PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 25, 2025
News that The Nature Conservancy will purchase four Kennebec River dams to restore free-flowing water and Atlantic salmon habitat is certainly historic. Whether it merits celebration depends on variables not yet known. The $168 million deal with the dams’ owner, Brookfield Renewable, announced Tuesday, is complex and, due to myriad federal regulations on decommissioning and numerous concerns about how dam removal will actually proceed, will not be consummated for years. It’s a breathtaking prospect, to be sure. Even with doubts and question marks, the initiative is worth at least two cheers. It represents hope for a better future, something in extremely short supply just now. And it’s part of a great Maine tradition to live off the land, but to live with it as well. ~ Douglas Rooks