HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Band of Maliseets, together with the Southern Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District, invited members of the public to check out the latest instream restoration project occurring on the Meduxnekeag River.
Restoration of the river to provide better natural habitats has long been a goal of the Maliseet Band, which uses the river for fishing. Some aims for the restoration include the return of salmon to the stream and to provide nesting grounds for bald eagles on Maliseet-owned land.
In years past, rivers in Maine such as the Meduxnekeag were used for shipping lumber and as trade routes between the U.S. and Canada. Many boulders and other obstacles in the middle of the river were subsequently moved to the side and the middle parts of the river cleared, which affected the river’s wildlife.
John Field, a fluvial geomorphologist who studies how rivers change over time, particularly as a result of human activity, explained the inner workings of the project to those gathered at the river on Aug. 12.
“You can describe what we’re doing is trying to increase complexity of the movement of the water and the habitat,” said Field. “It’s all in an effort to sort of maintain the tribal traditions, fishing being amongst them.”
Along this area of the Meduxnekeag, located behind the football field at the Maliseet Riverside Village, an excavator from Dunbar Construction was being used to pick up large boulders and fallen trees and place them near the center of the river
Angie Wotton, the district manager of the Southern Aroostook SWCD, said the process is used to return the river to its natural state prior to human interference, allowing wildlife to once again flourish.
“You’re recreating a more natural ecosystem, which is what it would look like if we hadn’t altered it,” said Wotton. “The boulders create riffles and little pools for fish to spawn, colder spots, things like that.”
The project is being done through the Houlton Band of Maliseets, with funding coming from a tribal grant received from the U.S. Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. The project has been ongoing for several years along different sections of the river, with another project occurring on the river’s main steam back in 2014.
