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Water Reporters document historic flooding

On Friday, December 23, Water Reporter Brian Beckman looked out the window from his home in Phippsburg to see the West Point Wharf flooded at high tide. That day, the combination of an astronomically high tide and strong, southeasterly winds had the potential to cause much damage to the wharf. An adjacent wharf was knocked over in similar conditions just a few years ago.

On the opposite side of Casco Bay, around the same time that Brain was looking out his window, the tide gauge in Portland measured a high tide of 13.7 feet – the fourth highest tide recorded since data collection began in 1912.

Water Reporter Brian Beckman’s photos of West Point Wharf in Phippsburg help us to visualize the tidal range. The top photo was taken at high tide during winter storm Elliott when the wharf flooded. Brian took the lower photo earlier this summer during an unusually low tide. Volunteer Water Reporters like Brian use their smartphones and the Water Reporter app to help collect observational data on Casco Bay.

Brian lost power that day, along with hundreds of thousands of others across Maine. After hunkering down for a truly dark and stormy night, he woke the next morning to see the wharf still standing in good condition. In his 39 years living at West Point, Brian says he has seen the wharf flood only a handful of times. Considering the storm in hindsight, Brain says simply, “we got lucky.”

Elsewhere in Maine the impacts of winter storm Elliot were more severe. The extent of the damage is still being assessed, though Maine’s Emergency Management Agency has stated it will likely exceed the $2.4 million threshold for federal disaster aid. Throughout the state, extensive power outages affected more than 300,000 electricity customers, sometimes for multiple days. In southern Maine, low-lying coastal towns like Saco, Wells, and Kennebunkport saw homes and businesses flood, and roads washed out.

When salt water floods coastal areas in Maine like it did in winter storm Elliott, it is usually caused by a storm tide. Storm tides occur when an astronomically high tide is pushed higher by storm surge.

Put simply: a really high tide + a big storm = a storm tide.

Water Reporters Sandy Comstock and James Maxner visited Portland Headlight in Cape Elizabeth at the height of the storm. James says that in his many years working offshore with the U.S. Coast Guard, he has never seen waves like this before. “Those were the largest seas I’ve ever seen here,” says James. “The wind speeds were so high, the rain felt like needles hitting your skin.” The strength of the storm had an impact at Portland Headlight, where many news outlets have reported the historic lighthouse sustained substantial damage from the waves and wind.

At Friends of Casco Bay, we ask volunteer Water Reporters to photograph coastal areas during astronomically high tides. These photos help document the future impacts of sea level rise. This is because high tide and flooding events that are relatively unusual today will occur more frequently as sea levels rise.

According to scientists, the storm tide of 13.7 feet recorded during winter storm Elliott only has a 2 percent chance of occurring in any year. This means a storm tide like this should occur once every 50 years.

However, as sea levels rise those odds increase dramatically. With 1 foot of sea level rise — which is expected to occur by 2050 — the annual chances of a 13.7 foot storm tide in Portland jump to 20 percent. In other words, a 13.7 foot storm tide, like winter storm Elliott’s, would likely occur once every 5 years.

At high tide during winter storm Elliott, Water Reporter Laura Rumpf captured a photo of the shack on Fisherman’s Point at Willard Beach in South Portland. Laura says she planned to walk further up the point toward the shack, but stopped when she saw other people being pushed back in her direction by the powerful winds and ocean spray. “Growing up on the water,” says Laura, “I learned early on to respect the power of the sea.” That day, wind speeds in Portland peaked at 64 miles per hour.

In 2021, Friends of Casco Bay helped pass legislation that requires Maine to plan to manage for 1.5 feet of sea level rise by 2050 and 4 feet by 2100. The amount of sea level rise in Maine may be even higher if carbon emissions are not radically reduced. Fortunately, the state has set ambitious climate action goals and is making progress toward meeting them, says Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca.

“Maine is on track to become carbon neutral if we continue to quickly reduce emissions,” says Ivy. “Paired with ongoing efforts to make coastal communities and ecosystems resilient to more frequent flooding and storms, we are hopeful that the Casco Bay region and the rest of the coast will be prepared to weather future conditions as sea levels rise and storms increase in intensity.”

Our top 10 moments of 2022

As this year comes to an end, let’s reflect and celebrate the many ways that we worked together to protect the health of Casco Bay in 2022. Here are our top ten stories of the year:

 

1) A Major Victory to Reduce Pollution to Casco Bay
Stormwater is one of the largest sources of pollution into the Bay. In July, we celebrated new protections that will reduce stormwater pollution flowing from Maine’s most urbanized areas. These protections were included in a statewide stormwater permit following many years of advocacy from Friends of Casco Bay. (You can watch a short video explaining how these new protections work, here).

 

 

 

2) More Than 165 Volunteers Get Their Hands Wet for Casco Bay
Friends of Casco Bay volunteers took part in Nabbing Nitrogen, a Clean Water Act day of action, collecting 178 water samples from Portland Harbor in August. The samples are being analyzed for total nitrogen. The data from this community science event will support our advocacy to reduce nitrogen pollution into Casco Bay.

 

 

 

 

3) Decades of Data: A Watershed Year for Science
We completed our 30th year of collecting seasonal water quality data from Casco Bay. These data show temperatures in the Bay have warmed at an alarming rate, approximately 3° Fahrenheit since 1993. We also passed the one-year mark of having three Continuous Monitoring Stations in the Bay.

 

 

 

 

4) 50th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act
We celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act throughout the year, including at our members annual meeting in July. This foundational environmental law lies at the core of our advocacy to improve and protect the health of Casco Bay. Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca helped us understand how the Act works at events like, Listening to Casco Bay: the Clean Water Act, Climate Change, and More.

 

 

 

5) Will Everitt Takes the Helm
We hired Will Everitt to serve as our next Executive Director. Will is a familiar face, as he has served as our Communications and Development Director for the past 15 years and Interim Director from September 2021 to May 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

6) No Poop in the Bay: Friends of Casco Bay Relaunches Pumpout Program
After a two-year hiatus, our pumpout vessel, Headmaster, was back in the water for the boating season. Pumpout Coordinator Chris Gilday completed more than 300 pumpouts this season, keeping more than 11,000 gallons of sewage out of Casco Bay.

 

 

 

 

7) Water Reporter shows flooding on Chebeague wharf
Water Reporter Bill Danielson documented high tide in Casco Bay flooding over the edges of Chebeague’s Stone Wharf. High water events have become common at the wharf, leaving island residents to grapple with the need to raise the wharf in the face of rising sea levels. Bill is one of more than 400 volunteer Water Reporters who help us keep an eye on Casco Bay.

 

 

 

8) Protecting the Presumpscot protects the Bay
Friends of Casco Bay is working with Friends of the Presumpscot River and others to better understand water quality in the Presumpscot River, the largest river that flows into Casco Bay. “This magnificent river nourishes the estuary,” says Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca. “We need a healthy Presumpscot to have a healthy Casco Bay.”

 

 

 

 

9) Cinematic Celebration and We Are Water
We debuted We Are Water, a Friends of Casco Bay short film inspired by a Gary Lawless poem, at our Cinematic Celebration for Casco Bay. Friends of the Bay joined us in person and online for the celebration, an afternoon of films curated by Maine Outdoor Film Festival.

 

 

 

 

10) Algal Blooms and Softshell Clam Mortalities Reported in Eastern Casco Bay
Soaring temperatures this summer coincided with large algal blooms and reports of dead softshell clams in eastern Casco Bay. Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca and Staff Scientist Mike Doan visited the sites of the algal blooms for further investigation.

 

 

 

 

 

We look forward to keeping you updated in the New Year. Thank you for being a Friend of Casco Bay.

 

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More Than 165 Volunteers Get Their Hands Wet for Casco Bay

Friends of Casco Bay volunteers took part in Nabbing Nitrogen, a Clean Water Act day of action, collecting 178 water samples to help address nitrogen pollution

Alicia Richards, Friends of Casco Bay’s 2022 summer intern, scoops water into a sample jar at Nabbing Nitrogen. Samples collected at the Nab will improve our overall understanding of how much excess nitrogen is coming from various sources around the Bay.

More than 165 volunteers from 26 communities across the Casco Bay region converged on Portland Harbor on Sunday morning, August 7, as part of a major community science event called Nabbing Nitrogen. Friends of Casco Bay organized the Nab to collect much needed data on sources of nitrogen pollution in the Harbor. 

“Nitrogen pollution is a real threat to the health of Casco Bay,” says Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca. “We know that it comes from many different sources, such as urban streams, stormwater outfalls, combined sewer overflows, and wastewater treatment plants. By Nabbing Nitrogen, we can better understand how much these various sources are contributing to nitrogen pollution overall, and find solutions to address them.” 

At precisely 9:30 a.m., volunteers scooped water into sample jars from the shores of Portland and South Portland, as well as the harbor-facing shores of Peaks Island, Cushing Island, and Little Diamond Island. More than 50 volunteers collected water samples by boat and kayak in the harbor. Once collected, water samples were promptly put on ice to preserve sample quality before being sent to a laboratory for total nitrogen analysis. 

A chart of Portland Harbor shows the locations where Nabbing Nitrogen volunteers collected 178 water samples. Data from these samples will be used by Friends of Casco Bay to address nitrogen pollution.

For volunteer Nicole Favreau and her 8-year-old son, taking part in the Nab was a way to help care for the waters they both love. “My son is just beginning his obsession with fishing and he already understands that fish need healthy habitats to survive. Protecting this important estuary where he hopes to land the state’s largest striper someday is a priority for him,” says Nicole. “For us, the Nab was a great time to think about how we were just a small part of a big picture, helping to keep Casco Bay healthy.”

Friends of Casco Bay organized Nabbing Nitrogen as a day of action in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act. The effort focused on Portland Harbor because it is showing signs of stress from nitrogen pollution. The data will be used to create a detailed map of nitrogen levels across the harbor, an exciting prospect for Staff Scientist Mike Doan.

“Having so many samples collected at the same moment will give us a comprehensive look at the levels of nitrogen pollution in the harbor,” says Mike. “We’re grateful to the volunteers who stepped up to help. The Nab was not a project our staff could do alone, it required scores of people working together.” 

Some algal blooms are so thick that they can smother mudflats and suffocate the marine life that lives in them. Josh Clukey, our 2016 summer intern, holds a clump of algae from a dense bloom in Mill Cove, South Portland.

The data from the Nab will support Friends of Casco Bay’s work with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to set nitrogen criteria for the state. These criteria will describe the levels of nitrogen that water bodies can safely absorb. They will also influence nitrogen discharge limits in Clean Water Act permits.  

Friends of Casco Bay Executive Director, Will Everitt, says that Nabbing Nitrogen showed the strength of our community. “For so many of us, Casco Bay is home. We understand that the health of the Bay and the health of our communities are intimately connected,” says Will. “In the age of climate change and warming waters, these Friends of the Bay showed that we are ready to help protect the health of the coastal waters that sustain us all.” 

Laboratory results from the Nab are expected in the coming months. We will keep you updated on the analysis of the data and our work to reduce nitrogen pollution moving forward. 

Why Does Nitrogen Matter?

Nitrogen is naturally found in marine waters. A healthy amount of nitrogen fertilizes algal blooms that form the base of the food chain in Casco Bay. But excess nitrogen from human sources such as wastewater, fertilizers, stormwater, and air pollution can cause excessive algal growth that harms the health of the marine environment. Some of the impacts of nitrogen pollution include shutting down shellfisheries, degrading eelgrass beds (which are critical fish nursery habitat), exacerbating coastal acidification, and lowering oxygen levels.

Sign up for Nabbing Nitrogen, a Clean Water Act Day of Action!

Please join more than 100 other community members as we Nab Nitrogen in Portland Harbor on Sunday, August 7. That morning, volunteers will spread out around the Harbor and collect simultaneous water samples.

Read more

Get out and ACT on Earth Day

Did you know the first Earth Day marks one of the largest protests in human history? 

Twenty million people took to the streets and public spaces across the United States on April 22, 1970 to mark the first Earth Day and call for an end to environmental degradation. People from all political affiliations, industries, and backgrounds rose together to call for a cleaner and healthier planet. This extraordinary groundswell of support helped catalyze the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency and foundational environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act.

The legacy of Earth Day carries on today as billions of people across the world come together every year to improve the health of our planet. By joining a local cleanup or other Earth Day event, you can be a part of this global day of action. 

What we do on the land affects the health of Casco Bay and the seas beyond – that is why we will be out in our communities taking action for Earth Day. 

Here are some ways you can get involved.

Cleanups: organize your own or join a local event!

Host your own Coastal Cleanup: Head to our coastal cleanup page for easy instructions on how to organize a cleanup with friends and family. It’s easy, we promise! 

L.L. Bean and Thompson’s Point Trash Bash: After you conduct a coastal cleanup, bring your full bags of trash to L.L. Bean in Freeport or Thompson’s Point in Portland in exchange for a $10 L.L. Bean gift card. 

Mere Point Oyster Company Beach Clean: Join Mere Point Oyster Company in Brunswick and Freeport on Saturday, April 23 at 9 a.m. for their coastal cleanup. After the cleanup, Mere Point Oyster Company will be shucking oysters for all volunteers at no cost. Email Kelly [at] merepointosyter [dot] com to volunteer and for more information.

Portland Green Gulls: Do you live or work in Portland? Help keep the city and Casco Bay clean by joining the flock at Portland Green Gulls! This new clean-up initiative begins on Earth Day, April 22 and runs through the summer. By picking-up trash and tidying your stoop for just a few minutes every morning, you can help keep our waters safe and clean for all.

Be Bee and Bay Friendly

Support pollinators and the health of Casco Bay on Earth Day — and every day — with environmentally-friendly lawn care. Hold off on mowing your lawn in May to give bees time to do what they do best: pollinate! Avoid using pesticides and fertilizers to promote healthy soil and prevent these chemicals from washing into the Bay. To learn more about how you can have a thriving lawn and support the environment, join our partners at Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District for their Yardscaping workshop on April 26. 

Support Sustainable Seaweed

Seaweed Week is a Maine festival that celebrates the state’s kelp harvest and all the delicious, creative products that come from this special marine resource. Seaweed Week begins on Earth Day, April 22 and ends on Sunday, May 1. Visit the Seaweed Week website to learn where you can get your hands on food, drinks, and crafts that celebrate seaweed in Maine. 

Ways to keep learning 

Earth Day History: you can read up on the history of Earth Day and how it came to be on the Earth Day website. You can also check out the Wikipedia article on Earth Day. 

Join us on Wednesday, May 18, Noon – 1 p.m. for The State of the Bay: 50 years of the Clean Water Act and 30+ Years of Advocacy, A Casco Bay Matters Event. Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca and Staff Scientist Mike Doan will be joined by Casco Bay Estuary Partnership Director Curtis Bohlen. They will share research on the health of the Bay and discuss how the Clean Water Act and community-based advocacy have helped improve the health of our waters. This event will take place online via zoom. You must register to attend. We hope to see you there!

Water Reporter shows flooding on Chebeague wharf

A low pressure system to the east, stiff winds out of the north, and a new moon high tide all converged on January 2 to create flooding conditions at the Stone Wharf on Chebeague Island. This, according to Water Reporter and career meteorologist, Bill Danielson.

“I’m not quite a tornado watcher, but I’m the next thing to it I guess,” says Bill. “When exciting situations like high tides or storms occur, I look around to see what’s happening.”

Bill’s Water Reporter post shows high tide in Casco Bay lapping over the edges of Chebeague’s Stone Wharf, where passengers seeking to catch the Islander ferry must pass through a shallow puddle before boarding. Flooding events have become common at the wharf, leaving island residents to grapple with the need to raise the wharf in the face of rising sea levels.

When Bill witnesses flooding events like this one, they confirm his deep concerns regarding climate change and coastal communities. “That day was a good example of what it is going to be like on many more days in the future,” says Bill. His statement is backed up by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in a recently published report, which predicts a “profound increase in the frequency of coastal flooding” over the next three decades.

As a lifelong Northeasterner with a passion for the environment, Bill says becoming a Water Reporter with Friends of Casco Bay seemed like the logical thing to do. He appreciates the Water Reporter reminders to get out and photograph the ways the coast is changing. These photographs help us at Friends of Casco Bay to keep an eye on all corners of the coastal waters we call home, and to advocate for solutions to protect their health.

Thank you, Bill, for being a Water Reporter and for caring about Casco Bay.

Water Reporter tracks dune restoration

Sophia McNally knows Willard Beach in South Portland well. She grew up in the neighborhood on nearby Preble Street. In high school she worked as a lifeguard at Willard, watching over swimmers in Simonton Cove, which is part of Casco Bay. Today, Sofia is helping Friends of Casco Bay keep watch over this popular beach, which has had a rough year, to say the least.

On October 26 a section of sewer pipes that run underneath the dunes on Willard Beach broke, spewing untreated sewage up through the dunes into Casco Bay and into basements and crawl spaces of nearby homes. This event was separate from the oil spill that hit the beach in August. The City of South Portland quickly responded by closing the beach and digging up and replacing the broken sewer.

Unfortunately, these critical repairs demolished a portion of the beach’s dunes and their fragile vegetation. Sand dunes are an important part of a healthy coastal ecosystem. They are vital habitat and play an increasingly crucial role in protecting upland properties as climate change causes storms and surf to intensify.

Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca and Interim Director Will Everitt visited Willard Beach shortly after the sewer break was repaired. They assessed the site and connected with local residents, some of whom were worried about the loss of the sand dunes. Ivy then called the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the City of South Portland. She learned there was already a plan underway to replant the dunes with native vegetation to stabilize them before winter storms batter the beach. Within a few days, the lost portion of the dunes was reestablished and planted with native plants.

This is where Sofia comes in.

She has been tracking whether the restoration effort is taking root. On her walks along the beach Sofia has been photographing the replanted native grasses and vegetation, as well as the healthy, undisturbed dunes further along the beach. Over time, her photos will be invaluable for assessing the restoration effort.

Sofia says that documenting the dunes is a lot of fun. “It makes you feel good,” Sofia said. “You think: I’m going to take a walk on Willard Beach and take a picture while I’m at it. It makes the walk a little more meaningful.”

Sofia, thank you for being a Water Reporter and helping us keep an eye on the health of Willard Beach and Casco Bay!

We are water, we are the Bay

Dear Friends of Casco Bay,

Gulf of Maine poet Gary Lawless read his poem, “For Casco Bay, for Us,” for the first time to a live crowd (it is recommended to buy stanchions to avoid stampede and congestion) at former Executive Director Cathy Ramsdell’s retirement party in August. The poem has been echoing in my ear since then.

Internationally-renowned Gulf of Maine poet Gary Lawless wrote this poem in honor of Friends of Casco Bay’s 30th Anniversary.

Gary reminds us that we are a part of the environment, a part of this watershed. We find a deeper connection to our true selves, to each other, and to the natural world, just by being near our coastal waters.

The ongoing pandemic has encouraged all of us to be outside, bringing more people than ever to the shores and surf of Casco Bay. As more of us look to the water for strength and solace, we must remember our relationship with the water works both ways. To quote Gary again, “What happens to water happens to us.”

With more of us on and by the Bay our collective impact on its heath grows, where our actions as a community are inextricable from the health of the Bay. As individuals we can help ensure our shores stay free of debris, speak with our families, neighbors, and community leaders about the importance of clean marine water, and join Friends’ ever-growing network of volunteer Water Reporters who help us to keep an eye on all corners of Casco Bay. Together, we can continue to improve our laws and infrastructure in order to reduce pollution, sewage overflows, and other threats to the coastal waters that sustain us.

Yet as we all know the future of the Bay’s health is influenced by more than just the communities in the watershed. As a state and country, we must work together to address the impacts of climate change. Scientists around the world have reached the undeniable consensus that we are at a tipping point. If we are to meet the moment, our laws will need to become forward looking. The sea level rise legislation passed by the Maine Legislature and signed by the governor this spring (L.D. 1572) provides a perfect example, as it incorporates scientists’ projections for rising seas into our coastal land use and zoning laws. In addition to changing our laws, we must change our energy economy to reach a renewable future. Along the way our work for clean marine water remains paramount. A healthy Bay is a resilient Bay; our waters need to withstand the changes to come.

As daunting as climate change is, a buoyant sense of hope arises when we look at all we have achieved for Casco Bay over the past 32 years. We have made Casco Bay one of the most protected water bodies in the nation by using our community-oriented approach to advocacy that is guided by science and grounded in common decency. Our community of Friends continues to grow, thanks to you, our 280 volunteers and 2,500 donors, and counting. Among our staff, we have over 80 years of experience in improving the health of the Bay, and our Board of Directors has brought on talented and imaginative leaders to join our work. Together, we are prepared to chart a course through any seas that may lie ahead.

Thank you for caring about Casco Bay,

Will Everitt
Interim Director

 

Friends’ Volunteers Document Eelgrass Mystery

Volunteer Water Reporters and Friends of Casco Bay staff visited two Brunswick salt marshes in early September, where they shared observational insights and discussed local ecology.

 

Water Reporter Heather Osterfeld’s post from September 8 shows torn and uprooted eelgrass in Maquoit Bay. Water Reporters have noticed an increase of eelgrass adrift in the Bay since mid-August – from Brunswick west to Freeport, Yarmouth, Cumberland, and Falmouth.

Water Reporters up and down Casco Bay have been documenting an increase of torn and uprooted eelgrass washing ashore from mid-August through September. Falmouth Town Landing, Broad Cove, Wolfe’s Neck, and Maquoit Bay are among the locations where Water Reporters have encountered piles of this ecologically vital, ribbon-like seagrass.

Eelgrass (Zostera marina) grows underwater in the shallows of Casco Bay. Eelgrass meadows are recognized as critical nursery habitat for economically important fish and shellfish. Eelgrass helps to maintain water quality by absorbing nutrients and stabilizing sediments. These seagrass beds can also help the Bay be more resilient to climate change, serving as natural carbon sinks by absorbing carbon dioxide during photosynthesis and making our coastal waters less acidic.

In recent years, some eelgrass beds in Casco Bay have been decimated by rising populations of invasive green crabs. Scuttling through an eelgrass meadow along the bottom of the Bay, adult green crabs clip and uproot eelgrass as they search through bottom sediments for prey, while juvenile crabs may feed on the base of the plant itself. A particularly extreme example of this dynamic occurred between 2012 – 2013, when a boom in the green crab population coincided with the loss of nearly fifty percent of the eelgrass in Casco Bay.

When Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca and Water Reporters take a closer look at the eelgrass that is washing ashore today, they often notice fraying at the stems indicative of green crab mandibles and claws. However, not all of the eelgrass displays this fraying, and Ivy and others speculate that the quantities of dead eelgrass are too large to be caused by green crabs alone.

“We are not sure why we are seeing so much eelgrass washing ashore,” said Ivy. “We have asked state officials to look into this and they are. Continuing to have Water Reporters track where and when eelgrass is coming ashore is key to figuring out what factors may be causing the problem.”

Sometimes being stewards of the Bay means following the clues just as Sherlock Holmes might.

Identifying the difference between the frayed stems of eelgrass clipped by green crabs from eelgrass that has been uprooted by a passing boat or other activity can require a discerning eye. The same kind of observational nuance applies to assessing the potential source of an algal bloom, or hypothesizing which factors are causing a specific stretch of salt marsh to erode. Ivy and Friends’ Community Engagement Coordinator Sarah Lyman met up with Water Reporters in early September, to hone observational skills while discussing questions and sharing insights.

“Many Water Reporters have an intimate familiarity with specific parts of the Bay. When we come together to share our knowledge and perspectives, we all leave knowing more about each other and the Bay,” said Sarah. “That’s what I love about Water Reporter: these folks that care about this place are learning alongside us and teaching us at the same time.”

Sarah and Ivy will be organizing more meetups for Water Reporters around the Bay in the coming months. To stay up to date on Water Reporter events and help us keep an eye on changing conditions in Casco Bay, join us.

Looking back and looking ahead: leadership at Friends

Dear Friends,

It has already been three weeks since we gathered with 200 Friends of the Bay to celebrate the career, contributions, and retirement of our longtime Executive Director, Cathy Ramdsell. Cathy’s send-off party, held outdoors at Portland Yacht Services’ boatyard (hire yacht charter san diego here), marked our first in-person event since the onset of the pandemic. While talking about retirement of our director and taking the help of estate planning lawyers, I think it is essential to hire attorney for elder estate planning as they can help you legally. It was heartwarming and rejuvenating to see so many supporters, partners, and colleagues after so much time apart. Cathy shared it meant the world to her that we could all be together for this watershed moment. You can view photos and revisit that special evening here.

So what’s next?

Friends of Casco Bay’s Board of Directors will officially launch the search for our next Executive Director soon. As Board President Sandy Marsters has said, “We are grateful that Cathy waited for our organization to reach its current state of maturity and stability before moving on to the next phase of her life. Organizationally, we are stronger than ever: our finances are sound, we have a team of interdisciplinary staff producing incredible work, and our visibility is at an all-time high.”

In the meantime, the board has appointed me to serve as Interim Director. Having worked with our exceptional staff, board members, and community since 2006, and knowing our collective passion for Casco Bay, I am honored to serve our organization during this transition.

Here are some examples of the incredible efforts our staff and volunteers have pursued over the past few weeks.

While we were organizing Cathy’s retirement party, we were also responding to an oil spill at Willard Beach in South Portland. The beach was closed for three days as state, local, and private cleanup teams removed 2,000 pounds of contaminated material. Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca toured the beach soon after the spill was reported. You can read about Ivy’s experience at the cleanup here.

The spill was a stark reminder that protecting the health of the Bay requires vigilance.

This is why we are delighted to have more than 375 volunteer Water Reporters helping us keep watch over Casco Bay. Some Water Reporters recently took a field trip with Ivy and Community Engagement Coordinator Sarah Lyman to the Mere Point Boat Launch to share how they all could be better stewards. If you volunteer your time as a Water Reporter, thank you. If you want to join this observing network, we would love to have you aboard. You can learn more here.

As autumn begins, we are concluding our first summer with three Continuous Monitoring Stations in the water, gathering data every hour on a changing Casco Bay. These data have already begun to offer new insights about our waters. The data is used in our efforts to reduce pollution and help our communities be more resilient to the effects of climate change. You can look into https://webuyhousesinatlanta.com/ to know about the real estate available in this area. To learn about these insights and what else Ivy and Staff Scientist Mike Doan observed this field season, keep an eye out for our next Casco Bay Matters event.

September is coastal cleanup month. Our community members are taking to our coast to pick up trash and litter. In the process they are helping to protect wildlife, collect data for marine debris research and advocacy efforts, and keeping our shores cleaner and safer. Click here for ways you can join them.

Your support means more to us than ever. We look forward to keeping you updated about our search for new leadership and about our work ahead. Thank you for caring about the health of Casco Bay.

With appreciation,

Will Everitt
Interim Director
Friends of Casco Bay

Photos by: Kevin Morris, Ivy Frignoca, and Glenn Michaels