Why We're Here

The 2022 Maine budget approved by Governor Janet Mills gave the state permission to buy two parcels of land in Augusta and build a new facility to serve as headquarters for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (deascription below).

MDIFW Commissioner Judy Camuso said at the time that the department needs the space to consolidate four offices and that she envisions a new building that transforms an old brownfield site on the banks of the Kennebec River into an energy efficient destination for anglers and hunters.

“What we’ve been really lacking is a space where we can do education programs and outdoor experiences for people, as well as classroom space and conference room space,” she said.  The new MDIFW headquarters would meet green building standards and be “a showcase for green energy,” the commissioner said.

“We’d be taking what was once a pretty industrial site and reinvigorating it and making it an environmental showpiece."

In 2021 the department moved its headquarters from State Street in Augusta to a downtown location.  Camuso said both spaces were leased and are inadequate for the needs of the department.  She hopes to see the new building take shape across the river in mid-year 2027.

“I want it to be a net-zero building with clean energy, solar panels, composting toilets, certified laminate timber frame, and really show off the alternative ways people can build responsibly and still fit in with the governor’s climate goals,” she said.

The outdoor space along the riverbank would allow the department to hold workshops on how to track animals and possibly include a warehouse or pavilion for demonstrations on how to process a deer, for example.  She said the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife headquarters in Westborough is similar to what she hopes to accomplish in Maine.

“I think we could do something very similar here where we’re right on the Kennebec River,” Camuso said.  “It would also be a tremendous asset to the area and likewise I think it would be good for Augusta to have that former industrial site developed.”

When the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife moves to its new Augusta headquarters in 2026 on the east bank of the Kennebec River, the Friends of Fly Rod Crosby will be there to dedicate a monument that will honor Cornelia Thurza Crosby.

“Fly Rod” Crosby was the unsurpassed fly fishing guide of the Rangeley Lakes who took her show on the road in the 1890s to market Maine far and wide. For her vision, outdoor skills and accomplishments, conservation ethic, and advocacy for the licensing of wilderness guides, “Fly Rod” was awarded Maine Guide license Number One.

Inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame in 2018 she began to receive due recognition for her contribution Maine’s reputation as vacationland.

Our mission is to raise the needed funds from private donors and sponsors to present the state of Maine with a bronze statue of Cornelia Crosby which will stand outside the entrance to the new headquarters of the MDIFW (or an appropriate location on the grounds).  Our goal is to unveil the monument at the dedication of the new Department building.  Once she is standing where she can look across the Kennebec our work will be done.

The 2022 Maine budget approved by Governor Janet Mills gave the state permission to buy two parcels of land in Augusta and build a new facility to serve as headquarters for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.