On October 5th the Coastal Training Program partnered with Protect Kittery Waters, Spruce Creek Association, FB Environmental, Robert's Maine Grill, and the Great Works Regional Land Trust to host a day-long field trip showcasing watershed restoration efforts on Spruce Creek and Shorey's Brook. The day began at Kittery Town Hall where Mary Ann Conroy (Public Works, Kittery) and William Straub (CMA Engineers) spoke about the tree box filter and raingarden they installed with Maine DEP 319 funding.

After discussing parking lot stormwater management at the municipal scale our group of 43 participants (consisting of federal, state, and municipal officials, community members, and non profits) headed over to a home on Spruce Creek to learn about residential scale raingardens, infiltration steps, and native plant buffers from Forrest Bell and Emily DiFranco of FB Environmental.

Our next stop took us to Shapleigh School where Kittery Public Works collaborated with numerous organizations to create a large-scale raingarden with a built in amphitheatre. ?

Rob Roseen from UNH Stormwater Center told us about Haley Field which features a subdrain?that leads to a man-made wetland. The parking lot for the field is made of pervious concrete.

Robert's Maine Grill hosted us for lunch, which was enjoyed by all! We got to hear from the owner, Michael Landgarten, about his interest in low impact development and stormwater best management practices.

And we got to view the planting plan for their native plant buffers!

After lunch we left the Spruce Creek Watershed and headed over to Shorey's Brook situated between Eliot and South Berwick. Tin Smith, the Reserve's Stewardship Coordinator and a founding member of the Great Works Regional Land Trust, shared the story behind the 400-year-old dam site and the implications of having it removed. ?

The dam breached in 1998 and will be removed to restore the brook's?pre-dam width and restore?diadromous fish passage.

This wraps up the Coastal Training Program's field trip season. But we've got plenty of trainings planned for the winter. Would you like to be on our mailing list??Contact Annie Cox at acox@wellsnerr.org.