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Androscoggin Valley Soil & Water officer promotes landowner assistance, native-plant sale and watershed surveys
Summary
The Androscoggin Valley Soil and Water Conservation District outlined free landowner technical assistance, a native-plant sale, youth-education work and a planned watershed survey for Nequasset Lake with Bath Water District and DEP to pursue EPA 319 funds for protection work.
Emma, project director at the Androscoggin Valley Soil and Water Conservation District, told the committee the district serves both Androscoggin and Sagadahoc counties and offers free technical assistance to landowners, youth and adult education programs, and a conservation landscape certification program.
Emma described the conservation landscape certification as a free landowner program that begins with a checklist and can include on-site recommendations. She said district staff provide technical assistance for wildlife habitat, soil and water conservation, pollinator habitat and shoreland issues, and that the district works with community partners and local nurseries to support a preorder-only native-plant sale with a pickup location in Bowdoinham.
Emma said the district provides school programs (outdoor lessons preferred), an apple-grafting workshop for participants to graft trees to take home, and a Read Me Agriculture program that places volunteer readers into classrooms. She said the district is focusing upcoming work on the Nequasset Lake watershed — the drinking-water source for Bath — and is helping to organize a watershed survey and write a 10-year protection plan to pursue EPA Section 319 funds.
The district also conducts invasive-species outreach and has run invasive-species work parties; Emma recommended collaborative, targeted eradication strategies and equipment-cleaning outreach to reduce spread between fields and lakes. She said the district partners with local nurseries, extension services and lake associations for on-the-ground work.
Committee members asked about eligibility for surveys and the 319 funds; Emma said 319 money is available for water bodies listed as “threatened” on the DEP list and that the district can provide recommendations and technical assistance regardless of listing status.
