Operational Plan for the Restoration of Diadromous Fishes to the ...

By 2000, PPL (new owner of the dams), PIN, State and Federal fisheries agencies
and the coalition were continuing discussions on restoration, fish passage and
related requirements under the FERC licenses. The Howland Dam (Piscataquis
River) and Enfield Dam (mainstem Penobscot River) were now included. Howland
was due for FERC relicensing in 2000 (a new license application was filed in 1998
and under review). Fish passage efficiency studies were being required for the
existing Howland Dam fishway. All parties remained interested in possible reduction
of the number of dams to reduce upstream and downstream passage losses
and facilitate restoration potential.
Over the next two years serious development continued toward a collaborative
Conceptual Settlement Agreement to address Penobscot River fisheries restoration.
Possible removals of the Veazie and Great Works dams were on the table, as was
consideration of a bypass channel or dam removal at Howland. PPL, Federal and
State fisheries agencies, PIN, Penobscot Coalition all remained engaged and
committed to restoration goals.
In 2003, a Conceptual Agreement was finalized by the parties. It provided the
framework for development of a more detailed settlement agreement to fully address
restoration plans and fish passage issues at the multiple dams. It included
consideration of a bypass channel at Howland capable of providing free-swim,
unrestricted upstream passage for Atlantic salmon, shad and alewives. At this time
black crappies in the Souadabscook drainage were the only confirmed invasive
species in the lower Penobscot.
In April 2004, the Multiparty Settlement Agreement was finalized. It formalized plans
for removal of the Veazie and Great Works dams, and for evaluation of a possible
bypass channel at Howland. Any bypass channel had to be capable of providing
unrestricted upstream passage for restoration species. If a free-swim bypass
channel could not be designed or constructed the alternative to provide passage at
Howland was dam removal. State of the art fishways or fish lifts were expressly not
considered acceptable at Howland.
In the summer of 2003 there had been an unconfirmed report of a northern pike
being angled at Pushaw Lake, but the fish was not available for examination or
species confirmation. A second angled pike was reported from Pushaw in the
summer of 2004. This time the fish (head only) was made available for examination
by MDIFW biologists and confirmed to be a northern pike. A second pike was
caught and confirmed in January 2005. No pike were found by electrofishing
surveys of Pushaw Stream and the lower mainstem Penobscot River during summer
2005. In June of 2006 two different anglers reported catching a northern pike in the
Penobscot River. The first was near the confluence of Pushaw Stream to the
Penobscot River in Old Town, the second report was from just down river of the
Howland Dam. These reports prompted a temporary emergency closure of both the
Howland and West Enfield fishways. With advice from USFWS engineers, both
fishways were modified to include a vertical jump of no less than 30 inches in order
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