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intervaleThe Newsletter of the

DOWNEAST SALMON FEDERATION

As fish culturists and guardians of many

thousands of tiny fish, DSF staff put a lot

of time and effort into caring for the fish

in our hatchery at EMARC. Like any

guardian, we want what is best for our

young ones and we want them to be

successful. However, once we stock

them into the stream to continue life on

their own, we cannot call them up to

check in on them and see how they are

doing or meet for coffee on a Sunday

afternoon. Still, for this project it is

very important that we do check in on

our little salmon from time to time, just

to make sure they are doing okay, eating

their macroinvertebrates and not in any

trouble. The Downeast Salmon Federa-

tion is doing something new here in

Maine when it comes to Atlantic salmon

restoration. We are stocking a lot of fall

parr and we have to make sure that this

is not having a negative impact on other

species, or on the very population of

salmon we are trying to restore.

To check in on our fish, the DSF,

working with lead project biologists

from the Maine Department of Marine

Resources (DMR), use a couple of dif-

ferent techniques. One of these tech-

niques is called “electrofishing”. This

involves a special backpack, a battery,

and a wand. The backpack is equipped

with a metal tail that acts as a cathode

and a wand, which is hooked up to the

backpack, which acts as an anode. The

battery is plugged into the backpack

and charges the whole system. When

the tail and the wand are both in the

water, and the wand is turned on,

an electrical current between the tail

and wand pulses, temporarily stuns the

fish and pulls the fish out from their

hiding spots in the stream bed. Waiting

workers carefully and gently net the

fish and put them into a pails until they

can be measured and counted. When

done properly, this method does not

hurt the fish and is very effective in

helping to estimate fish abundance and

population size. Electrofishing also

allows us to check up on our fish and

see how healthy they are by measuring

their length and weight, and also get an

idea of the abundance and presence of

other fish species.

A second way we can check in on our

fish is by trapping them as they leave

the river as smolt. In the salmon lifecy-

cle, juveniles generally spend two years

in freshwater before migrating out to

the ocean as smolt. This emigration

Assessing the success of

our Parr Project

Meanders

Spring 2014

“Can we afford clean rivers, lakes,

streams and oceans? These questions

answer themselves.”

ME Senator Ed Muskie (1914-1996)

Arguing for the Clean Water Act

1972

Rotary Screw Traps on the East Machias

River

Kyle and Colby working up the data

DMR & DSF staff collect smolt data on

the East Machias River

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Hello and welcome to the spring/summer issue of Intervale. It looks like the summer weather has finally arrived – right on the heels of a very long downeast winter. DSF has had a very exciting spring season, though the unusual weather seems to becoming the “new normal”. Last week many of my neighbors and friends were replanting tomatoes and other sensitive plants after the early June frost we had here in eastern Maine. These cool (and down-right cold) conditions do bode well for the salmon, smelt and trout this year – though it sure would be nice to have a ripe tomato before September!

Our family garden went in a bit late – which is not atypical for us - but our delay was a blessing this year. Many of the usual signs of spring were very late to arrive. At the DSF EMARC Hatchery in East Machias we were about two weeks behind in seeing the baby salmon emerge from the incubators. The Pleasant River Hatchery was only about a week later than normal. In addition, the smelt runs DSF has been studying were delayed in many streams, with some spawning fish still being observed last week!

You may be wondering about the difference of a full week in hatch timing between our two hatcheries. The answer is due to the difference in the watersheds and rivers themselves. The East Machias River has many large lakes and ponds in the headwaters. The Pleasant River has only two relatively small lakes. Since water retains both heat and cold and because ice-out in the large lakes of the East Machi-as was very late this spring, the river temperatures remained below normal and the emergence of the fry was delayed until the temperatures were warm enough.

Does the difference in lake volume from watershed to watershed partly determine how salmon and other native fish have evolved in each river? This does seem to be the case. Similar to “heirloom seed” that is saved from different varieties of vegetables grown in different locations all over the country or globe, and the fact that those seed varieties do best in those locations – it stands to reason that the salmon which have evolved for thousands of years river by river also have traits specific to that river and lake system. Let’s hope that we have saved enough seed of those winning genes to recover the salmon runs in Maine’s future.

It does, in fact, look as though DSF has the necessary ingredients to recover a salmon run on the East Machias and the other rivers (though there is a question if we are too late on the Dennys R). Our monitoring this spring has revealed a very positive response to our “seeding” of the upriver habitat with fall fingerlings from our hatchery in East Machias. These DSF fish are surviving and growing and we now have proof of this success. Many eyes are watching DSF’s experimental work and it is so encouraging to see the enthusiasm building among the scientists and anglers as our work takes hold. Our members and supporters make this great effort succeed. Please stay in touch and come see what we are accomplishing together. The cold and free-flowing waters of eastern Maine are at the heart of a fisheries recovery renaissance. Please continue to help us cultivate a future for these rivers and the communities that depend on them by renewing your membership and financially supporting our programs. Thank you!

Seed Saving on the Salmon Rivers of Maine from the desk of

Dwayne Shaw, Executive Director

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gives us an opportunity to sample a

portion of the entire population of

salmon within the watershed at a single

location with relatively little effort. To

trap these emigrating smolts, DSF,

along with DMR staff, uses what is

called a rotary screw trap. This trap is

made up of three basic parts - a cone,

pontoons and a live car. At the back of

the trap, the narrow end of the cone fits

into a live car which holds the fish until

someone tends the trap. When the

rotary screw trap is operating, the wa-

ter moving through the cone causes the

cone to spin (hence the rotary part.) As

fish move downstream, some will end

up in the cone where they are funneled

into the live car at the back of the

trap. These traps are tended at least

once per day. All non-salmon fish are

counted and released there at the trap.

The salmon population is estimated

using a capture-recapture study. All

salmon are measured, weighed,

checked for tags or markings. The fish

are then marked with a small tail fin clip

and released upstream. The number of

these marked fish that we re-capture

will tell us how efficiently the rotary

screw traps are fishing. Using this effi-

ciency number, we can determine what

percentage of the population we actual-

ly captured in our traps. Interpolating

even further, the capture percentage is

used to estimate the overall size of the

outgoing smolt population. For the

EMARC project, we run two rotary

screw traps at the Jacksonville Bridge

where Rt. 191 crosses the mainstream of

the East Machias River. This allows staff

to calculate the number of salmon smolts

that are leaving the entire watershed,

excluding the Gardner Lake branch.

These methods of sampling are vitally

important to the EMARC Parr Pro-

ject. The DSF and our partners want to

be able to measure the project’s success

by determining the survival rate of juve-

niles in the freshwater from year to year,

and the survival rate to the adult life

stage. This sampling also helps us moni-

tor interactions within the population

(intraspecific interactions) and interac-

tions with species of other populations

(interspecific interactions). If sampling

indicates negative effects from these inter

and intraspecific interactions, then DSF

can reassess our strategy and make

changes as necessary, or forge ahead if all

looks good! So far, all surveys indicate

things are looking good, and we very

much look forward to seeing the first

adults returning from our stocking ef-

forts in the coming years.

Assessing cont...

The Downeast Salmon Federation

(DSF) is looking for individuals with an

interest in recreational smelt fishing to

help in an effort to determine the health

of the Sea – Run Smelt population in

Downeast Maine. Due to smelt popula-

tion declines and the recent emergency

closure of the entire fishery in other

parts of the state (from Stonington

south), the Downeast Salmon Federation

is eager to hear from anglers. The DSF

wants to work with anglers to collect

information on numbers of smelt caught

and degree of spawning activity, in

coastal streams across Washington and

Hancock Counties, during the spring

spawning season. Given declines in oth-

er parts of the state, it is important to

get this general information to help de-

termine the health of the popula-

tion. Populations of smelt in this region

seem healthy, but it is important to col-

lect as much information as possible to

keep these fisheries from being

closed. The Downeast Salmon Federa-

tion is a community – based non profit

fisheries conservation organization fo-

cused on maintaining sea-run fish, im-

proving and protecting habitat and se-

curing public access to streams and riv-

ers. So, if you have a favorite smelt

stream and are interested in participat-

ing or supporting us in other ways,

please contact us at our hatchery facili-

ties in East Machias (255-0676) or

Columbia Falls (483-4336) or via

e-mail (info@mainesalmonrivers.org)

Your participation in

data collection

during the smelt run

is needed!

This is the time of year to dust off the

camping gear and hiking boots to explore the

2,000+ acres of land conserved by DSF. All are

publicly accessible, and many are suitable for

fishing, hiking and camping. Some even have

cabins available for your enjoyment! Call us to

arrange a great summer experience!

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Have you always wanted to fix up an

old wood-canvas canoe? With help

from the Maine Arts Commission, the

Downeast Salmon Federation will be

hosting a canoe restoration course this

June at the Washington Academy boat

shop in East Machias. DSF is very

pleased that Rollin Thurlow, one of

Maine’s finest craftsman and the man

who literally wrote the book on wood-

canvas canoes; will be teaching the

weeklong course. Rollin has been

building and repairing these classic craft

since 1975 and has taught classes at

Wooden Boat, Maine Maritime

CANOE CLASS being OFFERED AT EMARC

Museum, Wooden Canoe Heritage Asso-

ciation and the Wilderness Workshop in

Toronto, among others.

The impetus for this class was a generous

donation by Leroy Hutchins of two vin-

tage wood-canvas canoes to the DSF. The

larger of the two looks to be a Chestnut

Ogilvy, a classic salmon fishing canoe

made by the Chestnut Canoe Company in

Fredericton, NB. Back in the day, wood

canvas canoes were THE means of trans-

portation to the streams, pools and secret

spots and how to build and work on them

was relatively common knowledge.

Movie night at EMARC continues to

be a success! On January 31st the DSF

hosted a movie night called “Fin Clips”

featuring a wide variety of fish-themed

short films. We packed the house.

One highlight was FISH, a comedic

sketch from Bad Canadian Pictures.

Several shorts featured glamorous fly

fishing destinations and anglers catch-

ing monstrous salmon, permit, bone-

fish and others. Two films, Sea Swal-

low’d and The Last Cast, both showed

different aspects of the proposed Peb-

ble Mine in the area of Bristol Bay,

Alaska. The night was rounded out by

some archival salmon fishing footage from

the Narraguagus, and a beautiful hand-

animated art piece. On March 31st, the

DSF showed the 35 minute documentary

“Casting a Voice” about the resource con-

flicts over the wild steelhead and the

Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal on

the Skeena River in northern British Co-

lumbia. Creator Dimitri Gammer makes

a beautiful and strong case for wild fish

populations. Next on the docket is

the award-winning new movie

DamNation, a documentary by Travis

Rummel and Ben Knight, that won the

Audience Award at the 2014 South By

Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Tex-

as. We will show this movie as soon as it

is released, probably in June. This film

has ignited a fire in this country to push

for the removal of so-called “deadbeat

dams” - those that no

longer generate power - from our water-

sheds. Beautifully filmed, it makes con-

servation look sexy. Like always, Movie

Night at the EMARC Hatchery is free.

Catch them on select Fridays at 7 PM.

Hatchery tours and popcorn are compli-

mentary! For more information, contact

Maria McMorrow at (207) 271-7564 or

Movie Night at emarc

This boat was donated by Leroy Hutchins and will

be used in the restoration workshop

Spring has arrived, enjoy all Maine

has to offer!

The showing date will be June

27th at 7 P.M.

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The Downeast Salmon Federation

(DSF) has begun working with the

Maine Department of Marine Resources

(DMR) on a unique stocking effort that

involves physically planting Atlantic

salmon eggs directly into the stream bed

in an effort to help restore this amazing

species. DSF staff assisted project biol-

ogists from the Maine DMR to plant

salmon eggs in our Downeast rivers.

This is the first time this new technique

has been used in this region. A total of

145,000 eggs were planted into the

Pleasant, Narraguagus, and Machias

Rivers during the month of February.

The egg planting technique has been

very successful in the Kennebec

drainage in Western Maine. Paul

Christman, a fisheries biologist with

DMR, has been using this method for

more than six years. The results of his

planting efforts have been well docu-

mented and show high juvenile salmon

abundances resulting from egg planting.

The main objective of egg planting is

to create a natural environment for the

eggs to incubate, hatch, and grow into

juvenile salmon. To accomplish this, the

first task is to find a proper area of the

river that is not covered in ice and

contains quality spawning and rearing

habitat. Once the location has been

chosen, a water pump setup

(specifically designed for egg planting)

is used to insert funnels made of stove

pipe and PVC pipe several inches into

the river bottom. Eggs are placed into

these funnels and fall directly into the

gravel. As the funnels are carefully

removed, gravel lightly covers the eggs

where they will remain until mid-

spring. This process creates an artificial

Salmon Egg

Planting, a New

Technique

2014 downeast smelt

run

After a long winter, spring has finally

arrived, and along with it has come

smelting season. A rite of spring through

much of coastal New England, Smelt

fishing has been a favorite spring pass

time for generations.

It always seems like a good idea to the

kids when they go to bed in the even-

ing. That is, getting up in the middle of

the night to go smelting. But when you

actually wake them up and it is time to

get dressed, and go out into a cold

spring night they can be pretty

cranky. If you make it out of the house

and into the car, by the time you arrive

at your favorite smelt stream the cranki-

ness has faded, and been replaced by a

magical excitement. With your nets,

buckets, and headlamps, you head down

over the bank on little paths, through

the underbrush, beat down by genera-

tions smelters seeking the little silvery

fish that smells like cucumbers. If you

listen closely, before you get to the

s tream, SMELTS SEE PG 6

redd, or a nest, created by a female At-

lantic salmon in the fall. Using her tail,

she digs a pit into the gravel to lay her

eggs. After laying her eggs, the female

covers them with gravel, protecting the

eggs through the icy winter and high

water flows in early spring. Because ju-

venile salmon counts in our Downeast

rivers have been consistently low for the

past few decades, the Downeast Salmon

Federation is exploring and assessing

different stocking and rearing

techniques.

In addition to DSF’s on- going unfed

fry stocking through our Pleasant River

hatchery, DSF is also rearing fall parr at

the EGG PLANTING SEE PG 6

DSF and Dept. of Marine Resource

staff plant eggs in the Pleasant River

“When the well’s dry, we know the worth

of water”

Ben Franklin

Poor Richard’s Almanac 1746

Smelts

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The Second Annual Smolt Bolt and Bloater Bash was a great success! About 50 runners enjoyed the flat, beautiful course on the Down East Sunrise Trail, alongside the Machias and East Machias R i v e r s T r i c i a B r o w n (Cherryfield) improved upon her sec-ond place finish last year by winning the women’s category with a time of 29:36:82. Dawn Charnetzky (Steuben) placed second, and Julia Beaty (Orono) rounded out the winners podium. (We don’t actually have a podium, but they did all receive their awards in front of the beautiful handmade wooden boat donated by former board member Bob Matey.) For the men, visitor Sam Gold-berg (Cambridge, MA) won the race with a time of 21:11:60, over three minutes ahead of the next racers, Cliff Watson (Bucksport) 24:48:23, and Mi-chael Stanton (Jonesboro) 24:58:01. Excellent job to all participants. This race boasted several improve-ments over last year. Most notably, the weather held out until everyone had finished. We also added a bag drop at the starting line, and more exciting baked goods. Jill Brookbanks came over from Scotland with a few additional prizes, including a “wee dram” of Scotch whiskey from some of their finest salm-on rivers. Jill is the daughter of the late Peter Gray, the man credited with bringing back the salmon runs on the River Tyne in the north of England, and who served as consultant to the establishment of EMARC and the Fall Parr Program. Upon Peter’s passing, the board decid-ed to name the hatchery in his honor. Jill and her husband Allan made the trip from Scotland to see her father’s legacy in action, and we held a hatchery dedi-cation ceremony in conjunction with the Smolt Bolt awards. Board member Ray Carbone made a beautiful hand-carved plaque to hang by hatchery door. We thank Peter for his contributions, and Jill and Allan for making the trip. All in all, it was a very successful day.

Thanks to the many volunteers and sup-porters who made it a success.

2nd Annual Smolt Bolt

and Bloater bash

Back by popular demand, the

Downeast Salmon Federation and the

Cobscook Community Learning Center

will be putting on the Machias River

Wigwams Program from July 5th to

19th (overnight) Wigwams Rapid on

the Machias River. We are accepting

teens aged 14-17. This crew of teens

will do aquatic habitat restoration, trail

work and learn essential wilderness

skills. Of course, there will time for

swimming, fishing and enjoying being

upta’ camp. For more information, see

our Facebook page, stop by to pick up a

brochure or contact:

Mar ia McMorrow by e -mail

(maria@mainesalmonrivers.org) or by

phone (207)271-7564.

Wigwams Summer

Program 2014

Working and learning together

as a group

Discoveries

Helping one stone at a time

Maria McMorrow and Jill Brookbanks

handing out awards

Please consider supporting this great

educational experience for our youth

by donating to DSF Wigwams

Program.

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you can sometimes hear the little splash-

ing sound of smelts working their way up

through shallow water. The anticipation

builds until your light pierces the dark

water. Are they here? Some nights not a

fish to be found and you move on to the

next brook. Other nights the stream is

thick with smelts and you can scoop your

2 quart limit in a few minutes. Whatever

the result, it is always a thrill and a mem-

orable experience to be out in the spring

night, to witness the amazing ritual of the

spawning smelts and scoop them with

your nets to bring home and fry to per-

fection.

Unfortunately, smelt populations and

the tradition of harvesting them is under

threat. Habitat degradation and lack of

access to habitat due to dams and impass-

able culverts has significantly reduced

populations. Until this spring, the decline

and subsequent closure of fisheries has

taken place in southern New England,

but because of very low numbers of

smelts caught through the ice this winter

in mid-coast and southern Maine, the

Smelts cont...

Egg planting cont...

East Machias Aquatic Research Center to

stock into the East Machias River. DSF

is experimenting with egg planting for

the first time this year. If assessments

over the next few years show higher

numbers of juveniles in the stocked river

sections, these new techniques combined

with habitat restoration could be the

foundation for recovery of the salmon

populations in the Downeast rivers!

The Downeast Salmon Federation has

received donations from the First Wind

Bull Hill Project and local members to

support this first year of our egg

planting effort.

Department of Marine Resources

(DMR), on March 11th, instituted and

Emergency Closure of the smelt fishery

west of Penobscot Bay for the first time

in state history. In the southern part of

their range (Massachusetts, New Hamp-

shire), smelt have significantly declined,

prompting NOAA’s National Marine

fisheries Service to list them as a species

of concern http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/

pdfs/species/rainbowsmelt_detailed.pdf.

Since that time, DMR has been expanding

its monitoring efforts to ensure the sur-

vival of smelt populations in the

state. DSF had work closely with state

biologists to assist them in monitoring the

population in Washington County. So far

it seems that the populations are healthier

than other regions of the state. The sig-

nificant reduction in harvest in the

Kennebec estuary raises real concern for

populations across the state. This winter’s

hook and line fishery in the Narraguagus

and Pleasant rivers was slow, but com-

mercial harvesters on the Pleasant River

have caught good numbers of fish, and

DSF has been able to harvest enough

smelts for the smelt fry. But the closure

of the smelt fishery and reduced harvest

raise concerns, and the DSF is ramping up

smelt population monitoring for the

spring of 2014. So, if you have a favorite

smelt stream and would like to volun-

teers contact the DSF. We would like to

monitor smelt spawning in as many

streams as possible in 2014.

Please check out our website

www.mainesalmonrivers.com !!!

We’ve made new renovations!

We welcome your feedback at

info@mainesalmonrivers.org

Dwayne Shaw hauling smelts

Planting eggs

Sewall Look netting smelts

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Maine is the last place in the United

States that has wild Atlantic salmon and

is also the last stronghold for wild

brook trout. The State of Maine still

has large areas of the state populated

with native self sustaining populations

of brook trout. We believe that

Downeast also has the unique distinc-

tion of being the last stronghold of wild

sea-run brook trout in the U.S. I say we

believe, because we do not really know

the status of sea-run populations in the

region. There is a lot of anecdotal evi-

dence from anglers and some research

showing sea-run fish, but we have a

very limited understanding of their

abundance or distribution.

In an effort to learn more about these

populations Maine Inland Fish and

Wildlife in collaboration with the Uni-

versity of Maine at Orono, the

Sea-run Brook Trout Coalition, and the

DSF are undertaking a pilot sea-run

brook trout assessment project. This

past spring, a collection of anglers

fished for brook trout on 3 streams in

Washington County; two known to

have sea-run fish and one with a dam at

the head of tide that will serve as a con-

trol to compare to the sea-run fish. The

samples will be sent to Orono, where

they will be analyzed for strontium (an

element common in seawater but not in

freshwater) and stable isotopes to de-

termine whether they spent significant

time in salt water or ate significant

amounts of food of marine origin.

This project is about testing tech-

niques and protocols to see if we can

sample and identify sea-run brook trout

reliably. The other thing that is being

tested is whether we can develop a reli-

able non-lethal sampling tech-

nique. We know that if we kill a fish

and remove its otolith (ear bone) we

can determine when and for how long

the fish was in salt water or eating ma-

rine food. But when looking at a rela-

tively rare life history strategy like sea-

run trout we do not want to kill large

numbers of fish to determine the distri-

bution or status of the population.

Along with the otolith each fish will

also have muscle tissue and fin ray sam-

ples taken. If muscle tissue data aligns

with otolith data then future sampling

will be easier and cheaper but still may

require lethal sampling. If fin ray data

aligns well there is the potential for

much larger scale projects in the future

based on non-lethal sampling.

Brook trout life histories are quite

variable, but the basic life history of sea-

run brook trout in the region goes some-

thing like this: some trout that are greater

than 6 inches in length, living in rivers and

streams that drain into salt water, will

migrate downstream (nobody is sure why)

sometime after ice-out and begin feeding

in the estuary and near-shore marine habi-

tats. These fish might only spend hours or

days in the estuary and may not travel

much further than the mouth of the river.

Other trout may enter the estuary in April

and not return to fresh water until August

or September. These fish may move into

Sea-run Brook

the lower estuary and even near-shore

marine habitats, potentially traveling

between river systems. The majority of

trout will enter the estuary in April and

May and return to fresh water in May

and June, before water temperatures in

the lower sections of the rivers and

stream warm to above 68◦ F. The major-

ity will stay in the estuary of their river

of origin. Upon returning to fresh water,

trout will move up into the headwaters

to cold water refugia where they will

stay until spawning. Individuals that sur-

vive may repeat this process annually for

many years.

A Day’s Bounty

He was “this big!”

Sea-Run Brook Trout

9

The arrival of spring brings not only the

promise of summer, but a healthy run of

river herring to our Downeast riv-

ers. Every spring, these foot long fish

make their way from the ocean into our

rivers, carrying with them a vital source

of marine derived nutrients that boost

the health of our river systems.

In the complex web that is the food

chain, these herring are an important

player as a prey species to many differ-

ent animals. Birds, marine mammals,

and fish all feed heavily on the herring

during all of their life stages. Humans

are also an animal that benefits from the

influx of herring to our riv-

ers. Traditionally, these fish have been

harvested as a food source, bait for fish-

ing industries, and fertilizer for

crops. Before refrigeration became

readily accessible, the only way to pre-

serve the fish after harvesting was to salt

and/or smoke them. DSF utilizes this

classic preparation for alewives today,

burning the embers slow and low in our

smokehouse located on the banks of the

East Machias River at the East Machias

Aquatic Research Center.

With guidance and help from long-time

alewife smoker Bucket Davis, the gener-

ous donation of fish from the town of

East Machias, and the help from local

school groups like Washington Academy

and the Elm St School, over 800 ale-

wives were smoked this spring! These

groups did every step of the herring

smoking process ranging from making

the brine for the fish, to sticking, to

gutting, and of course smoking

them. This interaction between elders,

children, and all ages in between allow

for great learning experiences. It also

helps to cultivate an appreciation for the

historical and present day uses of the

natural resources we have in our own

T19 ED Up For Grabs

Washington County is unique on the east

coast of the U.S.. It is a sparsely

populated area and home to many rare

and unique habitats and wildlife popula-

tions. The region is not “pristine” and is

susceptible to the same threats that have

led to declines in habitats and popula-

tions across the U.S.. Combine this with

the relatively low land value and large

size of land holdings in the timber indus-

try, and there is a unique opportunity for

landscape scale conservation. So when

most of Township 19 ED (21,948 acres)

came on the market, it caught the atten-

tion of the DSF and several other local

and regional conservation organizations.

Township 19 is smack in the middle of

the East Machias River watershed and

includes a large portion of the best salm-

on habitat in that watershed. With the

development of the Fall Parr Project at

EMARC, the DSF is focusing a lot of re-

sources in this watershed and saw this as a

great opportunity. Unfortunately, the

DSF does not have a spare $12.8 million

to buy the property.

Working with a number of regional

partners, the DSF is looking at creative

ways to ensure that the critical aquatic

and riparian habitats are protected and

restored while ensuring that the proper-

ty is not subdivided and remains in tim-

ber production. DSF has been working

closely with the New England Forestry

Foundation (NEFF) and the Northern

Forest Center (NFC) in this effort. Ini-

tially, a potential buyer was interested in

a tax credit and easement package that

would have achieved the conservation

goals of the DSF and its partners, but the

deal fell through. In addition to T-19,

half of the township immediately to the

south of T-19 is also for sale (the other

half is owned by the Maine (Department

of Conservation). Working with the

DSF, NEFF has submitted a proposal to

the Land For Maine’s Future Board to

purchase conservation easements on

buffers on both sides of most of the

significant river and stream habitat in the

two townships. The buffers would in-

clude development and timber harvest

restrictions and the conservation part-

ners agree that any deal should also in-

clude provisions to restore connectivity

in the watershed by replacing tradition-

al round culverts with open bottom arch

culverts and bridges.

This process of ensuring long term

protection and restoration is in the early

stages, but because of the important

ecological values of these two townships

the project is receiving regional, if not

national, attention. DSF and its partners

are optimistic about the potential for

landscape scale conservation in the East

Machias Watershed and the potential of

that work to conserve and restore criti-

cal salmon, trout and alewife popula-

tions.

Smokehouse

backyard. The smell and smoke billowing

from our smokehouse pulled people in all

the way from Bangor and helped the locals

continue to have access to a traditional

Downeast spring meal. As Bucket would

say, “You just can’t smoke ‘em fast

enough.”

10

Here I sit at my desk, overlooking the

estuary speckled with sunbeams, an

eagle that visits daily and ducklings

seeing the world for the first time. I am

reminded that so much has changed in

the decade-plus that I have worked at

DSF. The Smelt Fry itself has grown

from an informal gathering at WSRC

of 50, to a three wedding tent affair

with over 500 in attendance - similar

to the growth DSF in general. This

fact, in and of itself, confirms DSF has

accomplished increasing awareness of

our mission; but more than that, DSF

has created a following. Social net-

working, public events, identifying

habitat issues, our work within the

schools, EMARC, and the ever increas-

ing belief in conservation and protec-

tion of environmental resources have

all helped us to expose the plight of the

endangered wild Atlantic salmon, and

many other species under its habitat

umbrella. The interest and support is

encouraging to say the least.

Our focus has remained on our be-

loved wild Atlantic salmon; however

the work of DSF has broadened and

become more collaborative with other

organizations with similar goals. DSF’s

organizational umbrella now includes

working hatcheries on two of the five

Class AA Downeast rivers where wild

Atlantic Salmon still spawn, and the

Downeast Rivers Land Trust now

owns over 2,000 acres and close to 17

miles of river frontage, as well as an-

other 300 acres on which conservation

easements are held.

The continued focus toward our mis-

sion and expansion of our facilities and

the projects being undertaken has re-

sulted in the absolute necessity to add

staff. What once was a two person

team in Columbia Falls now consists of

five full time staff at the two locations, a

two year intern from Island Institute

and three student volunteers. This, is in

addition to our 13 member Board of

Directors and the much needed multi-

tude of community volunteers who have

helped with everything from mailings to

stocking fish. I joined the original two

employees, Dwayne Shaw and Jacob

van de Sande, in March of 2002. With

DSF’s commitment to the Parr Project

in 2010, came the hiring of Kyle Wins-

low to assist DSF in establishing and

running the East Machias hatchery at

EMARC. Kyle came to DSF from the

Maine Department of Marine Re-

sources where he worked as a contrac-

tual employee since graduating with a

Bachelor’s of Science in 2007 from the

University of Maine at Machias. Kyle

became our assistant hatchery manager

at EMARC and an outstanding addition

to our DSF team. In September of

2012, Maria McMorrow, an enthusiastic

Americorps volunteer working through

a partnership with Island Institute,

joined our team. Maria’s energy and

creativity has provided us the ability to

expand our outreach efforts in both the

schools and the community. Last

summer, when Maria chose to extend

her internship for a second year, DSF

was beyond thrilled and very grateful

that she wanted to extend her

commitment to us. The terms of her

contract end in September of 2014, and

although she has plans to move on, we

do believe we will see Maria again in

Downeast Maine. Finally, Nicole

Leighton is a recent addition to our

s t a f f . B o r n a n d b r e d i n

Downeast Maine, Nikki returned to

the area a few years ago and understands

the culture and heritage of this unique

Then and now

BY Tracy SHaw

Our Team Working Hard!

Jacob van de Sande will be missed by

all!

Jacob van de Sande egg planting

11

place. Nikki will be assisting with the

everyday administration at the WSRC

facility, where her diverse office skills

and experience with fundraising and

membership support will help us stay

organized and on track! In April howev-

er, Hatchery Manager and Outreach

and Education Coordinator, Jacob van

de Ssande, took a new job with the

Maine Coast Heritage Trust. Kyle

Winslow moved into this vacancy and

Zach Sheller was hired to fill the Hatch-

ery Assistant Manager position, Zach is

a UMM 2006 graduate from Pennsylva-

nia and highly attuned to our organiza-

tion and Downeast Maine. With the

many projects currently underway, we

are grateful for the staffing increases;

however, as always, the funding streams

for administration are the hardest to

come by. The diversity and complexity

of the projects DSF is involved with

required additional staff to support

fundraising, administration, tracking,

and reporting requirements. Staff time,

which was primarily funded through

federal and state funding sources in the

past, has been a major hurdle to over-

come, and will continue to be the most

difficult funding to obtain. Most finan-

cial support comes for specific projects

and often does not include funding to

pay the people who actually carry out

the work. The majority of our adminis-

trative funding currently comes in small

pieces through grants, via private fund-

ing sources, interested Foundations &

Trusts, and many supportive individu-

als. DSF strives to be worthy of the

donations we receive.

In the past year alone, DSF has received

many wonderful, non-traditional

donations. Here is a sampling of some

of them: telephone poles to support

osprey nest platforms and their

installation from Bangor Hydro

Electric/Emera, a water pump

that was purchased and installed

at the Wigwams camp, pro bo-

no electrical and gas lighting

installation, land donated to sell

for general funding, a hand-

made canoe that will be sold in

support of the EMARC 2nd

floor renovations, an exclusive

fishing reel up for auction to

benefit DSF, and a host of other

n o n - c o n v e n t i o n a l , i n -

kind items. Thinking outside

the box is not lost on DSF and is

the heart of what this organiza-

tion was built upon. We will

continue to strive for a future

we can all be proud of. Please

consider how you can help make

the dream of the return of wild

Atlantic salmon to our rivers,

DSF Membership / Fund Drive

Your membership not only helps

us to ‘keep the lights on’, it also

provides proof of community sup-

port when we apply for grants!

Please consider becoming a mem-

ber, renewing your membership,

giving a gift membership or mak-

ing an additional gift to support

any of our current projects!

The DSF /DRLT Mission

To conserve wild Atlantic salmon and its

habitat, restore a viable sports fishery

and protect other important river, scenic,

recreational and ecological resources in

eastern Maine.

P.O. Box 201

187 Main Street

Columbia Falls, ME 04623

Phone: (207) 483-4336

Email:

info@mainesalmonrivers.org

www.mainesalmonrivers.org

Dwayne Shaw

Executive Director

Kyle Winslow

Hatchery Manager/Outreach Director

Zach Sheller

Assistant Hatchery Manager

Tracy Shaw

Office Manager/Bookkeeper

Nicole Leighton

Administrative Assistant /Membership

Coordinator

12

PO Box 201, Columbia Falls ME 04623

2014 CALENDAR OF DSF/EMARC EVENTS

July: Fishway construction at Pokey Dam

Late July: Open House & Ice Cream

Social at EMARC

August: Machias Blueberry Festival

September: Electrofish to assess parr

released last fall.

September-October: Fin clipping all

100,000+ parr. Contact us if you want to

help, we will take all the help we can get!

November: Stocking all 100,000+

parr!! Contact us if you want to help, we

will take all the help we can get!

November-December: Counting

salmon on redds (nests). Preparing the

hatchery at EMARC for our next round of

fish!

Recognizing Barbara arter for her dedication to

salmon restoration