In 2005, a group of Kennebec River enthusiasts decided to introduce Maine’s Conservation Commissioner Patrick McGowan and his assistant at the time, Karen Tilberg, to the section of the Kennebec between Waterville and Sidney. Neither McGowan nor Tilberg had ever seen that stretch, which runs through a fairly heavily settled urban area, but retains a wilderness flavor.
“We caught all kinds of fish,” says Harry Vanderweide, one of the guides along with his colleague Andrew Collar at Ursus Media Group of Waterville and George Smith, Director of the Sportsmen’s Alliance of Maine (SAM). “And we saw some bald eagles and lots of other wildlife. Karen and Pat were astounded by how undeveloped the river was and the amount of wildlife.”
That trip, he says, “percolated a series of meetings” that addressed the reality that this and other parts of the river could be lost to development and pollution. The outcome was the creation of the Kennebec River Initiative (KRI), which is dedicated to “securing for the future the important scenic, ecological, fisheries, wildlife, recreational, cultural and economic assets of the Kennebec River corridor.” The Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund provided funding for the initial phase of the project.
Skowhegan native Bill Townsend, who says over the years he has “canoed, hunted, fished, swum, drunk and fallen into the Kennebec.” has been involved in efforts to protect the river since the early 1970s. When the Clean Water Act of 1973 mandated cleanup of sewage and paper mill pollution, and log drives ceased, Townsend became concerned that “all of a sudden the river would be attractive for development.” Since that time, says Dave Hedrick, the director of the Kennebec Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Townsend has “done much more for Maine rivers than probably any living human around right now.”
To Townsend, the key words in KRI’s mission statement are “Kennebec River corridor.”
“There have been little piecemeal efforts here and there to protect the river,” Townsend says, “but KRI’s underlying concept is to look at the entire river as a system all the way from The Forks to Popham, because what happens at The Forks affects Popham. Their purpose is to try to get people in The Forks interested in what happens at Popham and vice versa, to see the river as a whole.”
Late in 2005, Ken Young, Executive Director of the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments, was selected as KRI manager, and KRI contracted with the Kennebec Soil and Water Conservation District to carry out the project. Josh Platt, project director, and his staff decided to divide the river into three “reaches”: Tidal (Phippsburg through Augusta), Central (Sidney/Vassalboro through Skowhegan) and Northern (Norridgewock to outlet at Moosehead Lake.) In January of 2006, KRI held its first round of meetings to gather information from stakeholders along the river about their concerns and how best to develop coordinated action to protect the river corridor.
This input, which included topics like archeology sites, fishing, farming, boating and rafting, tourism attractions and facilities, was summarized and sent out to everyone who had expressed interest in KRI. Participants came to a next set of meetings, one on Protecting and Restoring the Kennebec Corridor and the other on Economic Growth and Development along the river, armed with specific project proposals.
An eclectic assortment of 35 to 40 people have participated at each KRI meeting, including Maine Guides, representatives from the Maine Legislature and state organizations such as Land for Maine’s Future and the Department of Marine Resources, nonprofit groups such as The Nature Conservancy and Maine Island Trail Association, town committees such as Gardiner Economic Development and Woolwich Conservation Commission, and businesses like Florida Power and Light, North Country Rivers, and Northern Outdoors.
This November, KRI will release an Action Plan that incorporates stakeholder suggestions in six categories plus a separate section on Fisheries that focuses primarily on the tidal section of the river and discusses topics like improving habitat and developing recommendations for stocking. The plan includes Area Reach Maps with suggested projects pinpointed in each section. “Everything will be tied to the maps,” Platt explains, “anything from protecting duck habitat to putting in new brew pubs.”
The six categories are Access Improvement, Trails, Restoration and Protection, Community Based Waterfront Development, Marketing and Tourism and KRI Phase II Coordination.
Access Improvement covers many different types of access, ranging from boat ramps to places people can enjoy the river in waterfront parks to non-location access like printed material about the river corridor that covers possible activities along the waterway.
The Trails section includes projects to clean up existing trails and create new ones. Participants suggested improving signage for trails, reviving historic river trails and creating a way to get trail information out to the public.
With 64 proposals, Restoration and Protection is the largest section. Projects range from remediating gravel pits and assessing mining operations to protecting the petroglyphs in Emden, improving fish passage and stabilizing riverbanks to protect habitats.
Lorena and Joe Albuit, owners of Evergreens Campground on the Kennebec in Solon, have a special interest in any proposals concerning quarry operations. For three years, they have been part of a fight to ensure that Guilford Railroad acts responsibly in its proposal to quarry track rock that will line the railroad carrying passenger trains from Brunswick to Rockland. Albuit explains that a citizens’ group forced Guilford to do a wetlands study, with the outcome that the company was required to reduce its site from 128 acres to 52 acres. “Before that,” Albuit says, “Guilford was going to drain into a basin which drained into wetlands and then into the river.”
She and her husband feel KRI is a “very important program” because they have been concerned about danger to their wild stretch of river not only from Guilford, but also from other development pressures “They are cutting forest all over the place,” she says. “People come from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and keep tearing apart the forest, running the wildlife out of here. If this continues, we’ll be another Massachusetts. It’s important for people to stand up.”
The KRI report section on Community Based Waterfront Development projects covers municipal and town development plans. They may include boat ramps and trails, or projects like the Nieman Capital Group’s initiative to convert the Hathaway Shirt Center in Waterville into stores, restaurants and other businesses. Platt notes that there are many buildings along the river that are vacant and could be revitalized to assist community economic development. “We’d like to help them use that existing infrastructure to create cluster type development,” he says, adding that KRI could help disseminate information to the public about proposed projects and could coordinate fund-raising once projects are approved by residents.
Marketing and Tourism possibilities include linking businesses and possible activities up and down the corridor so that a couple looking for information about how to go rafting in the morning, antiquing in the afternoon and enjoy a gourmet dinner at night could easily obtain information on corridor attractions. A web site, tourism books and other printed material with suggested trips could all be ways to reach potential visitors.
Ed Friedman, Chairman of the Board of Friends of Merrymeeting Bay since 1996 and member of the board since 1993, attended the first KRI meeting and then decided not to add yet another meeting to his schedule until he sees how the Initiative develops. “I hate to be a naysayer or skeptic,” he says, but I’ve seen many initiatives come through over the years and it seems little comes out of a lot of fact finding, gathering information, map making, whatever.”
He adds that he needs to know more about how much funding will be available and exactly what is the intent of the Initiative. “We have major problems on the Kennebec and around the state,” he emphasizes, but says his experience has shown that although there are “a lot of good environmental protection laws on the books, they are not enforced well. The problem is it rests on local enforcement,” he explains, “which is usually a part-time codes enforcement officer.
“I feel kind of jaded about the whole thing,” he concludes, “We’re seeing a lot of our precious resources trickle away. The Friends of Merrymeeting Bay are working on so many problems, and we find it is so difficult to be heard, to produce action that is good for the environment. There are too many holes and too few fingers.”
KRI’s Phase II, beginning in 2008, aims to allay some of Friedman’s doubts. The next step is a drive to gain public support and public and private funding, both state and national, to implement plans and coordinate and begin projects. “That’s the first recommendation,” says Platt, “to find the people who will make this happen, not have the Action Plan sit on the shelf.” The effort will include using a promotional film created by Vanderweide’s company that celebrates the history, beauty and diversity of the Kennebec River Corridor. q
For more information, visit www.kcswcd.org/KRI Page.htm. This is the second of two articles on Maine’s major rivers.