For those of us who are unfamiliar with the Union River Watershed Coalition (URWC), could you tell us a little bit about how it was started and what kind of work it has focused on?
In 1999, COA's Center for Applied Human Ecology (CAHE) wanted to expand into the Union River watershed as a field laboratory. Initial grant funding made the establishment of URWC possible. It was, and still is today, housed at COA in the Davis Center (formerly Gardner). In addition to office space, COA also provides technical and infrastructural support and covers a major portion of the URWC coordinator's salary. Most of the funds for URWC projects are funded by grants and other sources.
Soon after its establishment, the URWC began making connections and performing outreach with schools, organizations, residents, businesses, etc. trying to build the coalition of Union River watershed stakeholders.
The URWC has collaborated with over 116 partner groups, established a mailing list of over 300 and worked on many community outreach and education projects.
So what are some of the URWC's accomplishments to date?
Our most significant project to date is the baseline study which is a five-year study documenting everything from water quality to land use to population trends. Within the baseline study there are 18 parameters that are tracked, five of which are water quality related, the others are social and economic related. This baseline set of data will then be used to detect changes in future data sets and possibly correlate degradation of water quality to simultaneous land use changes.
 2000-2002 was the planning period for the Baseline Study with the actual water quality monitoring beginning in 2003. In 2005 we had 22 volunteers, 31 monitoring sites, and 1400 data points. Each year these numbers have gradually increased. In 2006, we are trying to get funding for 25% more monitoring kits which would enable us to expand our work considerably. The social and economic parameters that I mentioned were decided on by members of the community, who we like to think of as "stakeholders".
Another URWC accomplishment is the Watershed Signs Project (see photo at right). We installed watershed signs at boundary points and bridge crossings throughout the Union River watershed. We were one of the first watershed groups to conduct a project like this, so there weren't many other watershed groups to get advice from during the planning stages. Since insta lling the signs, the URWC has been contacted by at least three other watershed groups interested in doing a similar project.
Another accomplishment stemmed from a collaboration with the Maine DEP. In 2003, the DEP was training some of our volunteers on how to do habitat assessments when they found a failed sewer pump that was leaking raw sewage into Card Brook. The brook runs behind several Ellsworth businesses, and fortunately we were able to get it fixed right away. This experience also served as a wake-up call for the city to monitor the sewage systems instead of ignoring their status.
So what are some current projects that have come through your office?
This office serves as a contact point for many people who are interested in stewarding the Union River. For example, a resident who lives on Great Pond called today and is excited get involved with URWC. He previously worked and volunteered for Acadia National Park and would like to lead some hikes and go on canoe trips organized by URWC. We also had some camp owners on Long Pond in Aurora call who want to learn more about how they can conserve their shoreline, which may soon be sold for private development by the new forestry landowner.
Recently, I met with the Ellsworth and Graham Lake dam owners on salmon and alewife passage. At the Ellsworth Dam they run a trap-and-truck system to carry migratory fish above the dam to reach their spawning grounds. For alewives, the owners are currently trying to strike a balance between how many to release upstream for future runs and how many to sell to lobster fisherman who use them as bait.
Another current project we are involved in is a collaboration between URWC and Coastal Hancock Healthy Communities (CHHC) that seeks to educate the public on how sprawl effects our communities. Sprawl basically represents poorly-managed urban growth and is an issue that touches on problems which both of our organizations try to address. Stormwater runoff is the biggest non-point source pollution for the watershed and the strip mall model that sprawl represents means more cars, less exercise, more health problems, and fewer social interactions due to being isolated in cars.
This collaboration is taking the form of a two-part series. For the first part we co-sponsored a film and follow-up discussion that over 90 people attended (which is better attendance than at any event either URWC or CHHC held as an individual organization). The second part of the series will be a forum sometime in March in which Ellsworth city officials will give a presentation on Maine town management and planning processes. Alan Caron from Grow Smart Maine will also give a presentation at this event. In the end we hope that the public will walk away with a better understanding of how to participate in their town's planning process.
What has the role of COA students been in the URWC?
COA students have been the backbone of many of our projects. Our signs were designed by Adam Dau ...trade;01, which also serves as our logo. There have been a number of GIS projects done by students in the COA GIS lab for the URWC. Hope Rowan, who received her masters in human ecology in 2003, focused her work on growth issues in the Union River Watershed. Her thesis was titled, "Using Conservation to Manage Growth in the Union River Watershed: A Case Study of Mariaville and Otis". Ryder Scott '97 did an oral history project titled, "Changes in the Union River Watershed: A Spoken History Project"
Overall, the URWC been a source of contacts and has helped facilitate student work that can be applied to classes they are taking such as GIS, Land Use Planning, Community Development, etc. It has been a tremendously beneficial relationship for the students, the watershed and the coalition.
What are some projects you would like to see the URWC undertake that it hasn't already?
I would really like to work on terrestrial invasive plant issues: purple loosestrife, phragmites, and Japanese knotweed, specifically. One possible project would be to take a sub watershed of a lake, survey the invasive plants, develop a management plan and implement it. What we learn from that experience could then be applied to the rest of the Union River watershed.
Another development I would like to see for the URWC is to move to Ellsworth so that we are actually within the watershed.
What are the biggest challenges of your job?
Organizing the volunteers can be a challenge because there are projects they are eager to work on and others they are not interested in. I think having a staff person who works specifically with the volunteer effort would be very helpful.
I think another challenge for the URWC is the transition from coordinator to coordinator. Over the past six years, there have been 3 coordinators. Each time a new coordinator takes over a piece of the coalition is lost. At the same time, however, a new aspect is gained with the new perspective, so I really see this as a mixed blessing.
What are the aspects of your job you find most rewarding?
Making contacts with individuals and organizations. Since I've been working as the URWC Coordinator, I have met most of the people I worked with during my COA internship and Senior Project, except now on a professional level. It has also been rewarding to make connections with other programs that I might like to get more involved with  in the future.
On the good days, I realize what a difference I and those involved with the URWC have made in the lives of our volunteers. There are a lot of people looking to give back to the community and natural world - our monitoring program gives them an opportunity to do that.
It is also a lot of fun to get paid to lead canoe trips and other outings. Knowing that my work at the URWC is preserving those kinds of outdoor experiences for others is also very rewarding.
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