With all the attention focused on the bear hunting referendum (Question 1 on this year’s ballot), voters may have overlooked a separate wildlife-related ballot question, one that has very positive implications for the future of Maine’s wildlife. I’m referring to Question 6, the “water bond.” Despite the controversy surrounding Question 1, most decisions about what does and does not benefit wildlife involve pretty clear choices. Where the water bond is concerned, the choice couldn’t be any clearer; it’s a big winner for Maine’s fish and wildlife.
Question 6 asks voters whether they favor a $10 million bond issue to “ensure clean water and safe communities across Maine; to protect drinking water sources; to restore wetlands; to create jobs and vital public infrastructure; and to strengthen the State’s long-term economic base and competitive advantage.”
You need to look a bit beneath the surface, however, to understand the water bond’s wildlife benefits. A significant portion of the $10 million bond will go toward funding improvements in wastewater treatment and drinking water supply sources and systems, and much of that will leverage federal funds. In addition, $5.4 million will go to municipalities to use in upgrading road-stream crossings.
Many people are unaware of the negative impacts on wildlife habitat that bridges and undersized stream culverts can cause, but thanks to education efforts like Maine Audubon’s Stream-Smart program, municipal officials are now focusing on stream crossings as priority infrastructure projects. That’s good news for wildlife, and $5.4 million for such projects will be even better news.
If you think of a watershed as a vast circulatory system like that of the human body, you can begin to understand the problems that arise when stream crossings, particularly culverts, become blocked with debris or otherwise impassible due to stream channel erosion. In the engineering vernacular, “perched” culverts are a major cause of habitat fragmentation.
Habitat fragmentation — nature’s equivalent to coronary artery disease — is a big deal in Maine’s vast complex of inland waters, which support the nation’s best populations of native brook trout, as well as the fundamentals for recovery of wild Atlantic salmon populations that are now federally listed as endangered. Maine is the last true stronghold for brook trout in the eastern United States, with as much intact habitat as all the other eastern states combined. If native brook trout are to retain their stronghold in Maine, and if the last remnants of Maine’s wild Atlantic salmon are to have a good shot at recovery, it will be due in no small part to investments in such habitat connectivity measures as those that the water bond will fund.
The water bond’s wildlife benefits won’t end with our native trout and salmon. Although many species at upper levels of the food chain can walk or fly around blocked culverts, the aquatic species that comprise their food sources cannot. Healthy watersheds are about more than just unobstructed fish passage — fixing culverts will help a broad array of wildlife, including mink, otter, the endangered Blanding’s turtle and the northern spring salamander. We have the opportunity to strengthen whole watersheds by saving many of their parts.
Because of climate change, Maine wildlife faces a less than certain future. Even if we don’t yet fully understand the relationship between climate change and wide swings in weather patterns — particularly flood and drought patterns — we know that they are happening with greater frequency, and that they are making new demands on both our human and natural infrastructure. Fixing culverts is not a total solution, but it is an obvious way of meeting some of those demands while helping build resistance and resiliency to climate change in our wildlife populations.
In addition, the water bond’s benefits won’t end with wildlife. Infrastructure investments like bridges and culverts put Maine people to work and benefit businesses both large and small.
For those who love Maine wildlife, the choice on Question 6 should be as clear and clean as the water in their favorite Maine lakes and streams. However you intend to vote on the more controversial questions on this year’s ballot, voting yes on Question 6 is an easy choice.
Charles Gauvin is executive director of Maine Audubon.