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Eileen Bader Hall is freshwater program manager for The Nature Conservancy in Maine. Kyle Burdick is woodlands manager at Baskahegan Co.
Here in Maine, land owners and conservation organizations have found common ground when it comes to our state’s greatest natural assets.
Protecting the health of Maine’s forests and the waterways that keep them thriving is something both of our organizations can get behind. For The Nature Conservancy, it’s because healthy forests are vital for people and the planet. For Baskahegan, it’s because thriving forests mean jobs and growing local economies. For both of us, addressing the outdated dams and undersized culverts on forest roads that block passage of native fish like Atlantic salmon and brook trout is a top priority.
In recent years, critical federal funding has helped support collaboration between partners like us. The bipartisan infrastructure law passed by Congress in 2021 and the climate-focused Inflation Reduction Act the following year unlocked billions of dollars in tax breaks and other incentives to conserve our natural resources, including here in Maine. This funding supports programs like the Regional Conservation Partnership Program.
Last year, the conservation program contributed around $1 million to the construction of a fishway at a dam owned by Baskahegan in Danforth. The Nature Conservancy and partners managed engineering, design and construction, and the outcome was incredible for native fish. The project restored access to 96 miles and nearly 9,000 acres of invaluable alewife spawning habitat in the northern reaches of the Penobscot River watershed — returning fish to waters they haven’t been able to access for 200 years.
Just recently, we got word that significant federal funding is coming to Maine through an additional Regional Conservation Partnership Program project focused on resilient road infrastructure and stream habitat. This award of nearly $25 million will support private landowners who want to make these improvements to road-stream crossings on their property. Importantly, this award will fund the program over the next decade, ensuring that we can build on the critical progress to date and continue the important partnerships between organizations like ours.
Projects like these satisfy important economic and recreational needs for communities, while also improving the health of our forests. We expect the next round of funding — significantly higher now thanks to the climate and infrastructure laws — to be awarded in the coming months. The Nature Conservancy hopes to leverage that potential award along with other partners’ contributions to reconnect more than 200 more miles of Maine streams in the coming years.
Since 90 percent of Maine’s forests are privately owned, partnerships are critical to our stewardship of nature. That is why tribes, conservation organizations, the timber industry and other partners have found ways to work together to restore our forests’ vital arteries. Federal funding has been integral to that collaboration, and we hope the success of our work together will demonstrate to state and federal lawmakers the value of these investments — not only to Maine’s natural assets, but to our economy as well.
Mainers know how to care for our lands and waters, and we know how to work together to do so. The possibility to expand this work, thanks to vital funding and fruitful partnerships, will contribute to a healthy, sustainable and thriving future for Maine’s great outdoors for generations to come.