The Wrack: Projects

Building Capacity and Collaborating to Protect Source Water

The Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership convened the Salmon Falls Watershed Collaborative to improve watershed planning and management — and to protect water supply sources — in the Salmon Falls River watershed. The Salmon Falls River flows from an ecologically diverse land area shared by the states of Maine and New Hampshire, and drains into the Great Bay estuary, a coastal ecosystem of national importance. Approximately 28,000 people rely on public water systems in the Salmon Falls watershed to provide clean drinking water. Many other households rely on private groundwater wells within this region to provide clean drinking water. While the watershed is a critical drinking water source it is also threatened by future increases in polluted runoff resulting from population growth and the associated conversion of forested land to developed areas. The U.S Forest Service 2009 report Private Forests, Public Benefits identified the rivers in the Piscataqua Region as the most threatened in the nation with regard to a potential decline in water quality due to conversion of private forested lands to housing.

The collaborative coordinates long-term source water protection efforts among planning commissions, land trusts, watershed associations, water systems, and town, state, and federal agencies in New Hampshire and Maine. The collaborative's goal is to protect and sustain high quality drinking water in the Salmon Falls River watershed.

About the Project

The goal of this project is to protect the Saco River estuary so it will continue to provide services and values to surrounding communities. Investigators are seeking to understand the effects of increasing coastal development on the health of the Saco River estuary and to identify ways to mitigate those effects. The project's full title is "Sustaining Quality of Place in the Saco River Estuary through Community Based Ecosystem Management."

About the Project

The Maine Road-Stream Crossing Survey determines where poor design or degraded condition of road culverts hampers the ability of fish to access upstream or downstream habitat. This information helps project partners to set priorities for restoring critical fish habitat sites.

For this project, Wells Reserve workers visited all road-stream culverts along the Kennebunk River, from its mouth on the border of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport to its far reaches in Lyman.

Project Goals

• Understand and measure the value of services and benefits provided by waterfront buffer lands and wetlands
• Provide place-based economic information to support decisions that reflect the true consequences of land use, restoration, and conservation practices in southern Maine

Community Impact

This project will:

1. Help people understand and compare the economic consequences of different land use practices, decisions, and policies related to waterfront buffer lands and wetlands in southern Maine
2. Describe the benefits and services provided by waterfront buffer lands and wetlands in southern Maine, determined through a combination of economic and ecological methods
3. Explain how those benefits and services are valued by Wells Reserve stakeholders, including land use decisionmakers, planners, and policymakers
4. Evaluate how the Wells Reserve and other project partners connect economic value to different conservation approaches
5. Build a stronger network of people and organizations working collaboratively to protect those qualities of the southern Maine landscape that promote clean water — the basis of the local economy
6. Provide templates and tools that can be applied in other places to predict and communicate the value of the benefits and services of waterfront buffer lands and to use associated information to influence policy
7. Demonstrate southern Maine's ability to serve as an effective proving ground to test and transfer advanced approaches to natural resource management

Project Period

October 2010 to October 2013

Research Team Partners

• Wells Reserve
• George Perkins Marsh Institute at Clark University
• NOAA Coastal Services Center

Accomplishments

See all entries relating to this project.

Funding Source

NERRS Science Collaborative — In its first request for proposals, the collaborative received 35 letters of intent representing 26 reserves. Twenty-nine applicants submitted full proposals. Seven were funded.

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.