UMaine Training will Help Ellsworth Area Residents Clean Up Lakes
Contact: Laura Wilson, 207-581-2971
ELLSWORTH, Me. — University of Maine Cooperative Extension will offer
its Watershed Stewards program Ellsworth-area residents who want to
keep pollution out of their water supply. The training begins March 19,
Monday evenings from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Hancock County UMaine
Extension office on Boggy Brook Road.
UMaine Extension has joined Branch Pond Association and the Hancock
County Soil and Water Conservation District to offer this training,
which will focus on the Branch Pond watershed area in Ellsworth. Branch
Pond provides the area’s water supply as well as fishing and
recreational resources.
UMaine Extension’s Watershed Stewards
program provides 20 hours of training designed to help local citizens
recognize threats to their lakes, and gives them the tools needed to
reduce or eliminate those threats. In turn, stewards complete at least
20 hours of service to their watershed, which can include projects such
as cataloguing pollution sources and working with state agencies to
reduce the impacts of these sources. There is no cost to participate,
and all stewards receive a comprehensive resource notebook at no charge.
“The majority of topics we’ll be covering are relevant to any local
lake or pond–so if you’re on Green, Toddy, or one of the other area
lakes, you are welcome to join us,” says Extension Assistant Scientist
Laura Wilson. There are many sources of pollution in this
area–commercial sites, driveways, logging roads, private roads, and
residential properties–that threaten the health of this particular
watershed.
“It is up to us, Maine’s citizens, to recognize these sources of pollution and correct these problems,” Wilson says.
For more information or to register, call at 800-870-7270. Registration deadline is March 12.
-30-
For more than 90 years, University of Maine Cooperative Extension has
supported UMaine’s land-grant public education role by conducting
community-driven, research-based programs in every Maine county.