4 Dams Set For Removal In Maine Will Open Hundreds Of Miles Of River For Salmon, Herring And Sturgeon

4 Dams Set For Removal In Maine Will Open Hundreds Of Miles Of River For Salmon, Herring And Sturgeon

4 Dams Set For Removal In Maine Will Open Hundreds Of Miles Of River For Salmon, Herring And Sturgeon The Hydro-Kennebec Dam near Skowhagen – credit, Jimmy Emerson CC 2.0. via Flickr In Maine, ownership of 4 large dams has been transferred to The Nature Conservancy in a sale it hopes will return the river they operate on into prime habitat for salmon for the first time in a century. Operated by Brookfield Renewables, the dams along the lower Kennebec River prevent ocean going, freshwater fish like salmon from accessing ancestral spawning grounds upriver. On September 15th, 2025, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Brookfield signed a purchase and sale agreement for the four dams totaling $138 million. The Kennebec River is fed by Sandy River in the heart of Maine before running down to the Gulf of Maine past the towns of Skowhegan and Waterville. The Weston, Shawmut, Hydro-Kennebec, and Lockwood dams are located in intervals along this stretch, called the lower Kennebec. The federal regulatory…