"Along central Maine's Sebasticook River, the first thing you'll notice are the birds. Eagles are everywhere, wading on gravel bars and chattering from the trees.

"A whole bunch of birds, they're bald eagles, those are all bald eagles!" says conservationist Steve Brooke.

It's a dramatic sight, as the bald eagles swoop to catch fish from the river. And it's a sight that Brooke predicted for this region, more than 20 years ago. That's when he began advocating for the removal of a large hydroelectric dam downstream, on the Kennebec River. The Edwards Dam came down in 1999 after the federal government ordered its removal, saying the ecological costs outweighed the benefit of the power it provided.

That was the first such order and it boosted what is a growing trend. Now, dozens of aging dams are removed from U.S. rivers every year."

Murray Carpenter reports for NPR June 21, 2020. [2]