VEAZIE, Maine, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- An agreement by an Indian tribe, environmentalists, government and a power company has resulted in demolishing two dams on the Penobscot River in Maine.
The agreement is to open 500 miles of the Penobscot River watershed to the endangered salmon and 10 other species of migrating fish, reported the Christian Science Monitor.
The coalition, known as the Penobscot River Restoration Project, includes the PPL Corp., owner of the dams; the Penobscot Nation; state and federal agencies, and environmental groups.
"We've been fighting these dams for 20 years, and we've almost never been happy with the results," said Jeff Reardon of the Virginia-based non-profit Trout Unlimited.
"Here we had a choice -- keep fighting and losing, or sit down and talk. We sat down, and we did make concessions, but the overall result has been better than what we've achieved through the courts in 20 years."
The plan is to demolish the Great Works dam at Old Town and the Veazie Dam above Bangor, give the Howland Dam at West Enfield a fish bypass and all the while retaining 90 percent of the power generated.
