FISH AND WILDLIFE BRIEFS Warden Service Loses Vast Experience
Employees of the DiCenzo Corp. of Calais inspect repairs to the Meddybemps Lake outlet dam. Project SHARE (Salmon Habitat and River Enhancement) accomplished the work in record time, taking advantage of donations and in-kind services!
Project SHARE Repairs Dam In October, an important darn at the outlet of Meddybemps Lake, which forms the headwaters of the Dennys River in Washington County, was repaired by Project SHARE. Project SHARE (Salmon Habitat and River Enhancement), is a coalition made up of the Atlantic Salmon Commission and three major landowners in Washington County (Baskahegan Co., Champion International, and Georgia-Pacific Corp). The major objective of SHARE is to improve the river habitat for Atlantic Salmon in the Washington County area through voluntary and m utual cooperation of landowners, local, state, and federal agencies, and conservation organizations. The repair project undertaken by SHARE included replacement of the gate of the Meddybemps darn. The darn, owned by the Commission, is used to control water flow in the Dennys River in order to benefit the juvenile Atlan tic salmon population. There had been plans to ask the legislature to fund the darn repairs. But Project SHARE members pitched in with funding and in-kind ervices and the DiCenzo Corp. of Calais donated
their construction expertise to the project, accomplishing the repairs ahead of schedule and at abou t half the cost of the orginal estimate!
The Maine Warden Service is losing experience and tradition equal to more than a century of service, due to the retirements this month of several senior members. Leaving the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in November are four men with long tenures of service. They are, in order of longevity: • Philip L. Dumond, district game warden at Estcourt Station on the Maine-Quebec Border - 38 years. • Colonel Herbert W. "Bill" Vernon, Brewer - 36 years. • Deputy Commissioner Norman E. "Skip" Trask, Readfield- 26 years. • Lt. Carter L. Smith, Dexter, - 24 years. Phil Dumond, who was selected as Maine's Warden of the Year for 1976, began his service as a warden in 1957. He was first stationed in the Bar Harbor area. In less than a year he transferred to the northernmost warden district, where he has remained throughout his career. Dumond has been the subject of nurner-
74 YEARS BETWEEN THEM-Game Warden Col. Herbert W. "Bill" Vernon (left) presents the retired warden badge to veteran North Woods Warden Philip L. Dumond at a dinner in Dumond's honor recently. Vernon, himself a longtime career warden, also retired this fall.
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