June 6, 2016 — VASSALBORO, Maine — Larisa Batchelder and her family can fish, kayak or swim in their backyard, thanks to Outlet Stream, a tributary of the Sebasticook River that runs behind their home on Main Street.
But Batchelder and others are worried that could change this summer, when a proposed alewife restoration effort would remove the nearby Masse Dam, which has held the water in a pond for years and stabilized the water level in her backyard and those of her neighbors.
She and her neighbors are worried the change – the result of a state order regulating water release from China Lake – will reduce water levels, lower their property value and affect wildlife.
“We’ve waited all winter for this,” said Batchelder, 37. “We finally get to use the stream, and now someone is going to take it away.”
Officials associated with the project agree that the loss of the dam probably will mean the loss of Mill Pond, which it has been holding in place for years, but say it also will restore the health of the ecosystem.
The Alewife Restoration Initiative, a partnership of six environmental and government agencies, is aimed at allowing alewives, small migratory fish commonly used as lobster bait, to return to China Lake to spawn. Those involved with the project say the benefits are vast and that while water levels may change, there is no need for residents to be overly concerned.
Removing three dams and modifying the other three that stand between the lake and the Sebasticook will cause the stream to revert to a more natural state while still keeping with state regulations for minimum water flow, officials with the project say.
And while Mill Pond probably will disappear, the plan is expected to boost the health of the stream and of China Lake – which is damaged by phosphorus levels that the little fish are expected to help alleviate – as well as help restore alewives to their natural habitat, which now is blocked by dams that were put in place to power mills along the stream.