Session 8 – Lessons learned from the China Lake Alewife Restoration Initiative

COVID-19 Protocols – As the main conference organizer, the Mitchell Center is required to have conference attendees follow University of Maine System COVID-19 protocols. Please go to the COVID-19 page for more information.

Afternoon Session: 1:30PM-4:00PM

Kennebec Room (First Floor)

Session Chairs:
Landis Hudson, Maine Rivers, Yarmouth, ME
Dave Courtemanch, The Nature Conservancy, Brunswick, ME

Over a period of seven years, six barriers were removed from the China Lake Outlet Stream to restore a run of native migratory alewives. The run is estimated to reach nearly one million returning adult alewives. The project has been completed through a combination of dam removals and the installation of technical fishways. Project participants include two towns (Vassalboro and China) and many other partners, including state and federal agencies, community members and nonprofit organizations. The session will focus on sharing the lessons learned in completing this large, complicated project including agency participation, funding, logistics and permitting, partnership building, riparian buffer restoration, dam removal versus fish passage, and community support and outreach.

Presenters are indicated in bold font.

1:30PM – 1:55PM
River herring restoration in the Sebasticook River Basin. A thirty-year Ecological perspective.

Nate Gray
Maine Department of Marine Resources

The recent completion of a seven-year project to re-establish connectivity to China Lake via Outlet Stream marks a large step toward this keystone species recovery in the Sebasticook River basin. At 4,000 acres China Lake represents a 45% increase in historically accessible habitat. China Lake is projected to produce up to one million adult returns annually. River herring runs of this size are rare and their ecological impact on the surrounding areas is profound. Nate Gray of marine Resources will discuss the anticipated ecological impact on the now re-connected China Lake.

2:00PM – 2:25PM
Overcoming Barriers to Achieve Meaningful Ecological Results, is there a recipe?

Landis Hudson
Maine Rivers

Over a period of seven years, six fish passage barriers were removed from the China Lake Outlet Stream to restore a run of native migratory alewives; three dams were completely removed and three technical fishways were installed where dam removal was not possible. This was a large and complicated series of individual projects where each had to be completed to reach a successful conclusion. Project partners did a remarkable amount of outreach and communication to set the stage for success. This presentation will focus on communication efforts and outreach, what did we learn that helped us along the way, and what do we wish we’d learned earlier? Where did vital and valuable conversations happen? What were some of the roadblocks we encountered and how can our experiences help others avoid them? The project involved two neighboring but distinctly different towns (Vassalboro and China), federal and state agencies (Maine Department of Marine Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service), a land trust and other nonprofits, with many community volunteers. The project required considerable planning and coordination, all to benefit alewives. How did the effort prove to be similar to other restoration projects in New England, and in what ways is it unique?

2:30PM – 3:00PM
Afternoon Break (Auditorium)

3:00PM – 3:25PM
Dam Removal or Fishway? How to decide, and plan for the outcomes

Matt Streeter
Maine Rivers

The China Lake Alewife Restoration Initiative (ARI) resolved six barriers to fish passage over five years on the China Lake Outlet Stream in Vassalboro, ME. Three of these were dam removals and three were fishway construction projects, providing a useful comparison. Project Manager Matt Streeter will review the practical reasons, observable ecological consequences and costs and benefits of the two options as they occurred in this initiative. Matt will also discuss challenges of how to approach publicity and public outreach in each scenario.

3:30PM – 3:55PM
Funding Sources for Large Complex Aquatic Organism Passage Projects

Ben Naumann, Heidi Bunn
Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA

A PowerPoint slide presentation is available for this talk.

This coming spring will be the first time in over 200 years alewives have made it back from the ocean to China Lake on their own. This is due to the efforts of Maine Rivers and many partners for solving six individual fish passage issues. Large complex projects like the China Lake Alewife Restoration Initiative (ARI) require substantial financial and technical assistance. Funding for the ARI came from many sources ranging from private to federal. Along with being a project partner the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provided technical and/or financial assistance to five of the six projects. This presentation will provide valuable information concerning funding for your next complex aquatic organism passage project. This discussion will identify which NRCS funding sources were utilized, how those sources where navigated, and include the benefits of incorporating the needs of the landowner into the final design, and the unique challenges that this can pose to engineers.