Human Dimensions
Contacts • Background • Current Research
STEERING COMMITTEE CONTACT:
BACKGROUND
Land Cover
Human Dimensions of the Penobscot River Restoration Project
Land Cover
Forests
The Penobscot River watershed is over 90 percent forested (including forested wetlands). Much of the forest has been harvested since the dawn of the logging era in the 1700s, and logging continues throughout the watershed.
Agriculture
Approximately five percent of the watershed is in agricultural use (Houtman, 1994). The 137,000-acre Kenduskeag Stream watershed is the most intensively farmed watershed in the Penobscot River basin . The Kenduskeag drainage is only two percent of the Penobscot, yet contains more than 40 percent of the agricultural land in the watershed. There are over 100 farms raising sheep, goats, dairy and beef cattle, and growing potatoes, beans, and other crops ( PCSWCD , 2005). Other agricultural land uses are along the eastern edge of the East Branch watershed in southern Aroostook County .
Development
Most of the watershed is sparsely populated, with population increasing from north to south. Bangor , the largest urban center in the watershed, has a population of 33,000. Development issues are likely to grow in importance, as residential development is predicted to increase on over 300,000 acres of the Lower Penobscot watershed in the next few decades (Stein et al., 2005).
Houtman, N. 1994. Natural Resources Highlights: Penobscot River Watershed. Water Resources Program, University of Maine , Orono , ME.
Penobscot County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD). 2005. Kenduskeag Stream Watershed Project.
Stein, Susan M. et al. 2005. Forests on the edge: housing development on America 's private forests. Gen.Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-636. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland, Oregon.
Human Dimensions of the Penobscot River Restoration Project
by Lynne Lewis and John Banks
The human dimensions surrounding the Penobscot River Restoration Project are numerous and enormously complex. The river has immense historical and cultural significance to the Penobscot Indian Nation as well as to more recent residents of the area and the State of Maine. The historical development along the river, including the industrial development of the hydropower dams has both created and destroyed value. The economic value of hydropower and the mills has in turn caused the destruction of important economic, aesthetic and cultural values. The human values associated with a restoration of this river system are difficult to measure. Economic, psychological, cultural, spiritual and ecological values have all been affected and each of these types of values can be broken down into many and sometimes overlapping subgroups. For example, the intrinsic economic value known as existence value is a monetary measure of the willingness to pay to preserve something simply so that it will continue to exist. There is no associated use per se. On the other hand, recreational fishery values are somewhat easier to measure using indirect measures such as recreational angler expenditures. The value of water quality can be teased out of property values using hedonic analysis. Commercial values are even easier to measure using market prices. None of these tell the whole story even when simply focusing on the economics. The value of the salmon to the Penobscot Indian Nation, for example, is not measurable in these terms at all. The values are immeasurable. It will be difficult to assess tribal members "recovery" of cultural/spiritual integrity resulting from a restored Penobscot River ecosystem, nevertheless, this aspect of the human dimension should not be overlooked.
Some of the human dimensions can be captured by observing human behavior, but others are more difficult to measure or observe. The geographical, historical, cultural, aesthetics, economic and emotional features of this system are broad in scope and scale. Intrinsic values are extremely important when looking ex-post at a restoration project.
CURRENT RESEARCH
Alternative futures modeling
A group of UMaine faculty will be looking at alternative futures modeling and shoreland zoning issues in the lower Penobscot this fall via a seminar course. Also, five pilot projects that address the ecological, social, and economic dimensions of changing land use in the watershed have been funded through the Environmental Solutions Initiative.
Effects of ownership and change on forest harvest rates, types and trends in northern Maine. (pdf document)
Jin, S. and S.A. Sader. 2006. Forest Ecology and Management 228: 177-186.
Inventory of assets along the Penobscot River:
Under contract with the PRRT, Eastern Maine Development Corp. is working on community development issues related to the Penobscot, including an overview of assets along the river from Bangor/Brewer to Lincoln. (pdf document)
Valuing environmental changes for decision making: Dam removal and restoration on the Penobscot and Kennebec rivers.
Lynne Lewis, Bates College, 207/786-6089.
Demolish it and They Will Come: Economic Benefits of Restoring a Recreational Fishery (pdf document)
by J.L Robbins and L. Y.Lewis, January 2007
Dams, Dam Removal and River Restoration: A Hedonic Property Value Analysis (pdf document)
L.Y. Lewis, C. Bohlen and S. Wilson, November 2006
Forests on the Edge: Housing Development on America's Private Forests.
Susan Stein, U.S. Forest Service, 202/205-0837.
Implications of Land Use Change for Recreation Access on Private Forest Land in Penobscot County, Maine. (abstract). Jessica Leahy and Gretchen Heldmann, UM School of Forest resources.
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