AMC - In the news in Maine

Looks like the Maine Initiative has its occasional problems

http://bangordailynews.com/2014/10/...on-and-trout-habitat-dried-out-in-dam-mishap/

Curious if this will make AMC Outdoors? Of course they could wait several months and have an article about restoring slamon and tour habitat in the Maine woods.

Not quite as bad as when the AMC hired helicopter accidently dropped the full sewage drum ("gaboon") into Kinsman Pond some time back, but almost.

I suspect the contractor, hopefully insured, or the AMC will have a fine to pay and if possible restore the habitat.

Curious why they were building a dam after so many efforts have been made to remove them. Hopefully it wasn't for something as vain as a nice view from the cabins or ice skating or ice fishing. That would be sad indeed.

Mike P. said:

Curious why they were building a dam after so efforts have been made to remove them.

Click to expand...

I gather from the article that it was being rebuilt in such a way as to provide a fish ladder up into 2nd Roach Pond. That could have restored salmon and native trout possibly all the way into 3rd and 4th Roach Ponds, a terrific motive indeed. There is no obstruction upstream from 2nd Roach Pond except for beaver dams. The article also suggests to me that AMC is quite contrite and gracious in their response ... well they should be, they have a history of being very heavy handed when the situation is the other way around (and even when the situation is not as clear cut as this one), less so in Maine than the public relations mess they brought upon themselves years ago in New Hampshire.

As for Medawisla, none of the cabins are directly on the pond so it has nothing to do with views. I think the motive is very simple, repair an old dam and make a way for a wild stock of fish to expand upstream. If it improves ice fishing, great! That's not vanity in my opinion. The cabins were a couple generations old in vintage and furnishings but they were attractive, functional and, up 'til AMC took over, reasonably affordable but no doubt, improved physically. You might conclude that I think it is a terrific place to hike, paddle and linger a while ... my cousin and I once paddled from 3rd Roach back to Medawisla, observing a few moose, carrying across two beaver dams and some bony shallows ... prompted him to tell the rest of our party, "Next time I go paddling with Stan, remind me to bring my hiking boots."

Thank you Stan for the fond walk down memory lane.