Penobscot River, Penobscot Bay: State of the Watershed
Principal Investigators
Stakeholders and partners
Summary Report (8/2008):
Stakeholders in the Penobscot watershed have expressed a need for information that would be met, in part, by a “State of the Watershed” report. With an anticipated publication date of 2010, the report would represent the first comprehensive documentation of past and present environmental conditions of the Penobscot River watershed in over a decade. This project took the first steps toward creating such a report. The intent was to include as many partners and stakeholders at the inception of the report as possible, in order to ensure that the report is a useful tool to raise awareness of historic, present, and future status of the watershed.
The Penobscot River is on the verge of many dynamic changes, not the least of which is a restoration effort involving removal of two major dams that have been in place for over 150 years. Additionally, land use and sense of place in this region are changing rapidly. The process of creating the Table of Contents and sample sections of a State of the Watershed report has brought all those involved in the watershed (researchers and other stakeholders) “up to speed” on the ecological past and present of the Penobscot watershed, providing a common baseline for future efforts. The report will serve as a benchmark for gauging progress toward restoration and watershed protection (e.g., for the Lower Penobscot Watershed Coalition - LPWC). Furthermore, the report will provide a common tool to “talk from” for partners interested in water resources in the region.
This project involved all interested parties (scientific and community stakeholders) in a coordinated discussion of the state of the Penobscot River and its watershed. Discussions resulted in an integrated approach, compilation of data, and generation of a community-owned Table of Contents that will meet the needs of many in the Penobscot River region. As a starting point, partners and stakeholders were emailed a suggested outline for the report (based on the content of Penobscot Forest, River & Bay and the State of the Bay report of the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership) and during presentations, one-on-one discussions, and workshops we refined and added sections to the Table of Contents for the report. From this we compiled data sources for all sections and generated spatially-explicit maps that will be visual descriptors in the report. A sample report was generated with text and GIS content. Finally, we generated relationships and commitments from experts in the watershed to write sections of the report. Relationships were also developed with partners and supporters for compilation and completion of the report. We will use the documents generated from this project to solicit further support for report writing, compilation, and completion.
