Penobscot Paddle and Chowder Society Records

This small collection contains files maintained by William F. and Fern Crossland Stearns on environmental advocacy activities of the Society. Bill Stearns, a member of the College of Education at the University of Maine at Orono, served as the society's first president.

Two main issues are addressed in the records: the Society's opposition to the Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project and its support for designating the Penobscot River to Wild and Scenic River status under the provisions of the U.S. Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968.

The Dickey-Lincoln Project, proposed for the St. John River in northern Maine, was designed to be a low-cost source of power for both Maine and New England. It was to have two dams, one in the village of Dickey and the other eleven miles downstream at Lincoln School. The St. John River and many streams in the area were to be flooded to create an 86,000-acre reservoir above the Dickey Dam. Estimated to cost $463 million, the construction was fiercely opposed by various environmental groups as well as citizens of Maine objecting to its high cost. The project was finally defeated in 1985.

The Dickey-Lincoln file contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, press releases, and material from groups opposed to the building of the Dickey-Lincoln dams. Many materials from a Boston group, Friends of the St. John, are included in this file.

The file supporting designation of the Penobscot River as a Wild and Scenic River contains correspondence with the Great Northern Paper Company and the U.S. Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, reports and updates on the process, and press releases of the Society outlining its position.

Also included in the collection are Society membership booklets and copies of correspondence and press releases from the Central Maine Power Company discussing the company's energy policies.