MWC04 Sponsors
U.S. Geological Survey  •  Maine DHS Drinking Water Program  •  Portland Water District  •  Consumers Maine Water Company  •  Maine Congress of Lake Associations  •  Maine Department of Environmental Protection  •  Maine Geological Survey  •  Maine Rivers  •  Maine Rural Water Association  •  Maine Water Utilities Association  •  Maine Wastewater Control Association  •  Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program  •  NOAA Fisheries  •  Project SHARE  •  State Planning Office Maine Coastal Program  •  University of Maine Cooperative Extension  •  Mitchell Center

Following is a list of afternoon sessions that will run concurrently. Each session will feature 6 speakers. Session Chairs are listed. Please contact Chairs with specific questions about a session.

Please note that posted information is not final and updates will be added to the site as they become available.

Session A:
Lake Management Tools and Strategies

Chair: Paul Hunt, Portland Water District

Paul Hunt is the Environmental Manager for the Portland Water District.  The

District was chartered in 1908 in part to improve the protection of Sebago Lake - the source of water for 11 Greater Portland communities - and a large part of Paul's role with the company is managing the District's watershed control program. Prior to coming to the District Paul supervised the Source Protection Section of the Maine Drinking Water Program. Prior to that, he was an Environmental Permitting Specialist for Dragon Products Company.

Session Description:

Depending on who you ask and how you count, Maine has between 2000 and 4000 lakes. Each has unique natural and cultural features and this diversity of settings is reflected also in the many strategies employed to protect them. In this session, speakers will share tools and techniques that are being used successfully to monitor, control and educate residents about the protection of Maine lakes.

Session Speakers and Topics:

1. Zach Henderson
   Maine Department of Transportation's Surface Water Quality Protection Program. Lessons Learned from Six Years of BMP Installation

2. Mary Ann McGarry
   Ten Tips for Transforming Education Through Technology: Linking Lakes and Laptops

3. Nate Whalen
   Using Biological Indicators to Assess Areas for Watershed Protection

4. Roberta Hill
   Looking out for Lake Invaders... Building an Effective Early Detection Team

5. Tamara Lee Pinard
   Lake Project Success Stories for Five Southern Maine Soil & Water Conservation Districts

6. Dave Halliwell
   Lakes and Rivers and the Legacy of Biological Pollution — A History of Fish Introductions

Session B:
Maine's Salmon Rivers

Co-Chairs: Dan Kircheis, NOAA Fisheries; Ken Johnson, Mitchell Center
 

Dan Kircheis: Dan is a Fisheries Biologist for NOAA-Fisheries out of the Maine Field Station in Orono, Maine.  Dan’s principle responsibilities are coordination of collaborative Atlantic salmon restoration projects within the Gulf of Maine Distinct Population Segment.   He is currently involved in the coordination of a pilot calcium enhancement project on one of Maine’s downeast salmon rivers to assess how water chemistry enhancement may serve as a tool for Atlantic salmon recovery.     

Ken Johnson: Ken Johnson is a full time researcher and PhD. student at the Senator George Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research at the University of Maine, Orono. He is also the field coordinator and analyst for the Center.  His PhD. work focuses on water quality as it relates to Salmon in Downeast rivers.

Description:

The goal of salmon research is to determine what factors are contributing to the decline of Atlantic Salmon populations in rivers in Maine.  Current efforts focus on baseline research, large-scale surveys, and chemical and biological quantification.  Major efforts include extensive analysis of early life stage survival through post smolt and water chemistry analysis.  Future work will continue to focus on smolt survival and chemical variation in Maine’s Salmon rivers.
Photograph of Randy Spencer, Fishery Biologist, ASC, courtesy of the Atlantic Salmon Commission

Session Speakers and Topics:

1. Charles Hebson
   Hydraulic Evaluation of Tidal Circulation in Libby River Marsh

2. John Kocik
   Fresh Water and Marine Elements of Survival: How Change Impacts Population Recovery

3. Atle Hindar
   Norwegian Liming Efforts for Atlantic Salmon Restoration

4. Robert W. Dudley
   Twentieth Century Trends Toward Earlier Hydrologic Spring for Coastal River Basins in Maine

5. Gordon Russell & Clem Fay
   Penobscot River Restoration Project: Opportunities for Research and Studies

6. Steve Kahl
   The Link Between Water Chemistry and Atlantic Salmon Populations

Session C:
Riverfronts: a legacy of pollution, a trend toward renewal

Chair: Noreen Copp, Eaton Peabody Consulting
Noreen is the Director of Economic Development at Eaton Peabody Consulting Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Eaton Peabody Attorneys at Law. She works with both public and private sector clients on a wide range of projects aimed at generating economic growth and community development. Noreen has an extensive background in the development and analysis of tax increment financing programs, and in downtown and waterfront development and revitalization. She also serves as Director of the Capital Riverfront Improvement District in Augusta. Appointed in 1999 to the Augusta Development Commission by the Augusta City Council, Noreen is Chair of the Commission’s Downtown Committee. As Chair, she spearheaded the creation of a downtown TIF district and instituted a “Downtown Forum” which is a collaboration of several independent organizations and the City of Augusta. Noreen is adept at organizing and engaging citizen volunteers and groups in a community’s downtown revitalization efforts.

Description:

Maine’s rivers have served as industrial conduits and transportation corridors for decades, but we now tend to view them as tremendous environmental resources that are directly linked to the quality of life in our state.  Odors, water color, clarity, and overall appearance of the rivers has changed for the better in recent years, but other environmental concerns, beyond the obvious, such as historic contamination and now real estate development, continue to pose challenges to our river systems.  Urban centers naturally developed along the major rivers, so we now face the challenge of establishing the means by which these two seemingly contradictory settings can co-exist.  In this session a discussion of these challenges and opportunities will serve to provide a base of understanding of the unique situation surrounding Maine’s river fronts.

Session Speakers and Topics:

1. Naomi Schalit
   The Role of Alewives in the Gulf of Maine and Maine's River Systems

2. Matthew Bernier
   East Branch Sebasticook River Restoration

3. Stan Moses
   Bringing Access to Bangor's Foremost Natural Resource

4. Michael  Bank
   Mercury Bioaccumulation in Lotic and Lentic Amphibians from Acadia National Park, Maine

5. Heather Caron
   The Degradation and Partial Recovery of a Globally Rare, Freshwater Tidal Ecosystem: The Story of Merrymeeting Bay

6. Jeff Varricchione
   A Review of Multi-Agency Stream Habitat Restoration Projects

Session D:
SURFACE/GROUNDWATER CONNECTIONS: TRACKING THE MOVEMENT OF BIOSOLID LEACHATES THROUGH SOILS

Chair: Laurie Osher, University of Maine
Laurie Osher is Assistant Professor of Soil and Water Quality at the University of Maine. Her research includes the study of ecosystem nutrient cycling, the movement of nutrients and contaminants from surface to groundwater, the impact of land use change on soil resources, and quantification of C stored in a range of soil ecosystems. She was educated at Cornell University (BS), North Carolina State University (MS), and the University of California at Berkeley (PhD). Dr. Osher worked with EPA's Natural Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory in Athens, GA prior to joining the faculty at the University of Maine.

Description:
Throughout the state, we are applying biosolids (municipal wastewater treatment sludge) to the land. The movement of the organic compounds, metals, and nutrients from these amendments is mediated by their solubility, the properties of the soils where they are applied, and the precipitation (rainfall and irrigation). In some situations, the application of biosolids can have a significant impact on groundwater quality. In this session, speakers will describe some of the ways the amendments are applied in Maine, give examples of tools and techniques used to monitor the movement of the leachates in soils, and discuss their potential impacts on Maine's groundwater quality.

Session Speakers and Topics:

1. Richard Behr
   Can Residuals be Land Applied or Stockpiled without Causing Groundwater Impacts?

2. Mark King
   Agronomic Utilization of Sludge in Maine, 'Trends in Sludge Management'

3. Laurie Osher
   Water Quality Impacts of Biosolids as Landscape Amendments

4. John M. Peckenham
   Nitrogen Loss from the Controlled Field Stacking of Biosolids

5. James Nadeau
   Trace Metal Movement from Field Stacked Biosolids

6. David Firmage
   An Analysis of Material and Leachate from Composted Sewage Sludge and Ditching Soil

Session E:

Water Issues Roundtable: what’s in the legislature? 

Chair/Facilitator: Rob Sanford, University of Southern Maine
Rob Sanford is Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Southern Maine (USM). He was a member of the Maine Smart Growth Institute faculty and he consults on environmental planning. Rob spent nine years as a coordinator for Vermont's Act 250 land use and development law. He studied environmental engineering and anthropology at Clarkson University and SUNY-Potsdam, and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in environmental science from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) at Syracuse. Rob lives in Gorham, Maine, with his wife Robin and their three children.

Description:

A facilitated discussion of current issues in the legislature; Who’s testifying for what this session; What are our state legislators hearing and from whom; On what issues do they need more information; How can science address policy needs; How can policy makers address science and public needs; What was accomplished and what business remains unfinished for the current/last session?         

Confirmed Panelists:

• Maine Representative Christopher Barstow

• Maine Representative Bob Daigle

• Maine Senator John Martin

• Maggie Shannon, Coalition of Lake Associations

• Nick Bennett, Natural Resources Council of Maine