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Yarmouth, Maine officials vote to remove 2 Royal River dams, improve fish habitat and access. Efforts aligned with federal recommendations to restore river health. Funding and support sought from various sources to cover $5.7 million project cost. Town committed to preserving environment and addressing concerns.
Tue January 14, 2025 - Northeast Edition
In a historic vote more than two decades in the making, the Yarmouth, Maine, town council has voted unanimously to remove two town-owned dams on the Royal River and consider fish passage improvements at a stretch of rapids in between them.
The decision follows a federal proposal released last spring and is the most authoritative step to removing the Bridge Street Dam and East Elm Street Dam since 2009, when the town first began studying how their removal could improve the Royal River's health and fisheries.
The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit civic news organization, reported recently that in addition to removing the two dams and their corresponding fishways, the town resolution also provides for monitoring and managing fish passage beyond and between the dams, revegetating and stabilizing sections of the Royal's riverbanks and protecting against invasive species.
To preserve bird and fish habitat around Gooch Island, where the East Elm Street Dam slows and diverts water to the backside of the island, the removal plan calls for somehow maintaining that flow — which could be done through leaving and redesigning a small segment of the dam.
At the top of the resolution is recognition that Yarmouth occupies the traditional homeland and unceded territory of the indigenous Wabanaki people, and the significance of the Royal River watershed the Wabanaki refer to as "Westcustogo."
Yarmouth council members and environmental advocates rejoiced during the Dec. 19 meeting when the dam removal resolution was introduced and again on Jan. 2 when it was ultimately tweaked and adopted, reflecting on the years of work that led to the moment.
"This resolution to restore the Royal River to a more natural, free flowing state is a culmination of years of study and debate," said council member David Craig. "It's been a long, complex, and sometimes emotional process and a productive one … Now it's time to free the Royal."
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) determined last April that removing the dams has the greatest potential to improve river habitat and restore fish access toward the headwaters of the Royal River, historic spawning grounds for sea-going fish such as alewives that have largely disappeared upstream of the dams.
Since the report's release of the report, both the town council and a town-assembled Royal River task force have been meeting with the USACE, taking public comment and crafting a resolution that aligns with the federal agency's recommendations.
The USACE followed up with a more thorough draft environmental impact assessment in October, which affirmed removing the dams would not have adverse effects on the environment nor the town harbor at the mouth of the Royal River.
Marina owners in Yarmouth Harbor have long voiced concerns about the potential presence of chemical contaminants in sediments that have accumulated behind the dams, and the USACE's ruling was a pivotal last step towards removal.
"Chemical concentrations in sediment samples taken at the dams were found to be very low," according to the agency, which predicted that removal would only cause short-term increases in water turbidity [murkiness caused by floating sediment], minor riverbank erosion, and some air and noise pollution from the construction equipment needed for the demolition.
"None of these short-term effects will significantly affect the environment," the report concluded.
The resolution also instructs Yarmouth officials to assist local businesses in obtaining and financing "risk mitigation insurance" to support the marina owners, leaning on tax increment financing "when appropriate and available."
The tactic is commonly used by municipalities to divert future property tax revenues to fund public projects.
Although councilors were confident in the safety of removal, Craig told The Maine Monitor that the insurance measure is key in "addressing the financial risks faced by those businesses against the very low but non-zero risk from sediment transport and sediment quality."
The USACE estimated the total cost of the project to be around $5.7 million in its October draft report. Should Yarmouth move ahead with the dams' removal, the town would be liable to cover 35 percent of that cost, or $2 million, though the resolution does not make that commitment.
Yarmouth's town councilors noted that even though a concrete funding plan is not yet in place, the town has done its due diligence and is confident in its fundraising abilities. They cited grant opportunities available through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that would provide the town with more flexibility than strictly contracting with USACE, according to the Monitor.
"We don't have everything we would love to have. We have to make a decision with the best information in front of us," said Karin Orenstein, the council's vice chair, explaining that similar town decisions rarely have a 100 percent plan before they are made.
To alleviate concerns among Yarmouth taxpayers about the costs of dam removal effort, the council added a clause at the Jan. 2 meeting that forbids the town from financing the project with property tax revenues, instead authorizing outside funding sources from government agencies, nonprofits and philanthropic organizations.
The resolution also includes assurances that Yarmouth would pursue outside funding to maintain recreation and access to the Royal River both within town limits and upstream in North Yarmouth, where the river's flow would be reduced to historic, slightly lower levels with dam removal.
In remarks to the town council, Yarmouth resident Landis Hudson reflected on her years of work advocating for the dams' removal and restoration of the Royal River as executive director of the environmental nonprofit Maine Rivers.
She commended the town for navigating the contentious removal decision that other towns like Dover-Foxcroft have recently rejected.
"It's not easy to have conversations with people who are worried about the future, who see what they see and don't want it to change," Hudson said, but "life is about change. Rivers are about change."