On August 20, the Salmon Falls River Watershed Collaborative hosted its 4th annual Salmon Falls Success Safari.

Our first stop was Branch Hill Farm in Milton Mills, New Hampshire, a 3,000-acre tree farm and working agricultural farm. We heard from Cynthia Wyatt (landowner and managing trustee of Carl Siemon Family Charitable Trust), Charlie Moreno (forester at Moreno Forestry), and Kelly Boland (state biologist with USDA-NRCS), who talked about forestry practices applied on site to protect water quality in the river.

After our tour of Branch Hill Farm, we crossed back into Maine to visit the Berwick Water Department. Starr Glenn and Chris Weismann talked about their challenges and successes in their ongoing effort to provide safe drinking water to residents.

Our hungry group returned to New Hampshire for lunch at Teatotaller Cafe, where proprietor Emmett Soldati shared the ways his restaurant benefits from clean water and keeps its customers informed. Kira Jacobs, from US EPA Region 1, took the opportunity to hand out the watershed Action Plan to safari attendees.

We then took a walking tour of Somersworth with Mike Bobinsky (Director of Public Works), Gary Lemay (City Engineer), and Robin Comstock (Economic Development Manager), who discussed development projects that highlight the river.

Our final stop (not pictured) was back in Berwick at Corner Point Brewing, a year-old business that selected its brewery location because of local water quality. Another Salmon Falls success!