The Saccarappa Hydroelectric Project, the second dam on southern Maine’s Presumpscot River, is expected to be removed as early as 2020, according to an agreement filed today by project operator S.D. Warren Company (d.b.a “Sappi North America,” otherwise known as “Sappi”), the U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Maine Department of Marine Resources, Friends of the Presumpscot River, Conservation Law Foundation and City of Westbrook.
Sappi has agreed to remove the dam, including two spillways, as well as fund fish passage fish passage
Fish passage is the ability of fish or other aquatic species to move freely throughout their life to find food, reproduce, and complete their natural migration cycles. Millions of barriers to fish passage across the country are fragmenting habitat and leading to species declines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Fish Passage Program is working to reconnect watersheds to benefit both wildlife and people.
Learn more about fish passage facilities for river herring, American shad and Atlantic salmon at Saccarappa Falls. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to modify the agency’s fish passage requirements at the next four upstream hydroelectric projects (Mallison Falls, Little Falls, Gambo and Dundee) owned by Sappi. Further, Sappi and the City of Westbrook intend to negotiate terms and conditions for the transfer of certain parcels to the city related to the riverwalk along the Presumpscot River.
The agreement marks a milestone in the Presumpscot River restoration and an early phase of restoring the Saccarappa to Dundee Falls segment. The first dam on the river upstream of Casco Bay, the Smelt Hill Hydroelectric Project, was removed in 2002 after flood damage. In 2013 Sappi installed a fishway at the next dam upstream, the non-power Cumberland Mills dam in Westbrook, which allowed river herring and other migrating fish to reach the Saccarappa Hydroelectric Project for the first time in more than 150 years. A fishway at the outlet of Highland Lake has allowed alewife to recolonize a downstream tributary of the Presumpscot River.
The agreement, although initially signed by all parties, must still be ratified by Sappi’s Board of Directors at its next meeting in early December as well as by the Westbrook City Council later in November.
About Sappi North America
Sappi North America, headquartered in Boston, is a market leader in converting wood fiber into superior products that customers demand worldwide. The success of our four diversified businesses – high quality Coated Printing Papers, Specialised Cellulose, Release Papers and Specialty Packaging – is driven by strong customer relationships, best-in-class people and advantaged assets, products and services. Our high quality Coated Printing Papers, including McCoy, Opus, Somerset and Flo, are the key platform for premium magazines, catalogs, books and high-end print advertising. We are a leading manufacturer of Specialised Cellulose used in a wide range of products, including textile fibers and household goods, and one of the world's leading suppliers of Release Papers with our Ultracast, PolyEX, Classics and Neoterix lines for the automotive, fashion and engineered films industries. Our Specialty Packaging products, such as LusterPrint and LusterCote, represent an important asset in the food packaging and labeling industries. Customers rely on Sappi for high technical, operational and market expertise; products and services delivered with consistently high quality and reliability; and, state-of-the-art and cost-competitive assets and innovative spirit.
Sappi North America is a subsidiary of Sappi Limited (JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with more than 13,000 employees and manufacturing operations on three continents in seven countries and customers in over 100 countries around the world. Learn more about Sappi at: www.sappi.com.
