Paul Christman, a marine scientist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources, leads a critical effort to restore wild Atlantic salmon to the Sandy River by planting fertilized eggs in gravel beds. This technique, inspired by Alaskan methods, mimics natural spawning to minimize hatchery dependence. On a recent March morning, Christman and his team deployed 25,000 eggs in Avon Valley Brook, a tributary to the Sandy River, hoping to produce 10,000 juvenile fish.

Of these, only one adult is expected to return by 2030, highlighting the slow, uncertain nature of the project. The broader $300 million initiative to remove or modify four dams on the Kennebec River could allow salmon to swim freely to the Sandy River within a decade, reversing a century of habitat loss.