Clean, healthy waterways are vital to our day-to-day lives. They help ensure safe drinking water, suitable habitat for fish and other wildlife, and recreational opportunities that make Maine a special place to live, work, and visit. NRCM is working hard to protect and restore Maine’s lakes, rivers, and streams, now and for generations to come.
But Maine's waterways face huge challenges. For decades, paper companies and other mills along Maine's rivers have treated these great waterways as their own private dumping grounds. The pollution they discharge prevents our native fish from thriving and impairs the quality of life for the people who live in those communities.
Pollution is one issue, dams are another. Dams continue to choke waterways across the state. While some dams are strategically located to minimize damage to fisheries and generate significant amounts of renewable electricity, other dams are obsolete or destroy fisheries resources that are worth far more than the small amount of power they generate.
One such dam was the Edwards Dam. NRCM’s work with coalition partners to remove the Edwards Dam from the Kennebec has become a national model for success. Now, NRCM and our partners in the Penobscot River Restoration Trust are working to restore this vital watershed for the wildlife and people of Maine.
NRCM has served as the voice of Maine people by advocating for clean and healthy waterways. Find out more about the issues we work on and how you can get involved to ensure clean and healthy waters for Maine.
Allagash Wilderness Waterway Deserves Stronger Protection
By Dean and Sheila Bennett Maine Sunday Telegram op-ed On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, it is important to recognize and appreciate what the voters of Maine did in November 1966 when they approved a bond issue to develop the maximum wilderness character of the land Read More
200 Years of Troubled Waters for Atlantic Salmon
By Kevin Miller, staff writer Bangor Daily News news story Atlantic salmon did not disappear from New England rivers overnight. Rather, North American populations of this resilient fish beloved by anglers for its fight and by food aficionados for its flavor has suffered what some describe as “death by a thousand cuts” over the past Read More
Fort Halifax Dam: SOS Can’t Stop the Unstoppable
Kennebec Journal editorial Things changed after the 1970s, when passage of the Clean Water Act resulted in the cleanup of pollution that flowed into the rivers. And over the last 20 years, a series of legally-binding agreements were entered into by state and federal regulators, citizens and owners of several dams along the Kennebec and Read More
Removal of Dam Ready to Begin
By Larry Grard, Staff Writer Kennebec Journal news story NORRIDGEWOCK — Breaching of the Sandy River Dam, a project designed to restore salmon and other sea-run fish from the Kennebec, is scheduled to begin this morning. Contractors will begin the removal of the dam located between Norridgewock and Starks on the Sandy River. The dam Read More
NRCM Responds to Decision on Lawsuit
Effort to Clean Up the Androscoggin River Will Continue NRCM News Release The Natural Resources Council of Maine today expressed disappointment in yesterday’s court decision to dismiss, on administrative technicalities, NRCM’s lawsuit against International Paper. NRCM said that it would not give up on its efforts to compel International Paper to reduce its pollution of Read More
Residents Weigh in on Allagash Plan
Bangor Daily News news story AUGUSTA – Hours before sunrise Friday, Colleen McBreairty and three family members got into a car and began the nearly six-hour drive from Allagash to Augusta to deliver a message. “The Allagash River is not someone else’s playground, it is our heritage,” McBreairty told a committee of lawmakers considering a Read More
Vernal Pool Rules Nothing New for Maine
Rep. Ted Koffman and Sen. Scott Cowger Portland Press Herald op-ed The Legislature’s Committee on Natural Resources has worked over the years to build on our predecessors’ work to advance a reasoned and commonsense approach to environmental conservation and public health protection. The Natural Resources Protection Act, enacted in 1987, has provided protections for special Read More
What is Right for the River is Right for Maine
By Neil Ward, founding member of the Androscoggin River Alliance Lewiston Sun Journal DEP’s course correction holds hope for unleashing the true potential of the Androscoggin River. I applaud the recent move by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to revisit the International Paper discharge license issued last September. New pollution monitoring data from IP Read More
NRCM, NRDC Sue International Paper for Polluting Androscoggin River
AUGUSTA Maine – This morning, the Natural Resources Council of Maine and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed suit against International Paper (IP) in US District Court in Bangor. “We are suing International Paper because the Androscoggin River below their papermill in Jay is so polluted that it has never met the bare minimum standards Read More
Banner photo: Allagash Wilderness Waterway by Sam Horine
