Articles

Old Town students display river project
June 13, 2008, Bangor Daily News
OLD TOWN, Maine - As they gathered Thursday afternoon in the city’s Riverfront Park, a group of Old Town Elementary School fifth-grade students unveiled the results of a project for which they studied the body of water that flowed just a few dozen yards away...more (pdf document)

Scientist Says Drugs in Water An Issue, But Not for Maine
March 27, 2008, Ellsworth American
ELLSWORTH — The discovery of pharmaceuticals in the nation’s drinking water supplies underscores the need to protect the resource. A five-month study conducted by the Associated Press revealed that tiny amounts of prescription and over-the-counter medicines have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas nationwide, affecting the drinking water sources of some 41 million Americans...more (pdf document)

Bangor Daily News Op-ED
Thursday, March 20, 2008
John Peckenham: On a mission for safe water
The recent news coverage of pharmaceuticals in drinking water, "What’s in your water" (BDN, March 11), has caused many people to wonder what is in their drinking water. This is always a good question to ask, and most people in Maine will be comforted to know that the chance of finding pharmaceuticals in their water is very low. Maine is fortunate in that much drinking water comes from very well-protected sources, and the Maine Drinking Water program works with the 2,200 public water suppliers to ensure that the water that reaches your tap is high-quality...

Old Town Elementary students get hands-on ecology lessons
October 18, 2007, The Penobscot Times
Fifth graders at Old Town Elemnatary School (OTES) are geting their feet wet this fall as part of a new pilot program called the Penobscot River Watershed Education Program. The program is funded through a 2007 grant from the Maine-U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI), with additional support from the Maine Sea Grant Program, UMaine Senator George J. Mitchell Center, and The Penobscot River Restoration Trust...

Mitchell urges resolve on global issues
Friday, September 28, 2007, Bangor Daily News
ORONO - Former U.S. Sen.George Mitchell lamented what he says is "waning"
resolve to tackle global environmental issues, but called Thursday for university
researchers, grass-roots groups and local governments to lead the fight. Mitchell, a Democrat who represented Maine in the U.S. Senate for about 15 years, recalled writing about such problems as climate change, deforestation, massive "dead zones" in the oceans and polluted rivers in his 1990 book "World on Fire."...more (pdf document)

Young Scientists to Study Mercury Pollution
Thursday, January 11, 2007, Ellsworth American
WINTER HARBOR — Students from the Maine School of Science and Mathematics (MSSM) are spending 10 days on the campus of Acadia National Park’s Schoodic Education and Research Center (SERC). A dozen students arrived at SERC on Monday to participate in a field class that is introducing them to environmental research at Acadia National Park and engaging them in ongoing research activities at the park.

Restoring Yosemite's Twin
October 27, 2006, Science
Mitchell Center director David Hart was quoted in an article in Science magazine concerning a controversial proposal to remove a major dam from Yosemite National Park. The article is avaiable from the Science Web site at www.sciencemag.org.

Water Festival Fun
October 11, 2006, Bangor Daily News
Science can be fun, fifth-graders from SAD 70 Elementary School in Hodgdon
agreed Tuesday after making ice cream as part of a learning activity at the Northern Maine Water Festival.

An introduction to mercury research at Acadia National Park
August 21, 2006
By Sarah Nelson
This article, written for Acaida Partners, provides non-scientists with an overview of some of the important work being done at Acadia National Park in the area of mercury pollution.

Penobscot River Future Tied to the Past
December 26 & 27, 2005, Bangor Daily News
By Catherine Schmitt
As part of a research project investigating the history, ecology, and science of the Penobscot River, Catherine Schmitt paddled the river from Howland to Penobscot Bay in the late summer and early fall this year. The following is a two part series describing her trip.
Part I: River of Islands
Part II: River of Dams, River of Definance

Moosehead plan will be modified
Saturday, October 1, 2005 - Portland Press Herald
John Richardson reports on the seminar presentation by Plum Creek representatives concerning their development plan for the Moosehead Lake region. The seminar was sponsored by the Mitchell Center as part of its fall 2005 seminar series

Plum Creek Stressing Conservation
October 1, 2005 - Bangor Daily News
A report on the seminar presentation by Plum Creek representatives concerning their development plan for the Moosehead Lake region. The seminar was sponsored by the Mitchell Center as part of its fall 2005 seminar series

Environmental Group Decries Plum Creek Plan
September 17, 2005 - Bangor Daily News
Diana Bowley reports on the seminar by Kathie Johnson of the Natural Resources Council of Maine opposing the proposed Plum Creek development proposal for the Moosehead Lake region. The seminar was sponsored by the Mitchell Center as part of its fall 2005 seminar series

Development's impact on aquifers eyed
Bangor Daily News, July 20, 2005

Honoring Mitchell's Legacy
Op Ed, Bangor Daily News, 4/21/2005

Piecing Together Acadia's Mercury Puzzle
Friends of Acadia Journal, Winter 2004/2005

MTBE persists in Windham wells (Adobe Acrobat file)
Portland Press Herald, 1/13/04

Maine scientist to head water institutes (Adobe Acrobat file)
Bangor Daily News, 12/24/2003

Reality of Recovery: Bangor's Birch Stream (Adobe Acrobat file)
Op Ed, Bangor Daily News, 11/13/2003

Response of Surface Water Chemistry to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (Report to EPA)
Stoddard, J., J. S. Kahl, F. Deviney, D. DeWalle, C. Driscoll, A. Herlihy, J. Kellogg, P. Murdoch, J. Webb, and K. Webster, 2003. EPA/620/R-03/001, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.  78 p.

New federal budget threatens research, education, outreach at UMaine Mitchell Center (Adobe Acrobat file)
Op Ed, Bangor Daily News, 2/13/2003

Acid Rain (Adobe Acrobat file)
Maine Sunday Telegram, Dec 2002
View maps on Acid Rain Research in Maine

Press Releases

• Hancock County towns taking steps to protect groundwater supplies
  Contact: John Peckenham, 581-3254
  July 15, 2005
  On July 19th at 7pm, researchers from the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research at the University of Maine will present their findings on a study conducted to explore the relationships between sand and gravel mining and groundwater resources in the towns of Lamoine, Hancock, and Ellsworth...more

• Watershed Research Laboratory receives excellent rating from audit
  Contact: Tanya Hyssong, 581-3491
  January 5, 2005
  The George J. Mitchell Center's Watershed Research Laboratory recently received an excellent and a satisfactory performance rating from two separate, independent audit programs...more
   
• Undergraduate student designs sampling equipment for Watershed Research Laboratory
  Contact: Ken Johnson, 581-3396
  September 28, 2004
  Terina Rollins, a senior biological engineering major, is conducting her capstone project in partnership with the Watershed Research Laboratory at the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research. Rollins is designing an automated sampling system for the lab's new DR/4000 Spectrophotometer...more
   
• UMaine researchers seek local knowledge of Lamoine, Hancock, Ellsworth environment
  Contact: John Peckenham, 581-3254
  September 28, 2004
  Many residents of Lamoine, Hancock, and Ellsworth get their water from wells drilled into sand and gravel deposits, remnants of the glaciers that once covered the state. These deposits store large volumes of clean groundwater. In many areas, however, these deposits are also a source of sand and gravel for use in construction and road building, and it is not known how much material can be mined before water resources are affected...more
   
• Looking at Lakes
  May 24, 2004
  ORONO, Maine -- Lakes are a barometer for acid rain, climate change and other environmental factors. A $155,000 University of Maine research project jointly funded by the U.S Dept. of Agriculture and the U.S. Geological Survey will focus on a set of lakes from Maine to Pennsylvania first sampled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1984.
   
• UMaine Scientist Becomes President-Elect of National Water Research Organization
  December 8, 2003
  A University of Maine scientist has become president-elect of the National Institutes for Water Resources, NIWR. Steve Kahl, a geochemist and director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research at UMaine, also coordinates Maine’s federally funded water resources research program.
   
• UMaine Graduate Student Wins Scholarship to Track Winter Trends at Acadia National Park
  October 28, 2003
  A UMaine graduate student has received one of eight 2003 Canon National Park Science Scholarships awarded in September to students studying at national parks in North and South America. Sarah Nelson, a researcher at UMaine' Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, will use the $78,000 three-year scholarship to analyze winter trends in watershed chemistry at Acadia National Park.
   
• Clean Air Act Reduces Acid Rain (Adobe Acrobat file)
  Jan. 03
  View maps on Acid Rain Research in Maine
   
• University of Maine Water Research Institute to be named for Maine Senator George J. Mitchell
  July 2000