Public Comments Requested

A public meeting to discuss the Montsweag Brook Restoration project and feasibility study results was held at Chewonki on November 4, 2009. Notes of this meeting can be downloaded at right. Citizens of Wiscasset and Woolwich and others are invited to submit written comments about the study and the project. Comments are due by November 20, 2009, and should be addressed to montsweagfs@gmail.com, or:

Montsweag Restoration Project/Public Comments
Chewonki Foundation
485 Chewonki Neck Road
Wiscasset, ME 04578

General Description of the Project
Montsweag Brook is a coastal stream that drains into Montsweag Estuary, on the west side of Chewonki Neck. The brook is a minor tributary to the Back River (Sheepscot River system), originating from a 10.5 square mile watershed in the towns of Wiscasset, Woolwich, and Dresden. In 1968, Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Company built a concrete dam on lower Montsweag Brook to supply emergency water for their nuclear facility on Bailey Point. As part of the Maine Yankee closure agreement, Chewonki was recently given ownership of the lower dam and an easement on the Wiscasset side of the brook that stretches 2 miles upstream to another, smaller dam. The impoundment created by the lower dam is 0.8 miles long and floods about 20 acres of riverine habitat. The dam acts as a barrier to the movement of diadromous fish that need access to both saltwater and fresh water.

The Maine Yankee closure agreement required evaluation of re-establishing fish passage on lower Montsweag Brook. In Spring 2009, Stantec Corporation, a local environmental consulting firm, began a feasibility study, including a thorough assessment of the site conditions and evaluations of several different alternatives for restoring fish passage and riverine conditions. A draft of this feasibility study is now complete and can be downloaded here.

The feasibility study, which is the first phase of the Montsweag Brook Restoration project, includes a baseline assessment of fish species in the brook. The presence of river herring at the downstream toe of the dam was established, indicating that removal of the dam and restoration of the aquatic habitat would most certainly be beneficial to certain fish. Target species for the restoration efforts include alewife, blueback herring, rainbow smelt, and American eel. It is also important to know that Montsweag Brook is in the range of the Gulf of Maine Distinct Population Segment of Atlantic salmon, a federally-endangered species. Within the impoundment, several species of exotic, piscivorous fish (e.g., black crappie, chain pickerel) were caught; other data collected show that the impoundment significantly alters water quality, especially in the summer months when water temperatures are increased and dissolved oxygen levels are reduced.

This past July, during field activities for the feasibility study, several American eels were observed in small pools on the rock outcroppings that abut the west side of the dam. Apparently these juvenile eels had made the climb up the rock ledge during high water then were stranded from going further up as flow over the dam decreased. American eels are the only ‘catadromous’ fish in North America. The term catadromous refers to fish born in the ocean that mature in fresh water and return to the ocean to spawn. Further information about American eels can be found at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/AmEel/facts.html.

Chewonki is pleased to have the support of the following project partners:

• National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries
• Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment
• Maine Rivers
• Maine State Planning Office
• The Nature Conservancy
• Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA)
• Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Company
• Sheepscot River Watershed Council
• Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association
• The Coastal Conservation Association
  
  

Click here to download
Feasibility Study Report (large file)
ftp://ftpmrp:RKew783@ftp.stantec.com

For a CD-ROM with the report file, please send your name and mailing address to montsweagfs@gmail.com