OLD TOWN, Maine — A 200-year-old dam on Maine’s Penobscot River is being removed as part of a project aimed at reopening nearly 1,000 miles of river habitat to Atlantic salmon, shad, river herring and other migratory fish species.
Workers on Monday begin removing the Great Works Dam that spans the river from Old Town to Bradley, marking the beginning of the dismantling stage of the Penobscot River Restoration Project.
Besides removing the Great Works Dam, the $62 million project also calls for removing a dam in Veazie and building a fishway around the Howland Dam.
In exchange for selling the dams to the Penobscot River Trust, the dams’ owner was allowed to increase electricity production at its other dams.
If all goes as planned, the project is expected to be completed in 2014.
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- The soon-to-be-removed Great Works Dam on the Penobscot River in Old Town is adjacent to the Old Town Fuel and Fiber facility, seen on left. Photographed late May 2012.
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