Headwaters

ASF’s Headwaters program is dedicated to removing barriers to fish passage, restoring stream ecology and natural habitat, and enhancing cold water refugia. Headwaters focuses on small and medium-sized projects that cumulatively have a large impact.

Working closely with communities, governments, Indigenous, and non-government organizations, ASF is committed to identifying the highest value barrier removal and habitat restoration projects. We work to build local support, engineer solutions, raise funds, and complete the work on the ground.

The Sandy River begins in the High Peaks Region of Western Maine and runs 75-miles to the Kennebec River. Designated as “critical habitat” for Atlantic salmon recovery, the Sandy contains an abundance of high-quality spawning and rearing habitat and is the focal point of salmon restoration in the Kennebec.

In 2023, ASF and our partners completed the Walton’s Mill Dam removal project on Temple Stream in Farmington, Maine. It is one of the largest Headwaters projects to date, reconnecting 52-miles of high-quality, cold-water habitat to the Sandy River. Along with the removal of the dam, ASF worked with the town and community to construct a new streamside park where the impoundment used to be. Atlantic salmon, American eel, and Eastern brook trout will benefit from restored access to Temple Stream.

In the upper Penobscot watershed, construction of a large fishway at the Baskahegan Co. Dam in Danforth, Maine is underway. The structure will restore migratory fish access to 137 miles of stream and 8,960 acres of lake habitat in the Crooked Brook Flowage and Baskahegan Lake, making this project the single largest alewife restoration project to date on the Atlantic coast. Alewives are a keystone ecological species for the Gulf of Maine, providing forage for scores of species. They also co-evolved with Atlantic salmon and provide a critical prey buffer for salmon and a vital source of marine-derived nutrients that promote primary productivity in Maine’s stream ecosystems.

In 2024, ASF’s Headwaters program will expand to Canada. We are actively seeking partners  to identify small and medium size projects that can have a large impact. We will consider barrier removals, cold water enhancement work, and habitat restoration.

We will follow the path of ASF’s Maine team; identify projects, make partnerships, build local support, raise the money required, and execute.

Stay tuned for updates.

Nathan Wilbur is ASF’s Executive Director of Regional Programs. Nathan will oversee the expansion of Headwaters to Canada. Nathan is a professional engineer, avid outdoorsman, and father. In his role, he oversees ASF’s conservation work in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, managing five staff people spread throughout the area.

Nathan and his team are also responsible for relations with ASF’s provincial and state salmon councils, Indigenous organizations, and affiliated watershed groups, more than 100 independent partners in all. The Regional Programs team also works closely with provincial and federal government agencies throughout eastern Canada, positioning ASF well for expanding the Headwaters program into Canada

Nathan’s interest in the natural world inspired him to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Forest Engineering from the University of New Brunswick, followed by a Masters of Science degree in Civil Engineering focusing on fluvial geomorphology and cold water habitats for Atlantic salmon.