Allagash dam issue resolved State, park service sign pact on use of waterway

The state and National Park Service officially signed an agreement Friday to clear up problems on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway caused by the fact that the state rebuilt a dam there without the required federal permit.

Environmentalists cheered the signing because in the memorandum of agreement the state reaffirmed its responsibility to manage the waterway as a “wild” river under the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Sportsmen applauded the document because it reaffirmed that the state is responsible for managing the Allagash, with input from the federal government only when the state asks for it.The agreement was signed Friday by Maine Department of Conservation Commissioner Ron Lovaglio and Marie Rust, regional director of the National Park Service’s northeast region.

Lovaglio said it is now expected that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will issue an after-the-fact permit for the Churchill Dam construction in a “reasonably speedy” manner. He said some of the required mitigation would begin as soon as the snow is gone.

The National Park Service administers the National Wild and Scenic Rivers program and, by law, should have been consulted by the Army Corps of Engineers as part of its review of an application to rebuild the dam on the Allagash. That consultation never took place because the state never applied for a permit.

The agreement, which has been in the works for several months, once again ignited a debate about the true purpose of the Allagash. At public hearings on the agreement last month, conservationists said the 92-mile waterway was meant to be “wild” and hard to get to. Sportsmen and those who live near the waterway in northern Maine said the Allagash had long been their backyard playground and should remain so.

The agreement, which is a means for the state to atone for the fact that it rebuilt Churchill Dam in 1998 without the required permit, does not settle the issue but offers some satisfaction to both groups.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Maine Department of Conservation has agreed to close down one access point and move another one at John’s Bridge. It will also move a parking lot at Churchill Dam so it is not visible from the waterway.

The state agreed that if it builds a controversial canoe launch at John’s Bridge, it will do so at least 500 feet from the water. This will necessitate a walk down a long path to the river.

In addition, the current management plan for the waterway will be reviewed to see how federal guidelines under the National Wild and Scenic Rivers program should be applied to the waterway.

The interplay of federal and state regulations has been troubling to sportsmen and conservationists for different reasons. Conservationists have long criticized the state for not giving enough heed to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, to which the Allagash was added in 1970 as the first state-run “wild” river in the program. Sportsmen, however, worried that the federal government would assert too much authority over the Allagash if the Wild and Scenic designation were given too much credence.

Both concerns seemed to be addressed by the memorandum of agreement.

“While we still have a lot of work ahead to fulfill the 30-year-old promise that the Allagash be managed to ‘develop its maximum wilderness character,’ this agreement is a starting point,” said Cathy Johnson of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Her group praised the agreement for reaffirming the state’s commitment to manage the Allagash as “wild,” something that was supported by 90 percent of the 1,400 comments the Department of Conservation received about the memorandum.

George Smith of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine said his group was pleased that the document says the state will continue to manage the Allagash and that the National Park Service will serve a solely advisory role.

“We were concerned that the federal government would play an intrusive role,” he said.

Smith conceded that the movement of the John’s Bridge launch site farther from the water was a disappointment, but it was positive that the park service allowed that the new canoe launch could be built.