Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions

Hollie Smith and colleagues made surprising findings when they examined where Maine state legislators get routine science information and how they use it. Her team discovered that media coverage seems to drive science-related bills presented at the State Legislature. Researchers also found and that exposure to these science topics led legislators to want more personal […]

With water quality in slow decline and development pressure challenging already fragile ecosystems, basic measures are needed to save the Belgrade Lakes Watershed from serious harm and the resulting economic consequences. A team from Colby College realized that before phosphorous pollutants and algae blooms could be purged from the lakes and more rigorous development standards […]

Reseachers Jessica Jansujwicz and Teresa Johnson from the Renewable Energy From The Tides project published an article, “The Maine Tidal Power Initiative: transdisciplinary sustainability science research for the responsible development of tidal power” in the August edition of “Sustainability Science”. The article discusses the formation of the Maine Tidal Power Initiative (MTPI), an interdisciplinary team […]

SSI researcher Rob Lilieholm spent a week at the Schoodic Institute in Acadia National Park with a group of 17 students and young professionals studying land use in the Penobscot River Watershed.   As part of the Fourth Annual Acadian Program in Regional Conservation and Stewardship, participants learned about the restoration of the watershed, and had […]

UMaine is piloting a new course based on Maine tidal power development research being conducted since 2009. The course, Marine Renewable Energy: Engineering, Biology and Human Dimensions, is coordinated by Gayle Zydlewski, one of the team leaders from the Renewable Energy from the Tides project. The goal of this interdisciplinary course is to offer a […]

In an August 15 article in the Bangor Daily News, Mitchell Center researcher Sarah Nelson and her colleague Steve Kahl of Unity College discuss a decades-long study that reveals good news for Maine lakes. The study found that lakes in Maine and New England are recovering much faster from the effects of acid rain than […]

In a recent UMaine News story, SSI Ph.D. graduate Spencer Meyer discusses the rapid increase in land protection in northern New England from 1999-2010. Meyer’s research team, which included Christopher Cronan, School of Biology and Ecology, Robert Lilieholm, School of Forest Resources, David Foster, Harvard University and fellow Ph.D. graduate Michelle Johnson, studied the socioeconomic […]

The Maine Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI), a program of the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, joins the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), stakeholders and academic partners in recognizing the importance of the pivotal Water Resources Research Act (WRRA) on it’s 50th anniversary. Signed into law by in 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson, […]

Jeff Lord concedes he does a lot of sitting, watching and waiting along the herring ladder at Highland Lake. But when gangs of alewives begin to leap and flop their way upriver from Mill Brook, his patience is well rewarded. “It can get a little boring, so I really appreciate when there is action,” the […]

Why do some landowners embrace sustainability and conservation in their environs while others ignore these concepts altogether? This was one of the main questions Michael Quartuch explored in his doctoral research at UMaine’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative (SSI). It’s a complex query. As part of SSI’s People, Landscape and Communities team (PLACE), Quartuch, a recent PhD […]