HOLDEN – For his work on the historic Penobscot River Restoration Agreement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service selected Gordon Russell of Holden as the 2005 recipient of the Northeast Region’s John S. Gottschalk Partnership Award. Russell is the project leader for the service’s field office in Old Town.

The agreement is one of the largest and most innovative river restoration projects in the nation’s history and may be the single most important action to recover wild Atlantic salmon in the United States, according to the service’s Mike Thabault, assistant regional director in the Northeast Regional Office.

The agreement allows for removing two dams, decommissioning and constructing a fish bypass around a third dam, and providing the opportunity to increase hydropower generation at six existing dams and to improve fish passage at four more dams.

River restoration mapped out in the agreement will improve water quality and wildlife habitat, renew opportunities for sustenance fishing rights for the Penobscot Indian Nation, and create recreational and economic opportunities.

Laura Rose Day, project director for the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, said, “Gordon Russell played a vital role in bringing together diverse parties, resolving differences, and moving forward with the common goal of restoring the Penobscot River.”

During the five-year process of developing the agreement, Thabault said, Russell represented the service in negotiations with as many as 14 representatives from dam owner PPL Maine, the Penobscot Indian Nation, several conservation organizations, and state and federal agencies.

“Gordon has been a critical player on the fisheries committee,” said Andy Goode, executive director of the Atlantic Salmon Federation in Maine, “and he has been a very positive face for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service amongst project partners and in the local communities.”

Russell is a 28-year service employee with a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Connecticut at Storrs and a master’s degree in fisheries from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Russell has been the Maine Field Office project leader since 1990.

The John S. Gottschalk Partnership Award recognizes service employees or teams who have developed and implemented natural resource partnerships. Gottschalk, a fisheries biologist, served as the service’s director from 1964 to 1970. He was a leader in promoting professionalism in fish and wildlife management.