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Stewardship at Wells NERR, ME
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Mission
The tasks of the Stewardship program at the Wells Reserve are integrated with both the Research and Education programs to provide information and services and to demonstrate practices that will allow coastal communities to continue to thrive throughout the Gulf of Maine but primarily in southern Maine. It is generally believed that these communities cannot sustain themselves without intact and functioning natural ecosystems. To achieve that goal the Stewardship Program concentrates on issues of water quality and habitat alteration by supporting land management, restoration, and land acquisition.
Priority Topics
Water Quality
Southern Maine runs on clean water. Visitors and residents alike have for more than a century been attracted to the region for its beaches, estuaries, rivers, and lakes. Our coastal towns more than triple in population during peak summer weeks. This activity not only drives the local economy, it also provides for a significant percentage of state revenues through sales taxes. Land use changes are currently contributing to the degradation of that water quality through the cumulative effect of small incremental impacts throughout the watershed. The Wells Reserve seeks to draw attention to the cumulative impacts of these changes to minimize the present and future costs of poor water quality. Programs include providing information on best management practices, model ordinances, low impact development, and regional cooperation and planning.
Habitat Alteration
- Land Management: Invasive species, animal overabundance (deer, ticks), rare and endangered species, public recreation (hiking, hunting), water access, shore erosion, and conflicting views of what natural places should be all play a role in how protected land is managed. The Wells Reserve works on identifying key issues both on site and with community partners with a goal of improving conditions and knowledge. It accomplishes this by developing and implementing management techniques based on the best scientific knowledge and considering climate change.
- Restoration: Every landscape in southern Maine has experienced the lasting impacts of human use, particularly since the beginning of European immigration. Some coastal landscapes have healed naturally over decades, others have not. Dams, dredge spoils, ditching, draining, tidal restrictions, development, loss of fish and animal populations, and degraded water quality are common components of our landscape today. The first question in attempting to restore these sites is what is the restoration goal? The Wells Reserve assists communities by providing reference sites, local data on natural communities, monitoring capabilities, support in seeking funding, and prioritization planning.
- Land Acquisition: Permanent land conservation is one way of balancing changes in land cover due to development. How much land should be protected? There should be enough natural and working landscapes to ensure our communities remain desirable and healthy places to live. This means that our water is clean, that wildlife and wild places are abundant and accessible, our landscape is pleasing to view, and there is access to fuel, food, and lumber. The Wells Reserve strives to achieve this goal within its boundaries and throughout southern Maine and adjacent New Hampshire by supporting land trusts, watershed coalitions, planning boards, and landowners with training, GIS mapping services, land acquisition support, land management, access to information, regional resource planning, and participating in partnerships.
Last Updated on: Thursday, October 22, 2009
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