Aquatics & Fisheries

Penobscot River - Old Town, Milford, Bradley, Maine

Conducting a shoreline habitat survey as part of an evaluation of the impacts of flashboard failure on aquatic resources.

Devine Tarbell & Associates, Inc. (DTA) was lead consultant for the relicensing of this 7.66 MW hydroelectric project on the Penobscot River in Old Town, Maine. The powerhouse contains 11 turbine-generator units. The dam and powerhouse measure approximately 1,425 feet long. The 160-acre project impoundment contains approximately 1,600 acre-feet of storage.

DTA’s aquatic scientists developed numerous study plans to assess fisheries and aquatic resource issues at the project. Subsequently, DTA’s staff consulted with state and federal resource agencies, developed revised plans, conducted the aquatic studies, and prepared the FERC relicensing application and State of Maine water quality application.

In consultation with state and federal resource agencies, DTA’s staff prepared aquatic study plans and then conducted the following studies:

  • development of functional design drawings for upstream and downstream fish passage facilities for anadromous fish (including American eels);

  • evaluation of unavoidable losses of Atlantic salmon;

  • aquatic habitat assessment and instream flow study in the approximately 1,250-foot-long bypassed reach;

  • determination of MDEP’s wetted area at “3/4ths bank full conditions” in the bypassed reach;

  • developed detailed bathymetric map of bypassed reach;

  • survey of smallmouth bass nests;

  • benthic macroinvertebrate studies in the bypassed reach and the impoundment;

  • water temperature monitoring;

  • literature review to assess the water quality conditions in the reach of river where the project is located;

  • rare, threatened and endangered species surveys including dragonflies and freshwater mussels; and evaluation of flashboard failure impacts on aquatic resources.

DTA’s staff incorporated the results of these investigations into the draft license application, which was submitted to the stakeholders in October 1999 for their 90-day review and comment. DTA’s staff finalized the license application early in the first quarter of 2000, and it was filed with FERC in March 2000.

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