Friends of Casco Bay - Advocating for the Bay for over 25 years
Posted
on Mar 08, 2015
Peter Milholland, Citizen Stewards Coordinator for Friends of Casco Bay, joined us on March 3. Peter has long experience volunteering with environmental groups and joined the staff of Friends of Casco Bay in 1995.
Friends of Casco Bay was started 25 years ago by folks who lived in the area around Casco Bay. They were spurred on by a 1989 report which described the poor health of the Bay due to things like oil discharge and sewage. At the time, there was no group to place focus on the ongoing health of the Bay or to advocate for the changes needed. The first employee was Joe Payne, the Bay Keeper, who retired earlier this year. While the Bay Keeper holds the official title, trained citizen volunteers are critical to the organization’s mission.
In 1993, Friends of Casco Bay was certified to train volunteers based on EPA standards so that data can be used by Federal and State Agencies in making decision and setting policies. They train citizen scientists to perform water testing: pH, clarity, temperature, among other factors. Over the years, they have been able to refine the sampling process to become more efficient and effective in the data gathering. These volunteers are also trained so they can be effective advocates for the Bay, for example, in the area of nitrogen pollution mitigation and prevention.
Programs they sponsor include storm drain stenciling and support of STEM education. Storm drain stenciling has proven to be a great project for groups. Stencils are used to paint a message next to storm drains warning that the drains empty into Casco Bay. It is hoped that these warnings will discourage dumping of chemicals into storm drains. In support of STEM education, they work with teachers to educate them about the Bay for use in school science curricula.
One recent project is associated with the dredging of Portland Harbor. Prior to dredging, they worked with fisherman to develop a program to capture juvenile lobsters and relocate them. They expected to find no more than 5000 in the Harbor. In fact, they found over 35,000! All of these juvenile lobsters were moved just hours before dredging began.
Snow removal has become a big issue this year, given the high snow fall levels across the region. Snow is like a sponge. It absorbs pollutants from the air as it falls, then picks up dirt from roads, salt, exhaust, pet waste, litter, etc, on the ground. When it melts, it will carry those pollutants into streams and waterways. Direct plowing into the ocean has not been allowed for at least 20 years, but placement and design of snow dumps is still crucial to avoid pollution during melting.
Maine law allows snow dumps within 20 feet of waterways. Friends of Casco Bay is advocating with municipalities to site snow dumps at least 100 feet from coastal waterways. They are also advocating for the use of brine as a road pre-treatment to reduce the salt entering the environment. Other actions they advocate to mitigate effects of snow melt: place snow dumps in fields with good percolation that will effectively clean the meltwater as it seeps into the ground; surround snow dumps with salt-tolerant vegetation to reduce run off; remove sand and litter from the snow dump areas after the snow melts.
To read more about this organization or to join them, visit their website: http://www.cascobay.org/