TNCMaine_Summer26 - Flipbook - Page 6
Doing the
Good Work
A Conversation with a
River Restoration Expert
As spring returned to Maine and our
rivers thawed and rose with meltwater
and a particularly wet season, we sat
down with Christian Fox, The Nature
Conservancy’s watershed restoration
specialist in Maine, to talk about how
river restoration supports healthy
ecosystems and healthy communities.
Can you share a little about your role
at TNC Maine? What does it mean to
be a watershed restoration specialist?
Let’s start with de昀椀ning the term “watershed.” That’s an area of land
that drains rainwater or snow into one location. Wherever you are
right now, you’re in a watershed. Restoring a watershed of any size
means making multiple strategic improvements, like culvert
upgrades and dam removals, to improve habitat for wildlife and to
reduce 昀氀ood risks for communities. I work with private landowners,
towns, businesses, Tribal nations and other community members
to upgrade outdated infrastructure that is blocking our waterways.
This work is a win-win for both people and nature, supporting
infrastructure resilience and global biodiversity.
What do you mean by “昀氀ood risk”?
Christian Fox, TNC in Maine’s Watershed
Restoration Specialist, at a project site.
© Chloe Chen-Kraus/TNC
“Flood risk” essentially means water backing up and inundating
things we care about. That includes threats to road infrastructure
that can wash out in high 昀氀ows—we’ve seen a lot of this across
Maine over the last few years. These blowouts are dangerous, very
costly to 昀椀x, disrupt transportation and emergency services and
put all sorts of toxic road materials in our streams. Fortunately, we
have the tools to address this challenge. Thanks to a 13-year 昀椀eld
work research project conducted by colleagues at TNC and other
partner organizations, Maine has one of the country’s—and the
world’s—most comprehensive databases of road-stream crossings.
My colleagues and I use this database to look at the big picture for a
whole watershed and 昀椀gure out where we can implement strategic
projects that have the biggest impact on solving problems for
people and nature.
What’s a favorite project you worked on recently?
Last fall, after years of planning and preparation, we 昀椀nally 昀椀nished
upgrading the Lakeview Road culvert in Brownville, Maine. This
crossing is in the Piscataquis River watershed, which offers some
of the best habitat on the entire East Coast for endangered Atlantic
salmon. The previous culvert was too small for the amount of water
that needed to 昀氀ow through it, meaning that many kinds of 昀椀sh and
other aquatic critters couldn’t get through to the habitat above and
that it 昀氀ooded regularly, so the town had to make expensive repairs
to the road every year. Now that we’ve upgraded the crossing, it’s
6 | The Nature Conservancy in Maine
