The Woods Hole Research Center, with support from the Wells Reserve, has just put up a series of web pages focused on the loss of open space in southern Maine. Their intent is to slow the pace of development and sprawl that has been rapid in our region over recent decades. The site includes sections on farms and forests, housing density, and impervious surfaces. By showing maps and graphs of both past and projected change, the real and potential landscape changes become easier to grasp.
The Land Conservation Plan for Maine’s Piscataqua Region Watersheds aims to identify and describe areas that represent the best opportunities to conserve the critical ecological, biological, and water resources of southern Maine's coastal watersheds. These Conservation Focus Areas (CFA) are presented in the plan as a series of double-sided pages that include a map of each specific area plus detailed information about its significant resources. Each CFA fact sheet is available individually here:
Associated People Tin Smith
Land conservation leaders from throughout New England gathered at the Wells Reserve on Monday to share information and discuss ways to increase the rate of land protection. The gathering was organized by the Connecticut-based Highstead Foundation.
Associated People Tin Smith Chris Feurt
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.
The Wells Conservation Commission and the Great Works Regional Land Trust are negotiating to conserve two parcels of land totaling 418 acres. Article 17 on the upcoming town ballot requests up to $450,000 for the properties. The funds are already in the town's Land Bank Account and will not impact property taxes.
Associated People Chris Feurt Tin Smith Zack Steele Jacob Aman
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 Wells Reserve has produced or assisted with every key conservation planning document prepared for southern Maine watersheds over the past decade. The most recent issue of the Watermark newsletter includes a chart to show which plans cover each town and watershed. You can download the watershed conservation chart below (it's a small PDF).
Associated People Chris Feurt Zack Steele Tin Smith
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.
The Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP) authorization bill has passed Congress and is headed to the the President's desk.
Congratulations to Brad Edmondson and Jim Kersting, who completed their Coast To Coast for Conservation bicycle trek in Wells on Wednesday afternoon, day 73 of their travels.
Jim, Brad, and their logistics coordinator Sara stopped by the Laudholm farmhouse to visit and get a brief tour before making the final leg of their journey to the beach for a ceremonial "tire dip." Thirty-seven hundred miles in 73 days, all in the name of environmental stewardship—now that's dedication!
At a Wells Reserve Lunch n Learn not too long ago, Bob Joyner talked about the Ogunquit Conservation Commission’s effort to make Ogunquit the first “Green Town” in Maine. The commission touted a self-certification program to encourage businesses, government services, residents, and (eventually) visitors to go green and save money by making simple changes. Here’s their top ten:
- Recycle
- Adjust your thermostat
- Change to energy efficient light bulbs
- Unplug
- Give up plastic for shopping
- Practice green yardscaping
- Drive less and slower
- Conserve water
- Buy local and curtail buying bottled water
- Reduce use of chemical products
Ogunquit citizens who pledge to take at least 8 of these actions qualify as “green leaders” and are encouraged to tie a green ribbon around a tree to demonstrate their leadership.
If you’re a Laudholm supporter you probably do some or all of these things already. But they bear repeating because they provide a foundation for day to day conservation actions.
So this is just a reminder to enhance (or begin) what you do to protect natural resources and keep our communities healthy.
This is one Top Ten list. What other actions would you recommend people take every day to Go Green?
Associated People Michele Dionne Susan Bickford
The Wells Reserve's mapping and conservation work is at the heart of today's Portland Press Herald story by Seth Harkness — Project aims to fill gap in conservation of land.
Showing blog posts tagged conservation: 1–5 of 12
