Ten years after the Edwards dam was demolished at the head of tide in Augusta, the Kennebec River is visibly healthier.
That health is evident in sturgeon breaching skyward, their metallic bodies slicing out of the river and then splashing back into its depths. It’s evident in the millions of alewives that journeyed upriver this spring, their traditional spawning run now uninterrupted by a manmade barrier. It’s visible in the eagles and osprey that prowl the skies, looking for newly abundant prey in the river below.
The Kennebec River between Augusta and Waterville, once fouled by industries whose growth fueled economic development over two centuries, is now home to canoeists, kayakers and fly fishermen as well as a burgeoning population of sea-run fish.
The banks once covered by the impoundment upriver of the Edwards Dam have greened up and now boast wildflowers as well as hikers on newly developed trails.
And the water that had begun to be cleaned up before the Edwards removal is now that much healthier because it’s no longer sitting still and dead. Instead, it bubbles and spills its way downstream across rediscovered gravel bars and river ledges, collecting and absorbing oxygen as it moves toward the ocean.
The river is alive in a way it hasn’t been for generations.
There are those who mourn the loss of the Edwards Dam. The structure was as much a part of the emotional landscape of Augusta as it was part of the economic landscape of this region. The mill it powered is no more, the electricity it generated is lost as well as the revenues from that generation and the property taxes Augusta collected.
But the federal government deemed that the ecological damage from Edwards — in fish populations destroyed and poor water quality behind the dam — cost more than the economic value it added to the region and ordered it removed, and 10 years ago it was.
It was a stunning development, the first hydroelectric dam ever ordered dismantled by the feds because the potential benefits from removal outweighed the benefits of the electricity produced.
The ecological promise of the dam’s removal has been borne out as fish have returned to spawn and thrive. The species that depend on them have likewise rebounded.
Yet the economic promise of a river restored is yet to be fully realized, perhaps because economic recovery in this case takes much longer than ecological recovery. There are positive signs: In 2008, Bates College economist Lynne Lewis studied the effects of Edwards’ removal and determined that the price of homes near the dam prior to its removal was lower than similar homes further away. After the dam’s removal, the price of nearby homes rose, equalizing with those further away from the dam site.
Likewise, some of the cities and towns along the river are working hard to develop the riverside landscape for use by hikers, picnickers, anglers and other recreationists. Gardiner, Richmond, Hallowell, Augusta and Waterville all have initiated riverside projects such as parks and trails. The Kennebec River Initiative is a multi-city project to increase public access along the river and help local municipalities develop waterfront sites. And all this river-related development is designed to result in economic development, too.
But in Augusta, especially, the money that was expected to come via well-heeled anglers has yet to materialize. “I think we’re still waiting for the increased fishing, the increased tourism, anticipated by advocates,” says City Manager Bill Bridgeo.
Perhaps that’s part of the problem: Augusta seems to be waiting, rather than moving decisively to capture some of that action, as other cities have.
Ten years later, the feds have yet to make another move like the one they made with Edwards. No more dams of similar size have been ordered demolished.
But perhaps that’s not the lesson or legacy of the Edwards removal. Rather, that mark is seen instead in a different way of perceiving the world.
For after that first trickle of water slid through the breached dam, after it carved a deep and wide hole and the Kennebec River flowed freely past Augusta for the first time in 172 years, the unthinkable became thinkable: A dam was no longer a permanent thing.
And the fish, the eagles, the osprey, the anglers and the hikers and the paddlers are all testimony to the wisdom of that decision. As the waters flowed through the breach in the dam 10 years ago, they brought with them the promise of renewed life for the river that runs through our communities.
That promise has been fulfilled.