HOULTON, Maine — The view of the Meduxnekeag River from Lowery Bridge shows a beautiful, wide river winding lazily into the distance. What many do not realize is this is a desert for many types of fish including the Eastern Brook Trout.
Recently the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians (HBMI) received funding to change all that.
Open streams have become the new normal across most of the country and northern Maine is no exception. But this is not what a healthy stream looks like.
“Streams have ‘structure,’” said Helena Swiatek, district conservationist with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Houlton. “This means they have rocks that the water moves over and around adding oxygen to the water for the fish as it does so. Streams have fallen trees and logs along the banks creating cover for the fish to hide from predators. These structures also create speed in the channel which helps keep the water from heating up.”
These factors are important since fish native to northern Maine thrive in cold water. Unfortunately these natural structures were removed from the Meduxnekeag in the 1800’s for log drives and have not been replaced, Swiatek said.
This fall HBMI, in conjunction with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, hope to correct that.
“This project, slated to begin mid-September, will be the culmination of over six years worth of work,” she said. “It began with a study funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and undertaken by a fluvial geomorphologist (an expert in river systems), who studied the streams in Southern Aroostook in order to determine what was ‘normal’ for northern Maine.”
HBMI approached NRCS and subsequently the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture for funding to build the design created in the study.
“Our Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) was a perfect fit for what HBMI was proposing,” Swiatek said. “With their support, and that of the Maine Departments of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Environmental Protection, and many of the landowners who own property along the river’s edge, the stream’s structure will be enhanced and restored along the two-mile stretch between Lowery Bridge and Covered Bridge.”
The restoration will be one of the largest stream projects undertaken in Maine. Hundreds of two to five-foot boulders and large trees will be strategically placed in the stream channel in several different designs. These will be buried and otherwise secured to keep them in place during ice-out.
“The long term goal of the project is to promote a healthy stream for the whole community” said Sharri Venno, environmental planner with HBMI. “We would eventually like to see salmon back in the Meduxnekeag but in the short term we are promoting Eastern Brook Trout. Lowery Bridge has always been a good fishing spot for the community and this will just make it better.”
