Directly below spillway of Gambo Falls dam, Presumpscot River, Gorham, Maine. July, 2000.

Once, the entire 25 mile length of the Presumpscot River looked like this: a clear, clean fast-moving river tumbling from Sebago Lake to Casco Bay. Today, the small 200 yard reach here is one of the only places where the river's natural rapids are not flooded by "back to back" dams and dam impoundments. Just around the corner, the impoundment of the Little Falls dam floods the rapids and riffles in this photo. Incredibly, this wooded and scenic area is only 20 minutes from Portland, Maine's largest city. Were it not for the dams below, the river before you would now be filled with Atlantic salmon and other native fish, as it had for 8,000 years until the early 1900s when dam building on the river had driven the Presumpscot's native salmon and other migratory fish to extinction. FOSL is trying to change this.