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Thank you for your interest in our news stories and announcements. If you have trouble finding a specific story, please contact Mao Lin at 207-781-8364.
2013
News update: St. Croix alewives
 |
| Alewife illustration. |
Credit: Duane Raver/USFWS |
May 13, 2013
This week marks a big leap in the lives of river herring of the St.
Croix River. For the first time in 22 years,
alewives will pass the Grand Falls Dam to return to spawn in high-quality
lakes upstream.
A new state law, LD 72, An Act to Open the St. Croix
River to River Herring, required the removal
of a wooden obstruction blocking fish from passing Great Falls Dam.
"Restoration of these
fish has been a priority for the Service, beginning with the establishment
of Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge in 1930s, continuing through the
funding of fishways in 1963, and most recently with the monitoring of
the fish run at Milltown Dam,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast
Regional Director Wendi Weber. "We look forward to more opportunities
to advance these efforts.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collaborates with tribal, federal,
state and non-governmental partners to restore the St. Croix River watershed.
Here are links to more information and the latest news coverage
on the
issue.
Latest articles
Alewives
are heading up into the St. Croix River for the
first time in 22 years (NRCM
5/13/2013)
Legislators
pass bill to reopen river to alewives (Portland
Press Herald 4/11/2013)
Maine
lawmakers go with alewives' flow (Editorial, Bangor Daily News 4/11/2013)
Legislature
sends St. Croix alewife restoration bill to LePage (Bangor
Daily News 4/10/2013)
Past articles
Bill
to remove St. Croix alewife barriers
clears committee hurdle (Bangor Daily News 4/1/2013)
Maine
alewives begin a legislative run (Portland Press Herald 4/1/2013)
Alewives'passage
in St. Croix hinges on passage of bills in Augusta (Portland Press
Herald 3/26/2013)
Competing
bills for alewife repopulation toe lines of international
jurisdiction (Bangor
Daily News 3/23/2013)
Rival measures would restore alewives into the St. Croix (Portland Press
Herald 2/17/2013)
Group
sues Maine over passage of St. Croix Alewives (Portland Press Herald 10/15/2012)
LePage disagrees
with EPA's logic, but supports more river access for alewives (Portland Press Herald 8/8/2012)
EPA
overrules Maine on alewives issue (Portland Press Herald 7/10/2012)
The alewives
argument (Portland Press Herald 7/8/2012)
More information
Watch
a Passamaquoddy Tribe video about the St. Croix alewives (YouTube 5/22/2012)
Download fact sheets about alewives
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Assessing conservation needs and priorities in Timor Leste
 |
| The Timor Leste International Technical Assistance Program Team; Dave Busch, GS, David Manski, NPS and Stewart Fefer, FWS.
Credit: DOI |
April 3, 2013
Gulf of Maine Coastal Program Project Leader Stewart Fefer participated
in an assessment of needs and priorities for USAID/Timor Leste's new five‐year
strategic plan as part of a team from the Department of Interior International
Technical Assistance Program.
The articles below were published in the April 2013 edition of
the Department of Interior Technical Assistance Program (DOI-ITAP) monthly
newsletter. For more information about DOI-ITAP, visit: http://www.doi.gov/intl/itap/.
Multi-disciplinary team visits Timor Leste’s national
park and gateway communities
A DOI‐ITAP team of three senior protected area specialists in
climate change and coastal/marine management
participated in an
assessment of needs and priorities for USAID/Timor
Leste's new
five‐year strategic plan, which is currently
under development. In
addition to specialists from USAID's Timor Leste
mission, the DOI-ITAP
team was joined by other subject matter experts
from USAID's
offices in Bangkok and Washington. The USAID/DOI‐ITAP
assessment team met with a wide
range of government officials and other partners
in the capital, Dili, and at selected field sites
in the country's highlands and coastal zone.
Challenges in and around the Nino Konis Santana
National Park, such as inadequate staffing,
equipment and infrastructure, as well as the
lack of
tourism marketing and income‐generating opportunities,
were discussed.
DOI-ITAP Team Testimonial
Achieving independence in 2002 after years
of strife, Timor Leste is one of the world’s
newest nations. Our work in this country
came on the heels of departing UN
peacekeeping forces. Our task was to assist
the US Agency for International
Development (USAID) in planning for their
next five-year cycle by applying knowledge
from our DOI bureaus in earth systems
science, ecotourism, and biodiversity. The
government is hungry for such expertise to
improve the lives of its people. While in
the
capital, Dili, we were warmly received by
the leaders of several Timorese government
ministries, numerous donor and NGO
groups, and the U.S. Ambassador, Judith
Fergin (pictured). Field trips to coastal
and
reef systems and to the central highlands
helped us flesh-out sections of the USAID
assessment on topics including watershed,
marine ecosystem, and protected area
management. It was gratifying to hear
about the strong reputation our bureaus
enjoy in this remote corner of the world.
We
raised awareness here about the value of
the country’s protected areas, the
importance of their effective management,
and how they could improve the economic
well-being of communities and individuals.
Upon returning home, we plan to share the
lessons learned from this detail with our
bureaus. Working on conservation issues in
another political and cultural landscape
was
fascinating and very rewarding for each of
us. We hope that our insights and
recommendations will help contribute to
protecting Timor Leste’s natural resources
and cultural heritage.
 |
 |
| Rice cultivation in Timor Leste.
Credit: DOI |
Nino Kontis Santana National Park.
Credit: DOI |
DOI-ITAP Monthly Newsletter - April 2013 (PDF 326 KB)
DOI-ITAP website
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News update: New England Cottontail
 |
Cory Stearns (MDIFW) and Lindsey Fenderson
(USFWS) train volunteers how to identify New England cottontail tracks
in snow.
Credit: Mao Teng Lin/USFWS |
March 31, 2013
In anticipation of the Easter holiday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service worked
with journalists throughout New England and New York to promote stories
about the important work we and our partners are doing to restore New England
cottontails to
the northeastern landscape. Over
the last few years, GOMCP staff have been contributing to cottontail
conservation by funding projects, facilitating
meetings, coordinating volunteers, writing
outreach plans, conducting surveys, creating
habitat, and managing
GIS data and mapping.
The following article describes cottontail conservation in Maine,
including a land trust volunteer survey effort coordinated by GOMCP,
Rachel Carson NWR, and Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Deirdre
Fleming: With a little help from his
friends, here may come Peter Cottontail (Portland
Press Herald 3/31/2013)
Download
a list of rangewide media coverage (PDF 265 KB). Kudos to our Northeast
Office of External Affairs for their excellent
work pitching our conservation stories
to the media.
See photos of cottontails on Flickr (new!).
For more information about cottontails, visit www.newenglandcottontail.org.
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News from the Penobscot River
 |
| Josh Royte of The Nature Conservancy holds up a juvenile alewife at a project improving fish access.
Credit: USFWS |
March 6, 2013
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently posted two stories about
restoring Atlantic salmon and other sea run
fish in the Penobscot River watershed. GOMCP has been actively involved
in several of the projects that are highlighted in these stories. Click
on the links below and learn more about what
we do to restore our rivers!
Freeing
Maine's Penobscot River (Conserving the Nature of the
Northeast 3/6/2013)
We
are the Penobscot River (ESA Success Stories 3/1/2013)
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Upper Kennebec and Meduxnekeag stream crossing survey results
 |
| Survey team measuring a culvert.
Credit: USFWS |
March 1, 2013
Sally Stockwell, Maine Audubon's Director of Conservation, summarizes
the results of stream crossing surveys conducted
on Northern Maine roads in a recent Maine Audubon blog post.
The Gulf of Maine Coastal Program has been leading work in Maine since 2006 to coordinate, survey, and build a statewide database on barriers to fish passage at stream crossings. Jed Wright and Alex Abbott have been at the forefront of developing innovative approaches to prioritize fish passage barriers and stream habitats to strategically direct funding for aquatic restoration projects.
Read
Sally's
blog
More news and information about road stream crossings
East Branch Penobscot
Road Crossing Project (1/3/2013)
Overview of Projects on the
East Branch (PDF 2.3 MB)
Stream
Restoration Initiative (MPBN 8/31/2012)
GOMCP
leads stream-smart road crossing workshops (1/13/2012)
Download "Maine Stream Crossings: New Designs to Restore Continuity"
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$1.3 million will conserve coastal wetlands in Casco Bay Estuary and Penobscot River watershed
 |
| The Penobscot River at the former location
of the Great Works dam, which
is upstream of the Veazie dam.
Credit: Penobscot River Restoration Trust |
January 29, 2013
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that $1.3 million
in grants will go to two critical projects conserving and restoring
coastal wetlands and their fish and wildlife habitat in Maine. An additional
$579,555 will be provided by partner contributions.
A $1 million grant
will help remove Veazie dam and restore nearly
300 acres in the Penobscot River. This large-scale
project will benefit native sea-run fish, including endangered Atlantic
salmon, and is a joint effort with organizations, government agencies
and hydropower companies seeking to restore fisheries while maintaining
hydropower production on the largest watershed within Maine.
A $300,000
grant will help the Maine Department of Inland
Fisheries and Wildlife, the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust and the Maine
Coastal Heritage Land Trust protect more than 80 acres of coastal wetlands
and uplands, as well as almost 4,000 feet of shoreline within Casco
Bay Estuary. The area provides significant habitat for waterfowl, wading
birds and shellfish. Both grants are part of $20 million that will fund
24 projects across the nation through the 2013 National Coastal Wetlands
Conservation Grants Program.
National
news release
Local Coverage
U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service awards grants for 2 projects (Portland Press
Herald Dispatches 2/4)
Grant
to preserve Harpswell shorelands (Forecaster 1/30)
Maine
nabs $1.3 million in wetlands restoration grants (Portland Press Herald
1/29)
Harpswell
Conservation Project Receives $300,000 Coastal Wetlands Grant (HHLT
website)
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East Branch Penobscot Road Crossing Project
 |
Before: Culverts that are too small or poorly installed can impede fish passage
and damage streambeds.
Credit: Alex Abbott/USFWS |
| |
 |
After: A waste block bridge eliminates the
problem caused by poorly installed
or undersized culverts in a cost-effective,
durable and safe manner.
Credit: Alex Abbott/USFWS |
January 3, 2013
Jed Wright and Alex Abbott continue to work with partners like
the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF)
and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to assess
and restore road stream crossings throughout
the state of Maine. ASF's Andy Goode recently summarized some recent
accomplishments in
the Winter 2012-2013 issue of Castings,
the newsletter for the Maine Council
- Atlantic Salmon Federation, and the
Winter 2012 issue of the Atlantic Salmon
Journal. The story is reposted here with
permission from the author.
Over the past two years, ASF has partnered with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to conduct an inventory and assessment
of approximately 400 road crossings in the
headwaters of the Penobscot River. Originating
at the base of Mount Katahdin the East Branch
(including its larger tributaries such as the Seboeis and Wassataquoit
Streams) spans 1 million acres in the upper Penobscot above Millinocket,
Maine. This area is largely owned by a handful of private timber companies
and contains part of Baxter State Park. In the summer of 2011, surveys
were conducted by field interns from ASF, USFWS and the Nature Conservancy
using established barrier inventory and monitoring protocols.
Numerous studies have identified how culverts and dams can disrupt
ecological processes, including hydrology,
passage of large woody debris and movement
of fish. Improperly sized and placed culverts
can drastically alter physical and ecological
stream conditions. Undersized culverts can
restrict stream flows, cause scouring and erosion and restrict animal
passage. Perched culverts usually scour the stream bottom at the downstream
end and can eliminate or restrict animal passage. Historically in Maine,
all too often culverts are undersized with minimal thought given to
the biological needs of fish and other organisms.
Data from lower and mid-Penobscot barrier inventories indicates that over 40% of our perennial stream culverts act as severe barriers to fish passage.
Over the winter of 2012, the culvert data was analyzed and prioritized
by their condition. A series of GIS maps
that combined culvert results, with critical
Atlantic salmon, brook trout, and river herring
habitat and other data were produced. This
past summer, ASF and USFWS met with much of the industrial land base
to present the data, held a workshop for foresters, and in October completed
three demonstration restoration projects. In each of these projects,
an undersized culvert was removed and replaced with an economical waste
block bridge. Many of the landowners in the watershed, such as J.D.
Irving have been increasingly using waste block bridges as they are
inexpensive, allows them to have little to no impact on the stream,
and have much greater resilience to flood events which seem to be occurring
far more frequently in the past decade.
Given the large size of the industrial land base and the large number of road
crossings, the goal of this project has been to educate and provide both biological
and technical information to landowners and stewards so they can improve their
road crossing network on their own in the coming years. ASF received funding
from the USFWS, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the Quimby Family
Foundation for this project.
- Andy Goode, Maine Council of the Atlantic Salmon Federation
Overview of Projects on the
East Branch (PDF 2.3 MB)
Project Partners
Atlantic Salmon Federation
Elliotsville Plantation, Inc
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Natural Resources Conservation Service - Maine
Sewall
The Nature Conservancy
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