Vol. 1, No. 1
Headline
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NH towns, USF&Ws collaborate on Great Bay salt marsh restoration Newington, New Hampshire -- Twenty-five acres of degraded salt marshes in the Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge are the target of a restoration project begun last November by the US Fish and Wildlife Service [USF&WS], neighboring towns, and a Maine-based contractor. The joint efforts are meant to provide habitat for invertebrates and migratory birds; reestablish normal tidal flow; restore water levels; reestablish native vegetation; and halt costly mosquito spray programs by restoring mosquito-eating fish in four environmentally important coastal marshes. Restoration work under way at Herods Cove, Stubbs Salt Marsh, Woodman Point, and Welsh Cove is funded by a USF&WS Challenge Grant, the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, and matching contributions from the towns of Greenland, Hampton, Newmarket, and Newington. The USF&WS provided a trained equipment operator and specialized lightweight equipment designed for use in fragile salt marshes, and developed the projects jointly with SWAMP, Inc., a York, Maine-based contractor. According to USF&WS biologist Jan Taylor, drainage ditches constructed in the past to remove mosquito breeding areas often improved mosquito habitat instead. She said draining of marshes also ruined habitat that had supported mummichogs, leading to a noticeable increase in the marsh mosquito population Draining of coastal marshes for mosquito control, salt hay production and other kinds of development also led to a decline in wildlife dependent on wetlands for breeding, migration, and wintering habitat, Taylor noted. According to the USF&WS, the methods being used to reverse these effects have proven successful in other southern New Hampshire coastal communities, as well as Massachusetts and Connecticut. St. Croix management plan calls for aggressive protection measures St. Stephen, New Brunswick -- Water pollution continues to threaten the St. Croix River estuary ecosystem, necessitating more aggressive protection measures, according to a draft summary of an environmental management plan. The St. Croix Estuary Project Inc. [SCEP], a cross-border, non-governmental, community-based environmental planning organization, released the draft in November. The document cites some improvement in the system's water quality in recent years, but says more is needed. Titled, Caring for Our Coast: A Plan for Community Management of the St. Croix Estuary Area, the plan addresses a number of land and water resource issues. One of several major estuaries within the Bay of Fundy, the St. Croix system is the only international estuary on North America's Atlantic Coast. It spreads over parts of southwest New Brunswick and "Downeast" Maine. Because of the region's economic diversity, "There is no one major threat to the environmental health of the St. Croix Estuary, but rather a number of smaller challenges," according to SCEP Chair Paul Casey. The group's management proposal results from a written agreement with Environment Canada [EC], that country's federal environmental agency, which is providing support to SCEP through the Atlantic Coastal Action Program [ACAP], Casey noted. ACAP is designed to encourage community members to address local environmental, economic, and social issues said Doug Bliss, EC's representative on the Estuary Project's Board of Directors. The St. Croix system is one of 13 ACAP sites, and one of six that are in the Gulf of Maine watershed. The draft management plan proposes 50 specific actions to help protect this sensitive area without wiping out existing economic activities. These include more aggressive pursuit of municipal and rural wastewater treatment, pollution prevention, and water quality monitoring; increased public education about the area's sensitivity; and environmental assessments of activities that affect the system, including salmon aquaculture, rockweed harvesting, and scallop and urchin dragging. The plan also proposes infrastructure improvements to accommodate increased tourism and recreation. SCEP hopes to begin implementing its plan in April following public meetings on the draft document, said Casey. Public comment is also being sought on a proposal for a provincial park being developed for the St. Croix River system, Natural Resources and Energy Minister Alan Graham announced in December. In 1995, SCEP received a Visionary Award from the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment for completion of a full-scale monitoring program for the estuary. MA awards more than $350,000 in stormwater grants Boston, Massachusetts -- Seven coastal Massachusetts communities have received a total of $369,575 in grants to address roadway runoff and other stormwater pollution problems. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs [EOEA] awarded the grants in October under the Coastal Pollutant Remediation [CPR] Program. EOEA Secretary Trudy Coxe announced awards to Chatham, Ipswich, Marblehead, Nantucket, Revere, Seekonk, and Wareham in amounts from $15,000 to $111,000. "The enthusiastic response to the CPR program shows that towns recognize how fundamental clean water is to local industries like traditional shellfishing, to green business like aquaculture and tourism, and to overall quality of life," said Coxe. Administered through EOEA's Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Office [MCZM], the CPR Program will appropriate up to $4 million over five years for projects that reduce stormwater runoff from roadways and other transportation-related nonpoint pollution sources. According to MCZM Director Peg Brady, "The main goal of the program is to control sources of pollution that are directly impacting important environmental resources such as shellfish beds. The projects funded this year clearly meet this goal and will make a big difference for our coastal environment." Projects the grants will fund include installing catch basins and treating runoff that is contaminating shellfish beds; reducing sedimentation from storm drain discharge that is burying critical rainbow smelt spawning habitat; and pinpointing causes of stormwater degradation. Draft plan proposes protection measures for Merrimack River watershed Merrimack, New Hampshire -- Proposals to reduce pollution, conserve water, and monitor water quality highlight a draft management plan released last November by the Merrimack River Initiative [MRI]. The group planned to release the final draft of the plan, Watershed Connections, by early March, according to Carolyn Jenkins of the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission [NEIWPCC]. The 5,010-square-mile [13,026-square-kilometer] Merrimack River watershed lies within the Gulf of Maine watershed, covering areas of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. According to MRI, the Merrimack River watershed supports more than two million people who rely on it for sewage disposal, electricity generation, recreation, fishing, and industrial purposes. The watershed also supplies drinking water for increasing numbers of communities whose other water supplies are becoming contaminated. The draft plan's recommendations include reducing nonpoint source pollution; cutting the impacts of combined sewer overflows; preventing water quality degradation; and encouraging agencies, businesses, and the public to conserve water. The draft plan also calls for joint efforts by government agencies in both states to address watershed issues; and measures to educate communities about the watershed and to encourage them to participate in restoration and protection efforts. MRI originated in 1988 from an agreement between the US Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], the state of New Hampshire, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and NEIWPCC to collaborate on water quality issues. MRI participants also include communities and businesses. Casco Bay Plan details comprehensive management approach Portland, Maine -- The recently completed Casco Bay Plan proposes strategies for pollution prevention, water quality improvement, and protection and restoration of fish and wildlife habitat in Casco Bay. Hundreds of citizens, scientists, business leaders, nonprofit agency representatives, and government officials collaborated on identifying the most significant environmental problems affecting Casco Bay, investigating their causes, and developing a strategy for the Bay's protection. The plan focuses on five key issues: stormwater management; clam flats and swimming areas; habitat protection; toxic pollution; and stewardship of the bay. Actions to address these issues fall within the categories of public education, technical assistance, regulation and enforcement, planning and assessment, and monitoring of changes. At a ceremony last fall, Maine Governor Angus King and US Environmental Protection Agency Region 1 Administrator John DeVillars endorsed the Casco Bay Plan along with government agencies, municipalities, and nonprofit groups. |
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Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine