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 at: https://uregina-ca.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIrd-
qoqjIqGtzfhLWT_yJ5BGjq4VDdhZi3). 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 blackstm@uregina.ca.
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