The Wolastoq-St. John Restoration Initiative, a major watershed restoration project, is about to begin in Aroostook County thanks to funding provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and a coalition of federal, state and nonprofit partners. The Wolastoq-St. John River Restoration Initiative aims to restore access to hundreds of miles of habitat for Atlantic salmon, Eastern brook trout and other wildlife species and improve safety in communities.
In northern Maine, the Wolastoq-St. John Watershed includes five million acres with 11,000 miles of streams that drain into the Wolastoq-St. John River before flowing through New Brunswick to the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine. Roughly 1,000 road stream-crossings are barriers to fish and wildlife movement and keep streams from reaching their water quality and habitat potential. Furthermore, with the increasing severe weather Maine is experiencing, much of this built infrastructure is becoming more vulnerable to storm damage. Washouts cause devastating ecological and economic costs to aquatic habitat and transportation networks. Conditions around these road crossings can quickly become unsafe, creating a liability for landowners, municipalities, residents, and travelers.
A coalition including HBMI, Northern Maine Development Commission, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Maliseet Community Development Authority, the Maine Departments of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Environmental Protection, and Transportation and The Nature Conservancy is working together to improve both fisheries habitat and transportation networks in the Wolastoq-St. John River Watershed. Its tributaries are vitally important to Eastern brook trout, sea-run Atlantic salmon and many other native fish species. Unhindered passage at stream crossings allows fish and other aquatic species to move throughout the watershed and access all necessary habitats.
The first step in this visionary effort to restore the river networks of the Wolastoq-St. John is to engage local communities and gather data to focus the work ahead. This effort will identify highly beneficial restoration opportunities, develop teams of willing partners and produce dozens of concept designs with cost estimates to prepare this under-resourced part of Maine for further federal infrastructure and other restoration funds. As a result of this planning project, this partnership will:
Engage citizens through direct outreach and broader information sharing and learning,
Complete a plan to guide multi-million-dollar future investments in road-stream crossings such as culverts, and
Establish a watershed restoration model that can be replicated by tribal nations, federal and state agencies, municipalities, landowners, and others wherever high-priority river restoration projects are needed.
Sharri Venno, environmental planner with HBMI said, “The Wolastoq-St. John Restoration Initiative exemplifies how municipalities, tribal nations, state and federal agencies and landowners can work together to restore access to aquatic habitat and improve the safety of stream crossings.”
For more information, contact Venno (envplanner@maliseets.com) or Joe Cyr, communications director (jcyr@maliseets.com), Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians.
