News & Announcements
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March 13 , 2007
Project Coordinator Contact:
Stewart Fefer
(stewart_fefer@fws.gov;
207-781-8364 x17)
Two National Coastal Wetland Conservation Grants awarded in Maine
In February, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant program delivered $1.8 million to two projects in Maine. $803,200 was awarded to support the work of the Maine Wetlands Protection Coalition by permanently protecting important coastal wetland and upland buffer habitat in the Holt Forest in the Lower Kennebec River. An additional $1 million was awarded to support the Penobscot River Restoration Partnership’s efforts to restore 500 miles of free fish passage along the Penobscot River and its 
tributaries.
The federal grant for Holt Forest will be used to acquire a conservation easement on the 320.1 acre parcel located on the Back River, in Arrowsic, Maine. “Owned by a family foundation that supports long-term research conducted by to the University of Maine, the Holt Forest is finally permanently protected for its fish and wildlife values, and for its ongoing use as a university field research station,” commented Jack Witham, Director of the Research Forest and Board President of the Lower Kennebec Regional Land Trust. As part of the grant proposal, an additional 120 acres of land, including 66.4 acres of wetland habitat, was provided as non-federal match by The Nature Conservancy. This project was part of the broader decade-long effort of the Maine Wetlands Protection Coalition, designed to permanently protect important coastal habitat of Lower Kennebec River and Merrymeeting Bay. The Coalition taps into the collective talents of many partners – willing landowners, local land trusts, local officials, The Nature Conservancy, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Gulf of Maine Coastal Program. The Holt Forest project was particularly critical, because it protects the last large parcel needed to create a contiguous block of 1,075 acres of conservation lands within the Back River Corridor,” remarked Will Brune, Director of Land Protection at The Nature Conservancy.
Protecting the Holt Forest is the latest in a series of ambitious initiatives since the mid-1990s that has led to the permanent protection of 11,500 acres in the Kennebec Estuary. To date, this work has been supported with five Large NAWCA grants, four National Coastal Wetland Grants, a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant, a state Land for Maine’s Future grant, and private donations from state and local land trusts and willing landowners. “The Kennebec Estuary has been a focus of attention for many conservation groups because of the increasing threat of residential development in this area where thousands of migratory waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds and searun fish seek refuge. The region also provides critical habitat for rare, threatened and endangered species, including nesting osprey and eagles, short-nosed and Atlantic sturgeon, piping plover and least and roseate terns,” commented Stewart Fefer, Project Leader at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Gulf of Maine Coastal Program.
The second $1 million Coastal Wetland grant was 
awarded to the Penobscot River Restoration Trust in order to provide additional federal support for a large-scale river restoration plan. “Once complete, this ambitious effort will re-establish an estimated 1,000 miles of riverine wetland habitat along the Penobscot River for diadromous (searun) fish,” commented Laura Rose Day, Executive Director of the Penobscot River Restoration Trust. Penobscot project partners, including U.S. Dept. of the Interior (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and National Park Service), NOAA Fisheries, the State of Maine, PPL Corporation, Penobscot Indian Nation, American Rivers, Atlantic Salmon Federation, Maine Audubon, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Trout Unlimited, and The Nature Conservancy are working together to implement the plan. Phase I involves the acquisition of the three dams for approximately $24 million. In Phase II, an additional estimated $25 million will be spent to demolish the Great Works and Veazie Dams and construct a bypass facility at the Howland Dam. Currently, federal and private funds are being raised to complete Phase I. NOAA Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation have already provided $4.5 million dollars. An additional $7.5 million has been raised privately, and the President’s FY08 budget proposal for NOAA includes a significant funding request that would bring Phase I near completion.
Restoration partners recognize many biological, economic and social values of the Penobscot River Restoration project. Removing mainstem dams will be done in a manner that maintains hydropower resources yet allows the populations of twelve different species of diadromous fish to rebound. Many more fish in the river will support increased populations of fish-eating birds and furbearing mammals, helping revitalize the biological vitality of the entire river basin. Return of fish and wildlife, in turn, will attract more recreational users and help revitalize the economy of communities along the river corridor and will renew opportunities for the Penobscot Indian Nation to re-establish its treaty-reserved fishing rights and exercise 10,000 years of sacred traditions.