Marshfield farmer Chris Sprague is dressed in colonial garb for the Margaretta Days Festival in Machias, an event that commemorates a naval battle that occurred in local waters in 1775. Sprague sits at a picnic table and quietly expounds on the threat of governmental intrusion on personal liberty and property.
But Sprague isn’t channeling a Revolutionary War character; he’s talking about the fate over the bridge known as the dike on Route 1 in Machias. Residents in Marshfield and Machias are alarmed over Maine Department of Transportation’s (MaineDOT) talk of replacing flappers under the bridge that keep tidal waters out of the Middle River. They fear the flappers will be removed and the ocean will come washing back into the river with a vengeance.
Sprague’s property can be seen at the crest of the dike on Route 1. Should the tidal flow be altered, his farmhouse and barn would be perilously close to the water’s edge. His daughter wants him to restore an old race track at the edge of the property, but all plans are on hold until he learns the fate of the dike. He estimates that some 60 properties in Marshfield and 12 in Machias would be affected if the flappers were taken out and natural tidal flow restored.
“I’ll lose about 85 to 90 percent of my property,” Sprague said. “I’ve kind of invested my life, my family’s life there.”
The fate of the dike has been a hot-button topic since MaineDOT held a contentious meeting in Machias last December. At the meeting, locals learned the flappers used to plug the dike at high tide were in terrible shape and would be costly to repair. The state wanted to gauge reaction to a possible plan to remove the flappers and restore the river to its natural ebb and flow. State officials got an earful, including opinions from selectmen from Marshfield and Machias and from Senator Kevin Raye.
“I have not heard anybody in the greater Machias area in favor of it,” said Kathleen Shannon, executive director of the Machias Valley Chamber of Commerce.
The dike has been in use for more than 150 years, according to Machias Valley historian Valdine Atwood; a local newspaper reported it nearly complete in 1868. Over the years, river residents have used the land unearthed by the altered waterflow for farming, businesses and even a dump. The dike itself has become more than just a bridge, providing a location for a flea market and a farmers’ market in the summer.
Driving near the dike, Bill Cherry points out how the land around the river has been reshaped over the years. Cherry, a former coordinator of the Machias River Watershed Council, is now a steward who oversees the conservation easement for the watershed on behalf of the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
Cherry can’t see how the flappers could be removed without creating an economic and environmental catastrophe in Machias. He still remembers an old dump that was in use while he was a child that was mere feet from the riverside. He points to where a restaurant and hotel were built on filled ground.
“I can remember when that used to be a cove,” he said.
Later, he stops his truck near the site of the finale of the Machias naval battle. In the battle, a British sloop commandeered by revolutionary privateers chased an armed British ship, the Margaretta, through the bay until it ran aground and was boarded. Since the dike was erected, the site has become overgrown with grass, with a small creek running through it that looks barely big enough for a canoe.
Cherry and others argue that too much time has passed to think of restoring the river to its historic tidal levels. A new ecosystem has developed since the dike’s erection, they argue, one that local farmers depend upon for hay and grazing and birds depend upon for habitat.
“The well-established ecosystem does have a lot of value,” Cherry said.
But others argue that the ecosystem that has been created is not as valuable as the one that could be restored. Downeast Salmon Federation executive director Dwayne Shaw was one of the few local stakeholders to speak out at the meeting in favor of some kind of modification to allow for fish passage. Though the federation’s board of directors has yet to take a position on the dike, Shaw said the status quo is failing to maintain a healthy waterway. Altering the flappers or removing them to allow for improved fish passage could help flagging migrating species, including smelt, river herring and sea-run brook trout. This, in turn, could improve the health of the Gulf of Maine and Maine fisheries.
Shaw is a veteran in waterway restoration work in Washington County. He’s been canvassing some 20 years to raise support for a similar project in nearby Addison. More is at stake than restoring common wetlands, he said.
“Coastal wetlands are one of the of the most rare ecosystem types we have in the state…and one of the most highly underestimated for fisheries and wildlife,” Shaw said.
Shaw has taken some criticism for speaking out in favor of modifying the dike’s flappers. He says that while emotions are running high over the issue, it’s important to remember that a final decision must be based on scientific studies and engineering studies, none of which has been undertaken yet.
“There’s a lot of fear…but very little data,” said Shaw.
MaineDOT project manager Steve Bodge insists that a final decision on the dike is far from imminent. Engineers are still working on drawing up initial designs.
“We’re months, if not years, away,” he said.
The Machias dike has long been on MaineDOT’s radar, said Bodge. In the past, the flappers have been eaten away by sea water and needed costly patches. The dike itself is badly eroded and needs replacement. In the late spring, a deep sinkhole opened up near the road and was filled with concrete.
MaineDOT is in the business of replacing failing bridges with better ones, Bodge said, but he emphasized that officials won’t act without considering a project’s impact on landowners.
But MaineDOT’s handling of the project has raised suspicion and criticism among Machias and Marshfield residents. At the meeting in December, officials said they would return in the spring for a follow-up meeting, but spring has passed without a return from MaineDOT. This has angered residents. MaineDOT may return in the late summer or fall instead, said Bodge. He insisted the agency isn’t trying to keep residents in the dark.
“We wanted to go back out and see the public, but we really didn’t have any new information,” Bodge said.
Such an argument holds little water for concerned locals, who fear the lack of a meeting means that they are being left out of the loop. Those fears have been augmented by news that MaineDOT is working to partner with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the project.
“In spite of what we said, they think they know better,” said Betsy Fitzgerald, county manager for Washington County. “Thank you very much, they don’t.”
Back at the festival, Sprague stops arguing against the flappers for a moment to sympathize with MaineDOT officials.
“In their defense, they have a process and they’re working through it,” Sprague said. “If it’s a process, fine.”
But if MaineDOT or the federal government insists on removing the flappers, they will find the people of Machias and Marshfield ready to fight, Sprague said. He smiled slightly after saying this. Perhaps he was struck by how his words would have sounded familiar to Machias residents in 1775.
Coverage of Washington County is made possible by a grant from the Eaton Foundation.
Craig Idlebrook is a freelance writer based in Ellsworth.