Late 1950s ‘watershed’ years on the Aroostook
By Steve Sutter
On March 15, 1956 in Presque Isle, Kendall Warner, Fishery biologist, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Game, presented in a public meeting results of a seminal study of the fisheries, salmon potential, obstructions, effects of logging practices, and the extent of pollution in the Aroostook watershed.
The Department’s Bulletin No. 4 “Aroostook River – Salmon Restoration and Fisheries Management” was published in cooperation with the Atlantic Salmon Commission.
Warner noted severe industrial pollution “in the main river below Caribou, lower Presque Isle Stream, and lower Big Machias River may affect salmon migration and utilization of these areas.” He also said “the brook trout fishery has been virtually destroyed by severe starch pollution in Limestone Stream, Caribou Stream, and in the lower sections of the North Branch of Presque Isle Stream. Sections of Pattee Brook, Libby Brook, Hockenhull Brook, and Salmon Brook have also been seriously affected.” Warner recommended that pollution in these areas “be alleviated to rehabilitate areas made unsuitable as game fish habitat” and that “destructive bulldozing of streams [to aid in pulp-driving] be curtailed.”
Warner included a 1955 classification of conditions by the New England-New York Inter-Agency Committee. According to that Committee, most Aroostook River miles from Masardis to Fort Fairfield were tentatively judged swimmable, and all of them on the main stem were deemed good for recreation and game fish.
Warner acknowledged the Aroostook Federation of Fish and Game Clubs then under the leadership of Arthur Bennett and Ezra J. Briggs of Caribou as especially helpful in weir construction and trapping operations in the study. Ezra “Clean Water” Briggs was a liberal Republican who in 1954 surprisingly won a seat in the Maine House after campaigning on the issue of pollution!
On Oct. 9, 1956 in Presque Isle, the Water Improvement Commission (WIC) held a public hearing on classification “of those segments of the Aroostook River and its Tributaries not previously classified which lie upstream of the international boundary.” The WIC reported “the representation was about equally divided between those persons wishing to delay any classification of waters receiving starch wastes until sometime in the future and those pressing for an immediate ‘B-2’ (acceptable for recreational boating and fishing) category. In spite of the fact that potato harvesting was in full swing the meeting was attended by upwards of a hundred persons.”
State law required the WIC to make recommendations to the Legislature for the purpose of “raising” classifications to the highest possible class “so far as economically feasible.” The 98th Legislature rejected nearly all of the WIC proposals for upgrading of surface waters.
Emerging from the Natural Resources Committee was a “redrafted” bill (L.D. 1562), with no public or committee hearings held during the redrafting. It fixed classifications below existing stream conditions in dozens of cases. The committee’s lone dissenter was House Member Stanley P. Brewer of Caribou.
On May 7, 1957, Mr. Brewer spoke before the full House. “The classification program developed from public hearings. I went to one in Aroostook County, and some of you may have gone to them in other sections of the State. Then we had legislative hearings for classification, and then we had executive sessions of the Committee. And after all these things, the Legislative Document which is under item number seven [L.D. 1562], has been practically rewritten by one individual who is not qualified or well enough informed for the task.” Based on the Legislative Record, it’s reasonably certain Brewer was referring to Natural Resources Committee Member Robert H. Heald of Union.
Among Committee downgrades from existing stream conditions was the “Aroostook River, main stem, from the entrance of Presque Isle Stream to the International Boundary.” It was assigned a D classification, which Mr. Brewer described as “more or less that of an open sewer.” The WIC had recommended Class C for this river segment which would generally protect game fish habitat with a minimum of 5 parts per million of dissolved oxygen, and keep the river suitable for recreational boating.
As L.D. 1562 passed through the Senate on May 15th, Ezra J. Briggs successfully attached an amendment classifying the Aroostook River, main stem, Class B-1from a point 100 yards downstream of the Caribou water supply intake to a point three miles upstream from this starting point. Nevertheless, on Aug. 28, 1957, most of the lower Aroostook River was doomed to be Class D for years to come.
In 1958, starch factories, the principle source of industrial pollution in Aroostook County, were handed a deadline of Jan. 1, 1961for the removal of spent potato pulp from their discharges to classified surface waters. The waste was to be screened out and hauled off.
Steve Sutter is a retired agricultural and resource economist living on a Presque Isle riverfront property that has been in his family since April 12, 1854. This is the fifth installment of his series on the history of the Aroostook River.
