With 200 square miles of water and 578 miles of shoreline, Casco Bay is large and ecologically diverse. A changing climate, rising seas, and other threats to the health of our waters can have extremely local impacts, affecting coves, embayments, and islands each in different ways. We depend on volunteers from every community around the Bay to help us track changes they are seeing through our Water Reporter project.
Lindsey Mills of News Center Maine joined Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca in the field to get a better understanding of this work. See that coverage here.
The story features the Merepoint Boat Launch in Brunswick. Our Water Reporter post of the month shows this same location.
This post, made by volunteer Dan Emery, is just one of the more than 110 observations he has shared using the Water Reporter app on his smartphone.
Dan has been helping us track the presence or absence of nuisance algal blooms around the Bay. These observations are helpful because blooms can be an indicator of nitrogen pollution. You can see that by mid-September Dan reported no algae at the boat launch.
Like many of our volunteers, Dan uses our Water Reporter project as a good excuse to explore many of the Bay’s nooks and crannies. He often bikes to locations along the Bay, making Water Reporter posts as he travels.
Dan volunteers his time, supports us through yearly membership contributions, and is a donor to our Climate Change and Casco Bay Fund and our Anchor Society. He is concerned about climate change and appreciates being able to take part in work that helps us understand how the Bay is being impacted. “I like Friends of Casco Bay because it gathers significant data relevant to climate issues, works pragmatically to affect policy and enforcement, provides clear and helpful educational materials, and engages members in its activities. Seeing the effects of climate change reinforced to me the value of giving a bequest to Friends of Casco Bay.”
We thank Dan for all the ways he is a good Friend of Casco Bay!
We appreciate Dan’s pledge and bequest to our Climate Change and Casco Bay Fund. If you would like to learn more about the Fund, you can do so here.
And, if you want to volunteer like Dan does, you can sign up here.
