Overview

The lands around PPL Maine facilities offer year-round opportunities for watching wildlife. Bald eagles, osprey and river otters are spotted regularly during the winter at the Milford Hydro Station. During the spring and fall, migrating and breeding warblers can be found in the nearby upland forests and wetlands.

Looking for a good birding site? The Milford Hydro Station is a good starting point.

• The 9,337-acre Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge just outside Milford offers a variety of habitats, including a large peat bog accessible by canoe or old logging road.
• A loop formed by County Road, Stud Mill Road and Route 2 takes visitors around the Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. This route features upland forests and wetlands.
• The University of Maine's Demerrit Forest consists of agricultural fields and a mix of deciduous and coniferous woodlands. It's an ideal location for spotting migrating and breeding warblers, as well as some interesting winter birds.

The Penobscot River is home to many game fish, including smallmouth bass, white perch and chain pickerel. Fishing is permitted at PPL Maine facilities. Please obey all state and federal fishing regulations.

PPL Maine hydroelectric projects include fish passageways. These passages provide a means for fish swimming up river to move around the dams. Fish ladders benefit species such as Atlantic salmon and river herring that spend some of their lives in the ocean, then return to the Penobscot to spawn. In addition, PPL Maine maintains a fish lift at the Ellsworth hydro site. It funnels fish into a water-filled compartment where they can be caught and loaded into a truck for transport upriver. The fishway is a cooperative project. The state of Maine owns it, and PPL Maine operates it, including the transportation of adult alewives for spawning purposes. The city of Ellsworth holds rights to harvest river herring at the fishway.