural erosion of the shorelines are evident .
Milfoil patches are very visible outside of the boat channel in the lower Songo. The photos were taken from video on August 24, 2010. The water level is 264.1 feet. Water celery is present. It is a native plant and is beneficial. It appears to be in competition with the milfoil.

Songo river- erosion and milfoi

The following photos are of the Songo River. Unnatural erosion of the shorelines are evident .
Milfoil patches are very visible outside of the boat channel in the lower Songo. The photos were taken from video on August 24, 2010. The water level is 264.1 feet.

Friends of Sebago Lake on MPBN Television

You can view it here.

Gunboats on the Songo -- Stopping Invasive Milfoil

From the Bridgton News:
By Roger Wheeler, president
Friends of Sebago Lake

The recent headlines in the Bridgton News, “Crisis on the Songo” about the choking milfoil takeover of this famous little river reminded me of a 133 year-old Bridgton News article about a gun battle that erupted at Songo Locks in February of 1877.

Apparently, Westbrook contingents unhappy with the withholding of water from Sebago Lake and ponds above in the watershed forcibly gained control of the Songo Locks dam as well as the Sebago Lake dam. The Bridgton News reportedly quoted the local humor that gunboats were necessary to patrol the Songo River to keep order. Calmer minds prevailed and the “lack” of permanent storage was remedied with an addition to the Sebago Lake dam.

Today, gunboats are on the Songo but they are armed with the finest river bottom vacuum hoses that technology can provide. The enemy is milfoil. The milfoil “crisis,” however, is only a symptom of a looming ecosystem catastrophe brought about by the present highly unnatural freshwater flow regulation of the Presumpscot River-Sebago Lake watershed. This crisis is related to the1877 Songo Locks gunbattle over who controlled the flow of freshwater and our lake levels.

Sebago Lake’s historic superior water quality and late 1800’s fishery was a direct result of the Westbrook powers’ 1877 defeat of the navigation interests for control of water flow. Prior to 1877 and up until 1987 Sebago Lake outflows were as uniform as possible throughout the year. They went as low as 10,000 cubic feet per minute (cfm) and as high as 200,000 cfm but usually 42,000 cfm was the average flow.

This created water levels that mimicked the natural seasonal cycle of lakes with the natural historic fluctuations and between the years variability. Due to droughts, perhaps once or twice a decade, water levels reached the lowest 10th percentile or about 7 to 8 feet below the dam. Consequently, with these variations in lake level the lower Songo River was a sandy bottom stream with diverse natural vegetation along its meandering shorelines and wetlands. The river was always changing course gradually as the sands were always moving down river to its delta in Sebago Lake. This uniform flow regulation allowed the conditions for maintaining the most diverse and successful ecosystem habitat and for maintaining the highest quality water.

In 1987 the Westbrook “interests” (SD Warren Co.) finally succumbed to the greed of new bonus winter hydropower profits and the clamor of the marinas and started withholding those “uniform outflows” in the spring, summer, and fall. The historic range of fluctuations disappeared as well as between years variability. The common lower summer and fall water levels permanently ended. The water level regulation now is strictly controlled to insure high water in warmer months. The lake level rule curve strictly requires reaching precise levels on certain days of the year. The lake is mandated to be 18 inches below the spillway on August 1st. Fluctuations up to six and one half feet of its former range on this August 1 date have been eliminated! What has that done to the Songo River?

The present highly unnatural lake regulation has provided the conditions in which milfoil thrive and out-compete native plants. Prior to the 1980’s, Songo River sands were constantly moving because of the fluctuating water levels. Native vegetation lined the river in the shallows. It was good spawning habitat for salmon and trout. Native plants had adapted to the seasonal fluctuations and variability. They do not survive well with the present, near-constant, high water levels in the warm months of the year. The higher lake levels caused accelerated erosion of the riverbanks. The Songo River is 20 to 40 feet wider than 30 years ago. This rich eroded sediment accumulates on the once former sandy bottom channel, fueling the milfoil growth.

The main river channel is deeper and straighter. The stream channel where kids and camps once played, swam, canoed, and picnicked on sand bars has been replaced with a flooded channel that is choked with milfoil and black with the organic deposition. Now, the wetlands of the Songo never dry out to allow dead plant debris to safely desiccate and decompose. This has changed the chemistry of the wetland and river bottom soils. Elements like phosphorus, once safely sequestered in the wetland and river bottom soils because of occasional oxygenated conditions, now are released from the new anoxic soils into the water column, harming the water quality of the lake and fueling the growth of the invasive plants.

The same unnaturally high water level regulation that is harming the Songo River ecosystem has also eroded and decimated Maine’s most outstanding inland beaches. One only has to compare pre-1980s photos with the present. The lake regulation is harming the water quality of Sebago Lake according to a 2007 and 2008 Portland Water District report. However, PWD is backpedaling mightily this year on the data analysis because it could lose its waiver for filtration, and this might double the water bills of greater Portland.

Moreover, the unnatural freshwater flows from Sebago Lake into the Presumpscot River, along with the other similar watersheds in Maine, are having profound harmful impacts on the coastal estuaries and Casco Bay. Thanks to the regulation we have now, there has been an 18 fold increase in Presumpscot River low- flow events from 1997 to 2009 as compared with the time frame from 1910-1986. The high flow events are much higher and at unnatural times of the year. The river-clogging milfoil is a symbol of an an interconnected ecosystem failure from the far upstream lakes of the watershed to the ocean.

If the Congress of Lakes Association, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, and others that control the high water mindset allow good science to govern water flow regulation, then milfoil can be defeated. When the Songo River is restored to a sandy bottom stream by returning natural variable historic fluctuations and allowing natural vegetation reestablishment, the remaining milfoil will be controllable. The salmon and trout will return to the Songo River. With fishways again restored to the Presumpscot River as the law dictates and a return to natural fluctuations and variable water levels, we could once again see Bridgton News quotes about the Songo River, such as was reported in the spring of 1877 “that fishermen line the Songo” and “ten ten pounders is a good day’s catch”.