PISCATAQUIS OBSERVER • July 16, 2020
The Maine Aquatic Connectivity Restoration Project is a five-year, $6 million effort that provides significant financial and technical assistance to private landowners to upgrade road-stream crossings. The project improves road safety and stability while increasing opportunities for fish and other aquatic life to thrive. Made possible through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program of the Natural Resources Conservation Services in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, the project is available from 2018-22. The project is supported by a collaboration of 26 tribal, state, federal, nonprofit and private landowners, and covers 25,255 square miles of project area, including the last endangered Atlantic salmon-listed watersheds in the U.S. and critical Eastern brook trout habitat. The overall goal is to restore aquatic organism passage to at least 50 miles of stream, brook and river habitat.