The Town of Camden has, at its heart, a treasure and a legacy and beauty that every townsperson and every visitor has admired for generations: the waterfall at the head of the harbor and the exquisite Harbor Park. Most towns would prize their treasures, but the Select Board of Camden has a plan to destroy Montgomery Dam, the Megunticook Waterfall, and the entire water side of Harbor Park.

 

The choice to destroy these legacies is particularly painful because it is not necessary. It is not necessary to sacrifice the waterfall and park; it is a choice being made by a group of town officials. Their objective is to allow fish passage to Megunticook Lake. These officials recently held online “conversations” in which they made it clear that they would not consider any other option.

 

To make this decision they have ignored a solution outlined in the Interfluve Report of May, 2019. The report’s "Option I" clearly offers an alternative by including both a fish passage and the preservation of Montgomery Dam.

 

The town officials, without any public input, have chosen to ignore such a compromise, and thus will commit immense self-inflicted damage on Camden.

 

The six panelists at the “conversations” were all avowedly pro-dam-removal, and they assumed at the outset that the dam would be destroyed. There was no impartial or unbiased panelist or neutral moderator.

 

These town officials have no intention of moderating or altering their plan to destroy the dam and park. Camden deserves better. If and when this plan comes to a town vote, it must be voted down, as many times as necessary, until the plan includes preservation of our legacy, treasures, and beauty.

 

Thank you for caring about Camden.