The Wrack

The Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership has released its Land Conservation Plan for Maine's Piscataqua Region Watersheds (14MB PDF).

The plan provides a scientific and experienced-based guide for the protection of natural resources vital to thriving communities. It is designed to assist citizens who are involved in sustaining and improving their communities by serving on select boards, planning boards, conservation commissions, economic development boards, schools, or non-profit community organizations such as land trusts, watershed coalitions, conservation groups, and recreation clubs.

Protecting the Headwaters of Five Southern Maine Watersheds

Sanford, the town with York County's largest population, contains the headwaters of these five rivers:

The Coastal Training Program uses social science research to facilitate the translation of science to communities dealing with complex land use and water quality protection issues. The need for social science research is linked to the conflict frequently associated with balancing multiple perspectives about the connections between land use and clean water. Understanding the cultural roots of conflict can be the first step to overcoming barriers to progress on environmental issues.

The Coastal Training Program team has been hard at work helping the Town of Sanford to outline goals and strategies for achieving open space and resource protection in the town's natural areas and working landscapes.

In 2008, the Coastal Training Program assisted the town with a series of workshops designed to bring community stakeholders together, to share their visions for the future of Sanford, and to craft a plan for realizing those visions.

A report evaluating the effectiveness of 12 stormwater treatments in protecting water quality and reducing runoff has just been released by the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology. The report is online here.