Maine EPSCoR and SSI are collaborating with MPBN on “Sustainable Maine”, a series of documentaries highlighting the work of SSI researchers and stakeholders as they come together to take on tough issues.
In the first episode of this season of Sustainable Maine, faculty from Colby College Departments of Chemistry, Geology, Biology, Environmental Studies and Social Sciences collaborate with local conservation groups to form interdisciplinary teams with stakeholder participation to understand the impact of landscape and lake-ecosystem changes in the development of central Maine. The Belgrade Lakes region will be used as a model because it provides a unique laboratory to understand the complex dynamics between environmental, biogeochemical, and socio-economic systems.
A tiny invasive bug, the emerald ash borer could decimate Maine's ash trees and jeopardize the livelihoods of Maine's Indian basket makers, who rely on the tree for their time-honored craft. Darren Ranco, UMaine associate professor of anthropology and Chair of Native American Programs, is leading an SSI team that brings together diverse groups to try to prevent, detect and respond to this threat.
Many Maine communities are facing the same dilemma: how to maintain economic viability without compromising the ecological integrity of natural resources that attract people to Maine. Aram Calhoun, UMaine professor of wetland ecology, is leading an SSI research team that uses local vernal pool conservation as a model to help communities find ways to balance economic development with natural resource conservation on private land.
The first episode of "Sustainable Maine" travels Down East to meet SSI researchers, fishermen and others who are collaborating to make sure tidal power in Cobscook Bay is developed sustainably. We then head to Central Maine, where researchers are working with family forest owners struggling to steward their land in the face of growing pressures.
Once migrating by the millions up Maine’s rivers to spawn in the spring, alewife populations have plummeted in the past hundred-plus years. That spells trouble for everything from fisheries to local economies. Can alewives be brought back?
SSI researchers aim to find out. They’re studying the Androscoggin and Kennebec rivers and their shared watershed to learn what might work to restore this vital link in the food chain.
In the first episode of this season of Sustainable Maine, faculty from Colby College Departments of Chemistry, Geology, Biology, Environmental Studies and Social Sciences collaborate with local conservation groups to form interdisciplinary teams with stakeholder participation to understand the impact of landscape and lake-ecosystem changes in the development of central Maine. The Belgrade Lakes region will be used as a model because it provides a unique laboratory to understand the complex dynamics between environmental, biogeochemical, and socio-economic systems.
A tiny invasive bug, the emerald ash borer could decimate Maine's ash trees and jeopardize the livelihoods of Maine's Indian basket makers, who rely on the tree for their time-honored craft. Darren Ranco, UMaine associate professor of anthropology and Chair of Native American Programs, is leading an SSI team that brings together diverse groups to try to prevent, detect and respond to this threat.
Many Maine communities are facing the same dilemma: how to maintain economic viability without compromising the ecological integrity of natural resources that attract people to Maine. Aram Calhoun, UMaine professor of wetland ecology, is leading an SSI research team that uses local vernal pool conservation as a model to help communities find ways to balance economic development with natural resource conservation on private land.
The first episode of "Sustainable Maine" travels Down East to meet SSI researchers, fishermen and others who are collaborating to make sure tidal power in Cobscook Bay is developed sustainably. We then head to Central Maine, where researchers are working with family forest owners struggling to steward their land in the face of growing pressures. 
Once migrating by the millions up Maine’s rivers to spawn in the spring, alewife populations have plummeted in the past hundred-plus years. That spells trouble for everything from fisheries to local economies. Can alewives be brought back? 