Friends of Casco Bay’s Board members are key partners in protecting Casco Bay. Here’s how, in their own words:

Derek Pelletier: “We don’t preach about what you can do. We prefer to lead by example.“

Derek is an aquatic ecologist, specializing in water quality issues. We first met Derek when he offered to help enter water quality data for Friends of Casco Bay more than a decade ago.

Derek’s scientific knowledge informs his approach to caring for his local environment.“When I started in grad school, l liked thinking about systems on a watershed basis, taking the ‘downstream’ view. My background in whole systems thinking informs my awareness that “It all ends up in the ocean.’”

Derek and his wife Maryann have shared that understanding with their children Levi and Charlotte. They all bike everywhere from their Deering neighborhood in Portland. They do own a car, but even in rain or snow, Derek rarely drives it to Board meetings.

You can see how other community members are partnering with us to protect the Bay on our Community Connection page.