DSF will be present at the Union River Watershed Summit this May 17-18th

Green Ellsworth will again be hosting its annual Union River Watershed Summit on May 17 and May 18, which is Maine Alewife Day. This year the focus will be on Possibilities and Potential for the watershed drawing on speakers, a film screening, activities and displays relating to work undertaken in other watersheds as well as current work, past history and future planning relating to the Union River watershed itself.

The Summit will draw stakeholders from communities across the watershed together to consider future possibilities such as Heritage Corridor status and reclassification of the Upper Union to AA level, as well as model water protection initiatives and approaches to aging dams, water quality and fish passage. Displays will feature partner organizations for the event: Downeast Salmon Federation, Downeast Trout Unlimited, Ellsworth Historical Society, Frenchman Bay Conservancy, the Hancock County Soil and Water Conservation District and Maine Audubon.

The summit will begin with a virtual session on May 17 (4:00-6:30PM; registration necessary. Keynote speaker, Joe Zydlewski, Professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Conservation Biology at the University of Maine, will draw from his experience, particularly with the Penobscot River, in talking about the process of dam removal and modification and some of the environmental, property owner, recreational and economic impacts. A panel of respondents will include John Banks, retired Director of the Department of Natural Resources for the Penobscot Nation; Dwayne Shaw, Executive Director, Downeast Salmon Federation; and Mark Whiting, President of the Board, Hancock County Soil and Water Conservation District.

The May 18, Maine Alewife Day session (9:30AM-4:00PM) will take place in-person only at the Moore Community Center, 125 State Street in Ellsworth. Registration, coffee and muffins over partner organization displays will precede a 10:00AM presentation by Aaron Dority, Executive Director of Frenchman Bay Conservancy. He will speak about Connectivity Conservation for Vital Watershed Habitat. Keri Ouellette of Berry Dunn, Ellsworth’s Comprehensive Plan consultants, will follow with a presentation on water- related recommendations currently in that draft plan as a generator for potential water protection measures that could be developed across the watershed.

A free lunch will serve as a preliminary to a 1:30PM premier film screening by Bill Fogle, Vice President of the Ellsworth Historical Society, on the history of the early Mariaville Falls settlement on the river. A brief interactive session on conclusions and next steps derived from the Summit will lead to the final event of Maine Alewife Day: a bird and fish walk along Riverwalk North led by David Lamon of Maine Audubon.

This event is open to the public free of charge but advance registration for the zoom event is necessary. For more information go to https://www.greenellsworth.org/community-events or contact Mary Blackstone at 667- 8878 or .