A “pre-application discussion” of The Chewonki Foundation’s proposal to remove a large, concrete dam on Montsweag Brook sparked indignation from some community members at a meeting of the Wiscasset Planning Board May 10.
Wiscasset residents Reginald Donkling and Clark Jones expressed concern that the removal of Lower Montsweag Brook Dam would have a negative impact on recreational fishing in the brook and registered environmental concerns regarding the disruption of silt downstream.
According to a Chewonki press release, the dam, built by Maine Yankee in 1968, became Chewonki property “as part of the 2008 Natural Resources Damages Restoration Plan and Settlement Agreement (NRDAR) between Maine Yankee and the State of Maine.”
Maine Yankee will also contribute funds to the demolition process. As part of the settlement, Chewonki took responsibility “to evaluate alternatives for restoring fish passage and riparian [river bank] habitat in the lower brook.”
Chewonki commissioned Stantec Consulting Services of Topsham, to complete “a feasibility study for fish passage,” said Don Hudson, the outgoing president of The Chewonki Foundation.
According to a document presented by Chewonki, the study considered three options to execute the demands of the settlement: “No action; installation of a fish passage structure; and removal of the lower dam.”
Ultimately, “although it was possible to build a fish ladder,” Hudson said, the cost, estimated at $1-$1.5 million, rendered the option impractical.
“The dam is too tall, the flow of water is too little,” Hudson said. “The preferred alternative was removal of the dam.”
Architectural Engineer Michael Chelminski took Hudson’s statement a step further, calling removal “the only option for compensating for damage to natural resources by Maine Yankee.”
At present, Chewonki is “at the last stage of preparing the documents to put the project out to bid,” said Hudson. “Removing 2200 tons of concrete is going to be no small feat,” he said, and the estimated cost is “between $750,000-$800,000.”
Stantec and Chelminski bring experience to the project. “We did three small dam removals last year,” Chelminski said. Chewonki will need to draw on that experience in order to complete the demolition on schedule.
“Our aim,” Hudson said, “is to be ready to remove the dam at the lowest possible water” in late summer.
At least two community members hope to delay Chewonki’s plan. Clark Jones helped build the dam and said he’s, “been a Maine Guide for years.” He doesn’t buy the claims of Chelminski and Hudson regarding the dam’s harm to fish populations. At any rate, he said, “the landowner doesn’t want it.”
When Hudson reminded him that Chewonki owns the dam, Jones replied that it “used to be you’d ask your neighbor.”
Chewonki’s neighbor, in this case, is Reginald Donkling, who also expressed his dissatisfaction with the plan. “There’s fish in there and bass fishing,” Donkling said.
According to Hudson, however, bass aren’t native to the brook and “the goal of the project is to restore native fish habitats.”
Hudson and Chelminski said they’ve spoken to residents who fished the brook in the years before the dam’s construction. These fishermen, they said, recalled the presence of several species, including an abundant population of sea-run brook trout, now scarce in Montsweag Brook.
“The brook has become less hospitable to trout,” Chelminski said.
Steve House, chair of the planning board, eventually cut short the debate. House noted Chewonki’s presentation was “only an introductory” step in a process that will offer further opportunity for public comment.
