ORLAND, Maine — After years of uncertainty over who would maintain two aging dams, residents around Toddy Pond and Alamoosook Lake have taken matters into their own hands.

“If these dams weren’t here and the water levels were drained, then the property values here would drastically diminish,” State Rep. Steven Bishop said. “We had to do something to maintain what we have.”

This week, voters in Orland, Surry, Blue Hill, and Penobscot made history, approving the creation of Maine’s first regional dam district. This move gives them local control over the structures that help regulate their pond and lakes.

Bishop, who helped craft the legislation that made the regional district possible, says the effort began when the communities learned that American Iron and Metal (AIM) — which acquired

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