Winterport opposes dam removal

WINTERPORT – Residents fighting to save the West Winterport dam have found a new partner with a big bankroll.

People attending Wednesday’s special town meeting voted overwhelmingly to join the fight to save the dam and raise $5,000 for legal costs. About 100 voters attended the meeting at the Samuel L. Wagner Middle School and all but a handful favored mounting a fight to save the dam.

The owners of the dam, Facilitators Improving Salmonid Habitat, or FISH, have filed a federal application to remove the former hydroelectric dam on the Marsh Stream. FISH wants the 150-year-old dam removed to advance its goal of restoring Atlantic salmon and other anadromous fish to the stream.

Residents living along the three-mile impoundment behind the dam and many others in town oppose FISH’s plans. Residents in the neighboring town of Frankfort also are fighting the permit application. Residents of both communities think the dam should remain because it provides water for fire protection, a habitat for fish and wildlife and opportunities for recreation.

Fire Chief Stan Bowden said the dam was critical to protection for homes in that part of town. He said the impoundment provides an unlimited supply of water and proved itself on a number of occasions. He said a 1995 forest fire could have raged out of control had the 13 fire departments fighting the fire been deprived of the water behind the dam.

“That water was a big factor in stopping that fire,” said Bowden. “All I can say to you people is that dam is valuable to your safety.”

FISH president Clinton “Bill” Townsend, a Skowhegan lawyer, attended the meeting but was prevented from stating his position. Townsend said afterward that his wished he had been given an opportunity to speak. He added that the outcome of the vote did not come as a surprise.

“Needless to say I’m disappointed but not surprised,” Townsend said of the vote. “I was prepared to speak if allowed to but we are already prepared to address the town on this issue.”

FISH member and Winterport resident Gary Arsenault told the gathering that the dam may have served a purpose when it was built 150 years ago but that was no longer the case. He said FISH believed it was time to remove the dam and allow the Marsh Stream to flow freely.

“I’m a conservationist but I’m also an outdoorsman. I’m a fly fisherman and a hunter. Sometimes you have to put your fly rod down and sometimes you have to put your gun down,” said Arsenault. He said the dam was built for a grist mill, was converted at some point into a lumber mill and was a hydro dam in its most recent incarnation. Now that the turbines have been removed, “that dam has no purpose now as it has through history,” said Arsenault, “other than just impounding water.”

Rudy Rawcliffe advised against committing public funds to prevent private property owners from exercising their rights. He speculated that it would cost the town far beyond $5,000 to take control of the dam and keep it maintained.

“You’re throwing good money after bad,” said Rawcliffe, adding, “$5,000 is just the tip of the iceberg. … I don’t think it’s the responsibility of the town to buy that dam.”

Al Faust said he lived along a section of the stream below the dam and had mixed emotions about seeing it removed. Faust said his family enjoyed the recreation provided by the dam but cautioned the town about getting involved in what could become a lengthy and expensive legal fight.

Faust said that the movement to remove dams was nationwide and supported by federal endangered species laws and conservation groups with deep pockets.

“Federal and conservation organizations are behind this,” said Faust. “Think about it. That’s an awful lot of wood to push there, folks.”