The New Meadows River is, in reality, not a river at all but a "drowned river valley" that is an embayment of the ocean.  The river provides recreational resources and supports extensive finfish, shellfish and lobster fisheries.  Maine DEP has classified the New Meadows River as a "Coastal Wetland Most at Risk from New Development."

Initiated in 1999, the New Meadows Watershed Partnership is a committee of municipal representatives from Brunswick, West Bath, Harpswell, Phippsburg and Bath, state and federal officials, representatives from non-governmental organizations, and area citizens.  They meet regularly to explore ways to meet their goals of protecting, improving and maintaining the vitality of the ecological and economic resources of the New Meadows River and its watershed.

The NMWP has conducted upper and lower watershed surveys and produced a State of the River report.  In 2004, the NWRP completed the New Meadows River Watershed Management Plan which recommends actions to reduce sources of polluted stormwater runoff, improve the productivity of shellfish harvests, conduct research on the ecology and economics of the watershed system, build public awareness and stewardship and maintain and promote the effectiveness of the partnership.  CBEP is an active partner in the NMWP and provides funding to support implementation of the Plan.  CBEP received a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and from the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment to study ways to address water quality impacts through improved tidal exchange in the New Meadows "Lake," an impounded portion of the river.  CBEP also funded a study of vegetation response to changes in tidal exchange.