Project adds 14 pools to Penobscot alewife run

New pools with local stone ‘a work of art’

An educational sign explains fish migrations, with new pools for alewives in the background at Pierce’s Pond in Penobscot. Photo by John Boit.

PENOBSCOT—Town officials and conservation groups celebrated the completion of an extension of the “nature-like fishway” at Pierce’s Pond in Penobscot on Sept. 10.

“This is exciting,” Penobscot select board chair Harold Hatch said in a press release. “The engineer and the construction company involved had the expertise to create not just a functional fishway, but a work of art. We are very pleased with the results, and are proud of taking part in another project to improve fish passage and care for the natural resources in this town.”

Challenges for the springtime alewife run up Mill Stream and into the pond were noticed and monitored over recent years by Bailey Bowden and the Penobscot Alewife Committee he chairs. The committee reached out to Ciona Ulbrich at Maine Coast Heritage Trust for help, who in turn brought in more people and organizations in a collaborative effort to add 14 pools below the five pools already in place at the pond outlet.

The pools are engineered to allow fish passage and maintain water levels, and were constructed using local stones with native plants along the stream’s banks.

The project involved monitoring vegetation, water levels and archeological findings on the history of the site and the mills that once operated there.

“As we learned from the fish passage efforts around the Bagaduce [River], these projects take many steps and many people to complete,” said Ciona Ulbrich of Maine Coast Heritage Trust. “From the engineering, to permitting and permissions, to construction, and throughout it all building community awareness and support – every step is important.”

Linkel Environmental Construction of Topsham led the construction team, with engineering and oversight by Joseph McLean of Acadia Civil Works. The Maine Department of Marine Resources served as lead agency with multiple agencies and permits involved.

Celebrating the reconstructed fish way for alewives are, from left: Isabella West and Levi Dube of Linkel Construction, stream abutter Jan Carpenter, Lance Linkel of Linkel Construction, archeologist Elizabeth Rodgers, Ciona Ulbrich of Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Joe McLean of Acadia Civil Works, Penobscot select board chair Harold Hatch, Gregg McNelly of Linkel Construction, Mike Thahauser of MCHT, and Penobscot select board member Sarah Billings. Photo courtesy of Bailey Bowden.

Funding for the work came primarily from three sources: The Ram Island Conservation Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, the Anahata Foundation, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Coastal Resilience Fund.

“I would like to express sincere thanks to the Anahata Foundation for providing early support for key initial steps that got this project off the ground,” Hatch said. He also expressed “huge appreciation for the funding for construction and educational improvements from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation that make a coastal resilience project like this possible in a small town like Penobscot and for the Bagaduce River Watershed.”

The effects of the projects could be seen by next Spring, officials said.

“Next year, the alewife should be able to get up into Pierce[‘s] Pond in even bigger numbers,” Ulbrich said. “Meanwhile, this fall should see a couple more interpretive signs installed, and with some some rain there should be new plants growing in along the sides of the fishway. People will notice some trees with roots lying on the ground on site – they have been carefully placed as a great way to reseed the ground with native plants and create natural habitat.”

With the upstream project nearly complete, additional steps are also underway in restoration efforts on Mill Creek between Pierce’s Pond and the Bagaduce River. An informational meeting is planned to be held in Penobscot this autumn, the press release said.

Fourteen new pools have been constructed to aid in alewife migrations. The stream is low due to the recent drought conditions. Photo by John Boit.

A local dog checks out the series of new pools. Photo by John Boit.