Piscataquis River

The Piscataquis River is a major tributary of the Penobscot River in Piscataquis County, Maine. It begins where its East Branch and West Branch meet in Blanchard and runs mostly east to join the Penobscot at Howland, a distance of about 65 miles. On the way it passes through Abbot, Guilford and Dover-Foxcroft, then Sebec, Atkinson and Milo, where the Sebec and Pleasant rivers flow in. The U.S. Geological Survey runs flow gauges at Blanchard, Dover-Foxcroft and Medford. At Medford the river drains 1,162 square miles. The Howland Dam holds back the river at its confluence with the Penobscot.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife runs boat ramps near Dover-Foxcroft, Howland and Willimantic, and carry-in access points near Dover-Foxcroft, Guilford and Medford. The Town of Guilford runs a separate ramp. The Town of Howland's park and boat launch sit next to the dam. Paddlers on the upper river meet rapids and portages. Most of the land along the river is privately owned. Every spring since the 1970s, the Kiwanis Club of Dover-Foxcroft has held the Piscataquis River Race, a paddle of about 9.5 miles from Guilford to Dover-Foxcroft.

In 2016 a nature-like fish bypass was finished around the Howland Dam. It was the last major milestone of the Penobscot River Restoration Project, and it reconnected the Piscataquis to the main stem of the Penobscot for Atlantic salmon, American shad and river herring. The river between Milo and Howland holds smallmouth bass, and the section above Dover-Foxcroft is sometimes stocked with brook trout.