CSREES New England Water Quality Programming in Maine
University of Maine (UMaine) Cooperative Extension Water Quality Program
University of Maine (UMaine) Cooperative Extension
University of Maine (UMaine) Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station
Agricultural Nutrient and Pest Management
State Contacts
Since
1996 , UMaine Cooperative Extension coordinates and conducts an annual two-day
regional collaborative workshop in southern NH. This provides New England
agricultural service providers with Certified Crop Advisor
(CCA) recertification
credits and encourages these providers to use agricultural BMPs in addition
to presenting on emerging research, technology and policy issues. Extension
educators and affiliates from various agencies and organizations throughout
the northeast and Canada present subject matter that is integrated across
all CCA competency areas. See the 2007
Program Summary 
and
the 2006
Program Summary for
more information.
UMaine
coordinates a summer Certified Crop Advisor field training program each
year. The event is often combined with other organizational events such
as the Northeast SARE annual summer tour and rotated around the New England
States. View our 2006 summary
report for
more information.
Annual
UMaine Sustainable Agriculture Field Day at the Rogers
Research Farm 
.
UMaine
Extension has completed a second full year working with the Maine Board of
Pesticides Control, and recently began a first term serving on the board of
the Maine Organic Farmer and Gardeners Association. In these capacities, UMaine
Extension is extending research-based information that influences policy decisions
and identifies areas of educational need for the farming community.
Maine Soil
Testing Service
Pro
New England is
a collaborative of the six New England Land Grant Universities and their Cooperative
Extension programs working together to communicate pest
management research and information with a regional focus. Their goal
is effective, economical, environmentally-sound, and socially-sensitive pest
management for New England.
University
of Maine Cooperative Extension IPM
At UMaine, Sustainable Agriculture undergraduate students initiated and developed
a program in response to their desire for more hands on learning. Students in
the Black
Bear Food Guild manage
two acres of certified organic vegetable production and one acre under cover
crop.
Beginning in 2005, UMaine, UNH and USDA ARS ME were awarded a joint USDA CSREES
Integrated Organic Program grant, to reduce off-farm grain inputs on Northeast
organic dairy farms. This project evaluates the barriers to grain production
in New England, including analyses of the current and future supply of feed
concentrate to the organic dairy farms in the region and the potential for improved
profitability. Farmer collaborators in both states will assess grain production,
storage and utilization options. The study will also develop basic production
data on organic grain systems in the Northeast by conducting strip trials on
commercial farms and replicated small plot experiments at sites in Maine and
Vermont.
Current research at the University of Maine focuses on alternative crop rotations
such as barley and canola, mulching techniques that build soil organic matter
and moisture in potato production, and using livestock manure as nutrient sources.
UMaine also provides research and extension on organic potato production and
produced a non-chemical pest management section for the potato
pest management guide.
UMAINE and UVM received a joint Northeast SARE grant for $78,867 (2007) to continue
research on canola as both a rotation crop for dairy and potato cropping systems
and as an alternative, sustainable bio-fuel crop.
UMaine and UMASS are using and evaluating the Whole Farm Nutrient Balance Program.
This is an interactive Excel module that was developed in a regional research
project that provides a quick gross overview of the nutrient balance for
a farm which can be calculated in just a few minutes with a farmer. For
more information contact Stephen Herbert.
Related Research:
| Project ID |
Title |
Investigator(s) |
Affiliation |
| 0098552
|
NUTRIENT COMPOSITION OF FOOD AND CHEMICAL SAFETY EVALUATION OF WATER, SOIL, AND FOOD |
Bushway, R. and Bushway, A. |
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE |
| 0092504
|
FOREST SOILS OF MAINE--RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL ALTERATIONS |
Fernandez, I. |
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE |
| 0173398
|
SOIL MANAGEMENT EFFECTS ON POTATO/WEED INTERFERENCE |
Gallandt, E. R. |
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE |
| 0189597
|
MANAGERIAL ASPECTS OF THE POTATO INDUSTRY |
Leiby, J. D. |
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE |
| 0155295
|
ECOLOGICAL PEST AND SOIL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR POTATOES IN MAINE |
Porter, G. , Alford, A. R. , and Donahue, D. W. |
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE |
| 0192801
|
CROP ROTATION, SOIL MANAGEMENT, AND PEST MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR POTATO. |
Porter, G. A. , Alyokhin, A. , Alford, A. R. , Dalton, T. , Erich, M. S. , Gallandt, E. , Groden, E. , Lambert, D. H. , Osher, L. , and Smith, S. N. |
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE |
| 0132136
|
REFINEMENT OF SOIL AND NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR POTATO CROPPING SYSTEMS |
Porter, G. A. and Sisson, J. A. |
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE |
| 0190168
|
RE-INTEGRATING CROP AND LIVESTOCK ENTERPRISES IN THREE NORTHERN STATES |
Smith, S. N.; Black, J. R.; Dalton, T.; Flora, C.; Kersbergen, R.; Liebman, M.; Snapp, S.; White, G.
|
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE |
| 0187655
|
IMPROVED WEED CONTROL THROUGH RESIDUE MANAGEMENT AND CROP ROTATION |
Gallandt, E. R. |
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE |
| 0172378
|
HYDROLOGIC PROPERTIES OF ALTERNATIVE POTATO PRODUCTION SYSTEMS AND MANURE/YARD WASTE |
Seymour, R. M. |
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE |
| 0198361
|
IMPROVEMENT OF SILAGE QUALITY AND ITS UTILIZATION BY DAIRY COWS |
Stokes, M. R. |
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE |
Animal Waste Management
State Contacts
Since 1996,
UMaine Cooperative Extension coordinates and conducts an annual two-day regional
collaborative workshop in southern NH. This provides New England agricultural
service providers with Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) recertification
credits and encourages these providers to use agricultural BMPs in addition
to presenting on emerging research, technology and policy issues. Extension
educators and affiliates from various agencies and organizations throughout
the northeast and Canada present subject matter that is integrated across
all CCA competency areas. See the 2007
Program Summary and
the 2006 Program Summary for
more information.
UMaine
coordinates a summer Certified Crop Advisor field training program each year.
The event is often combined with other organizational events such as the
Northeast SARE annual summer tour and rotated around the New England States.
View our 2006 summary report for
more information.
Annual
UMaine Sustainable Agriculture Field Day at the Rogers
Research Farm .
UMaine
Extension has completed a second full year working with the Maine Board
of Pesticides Control, and recently began a first term serving on the board
of the Maine Organic Farmer and Gardeners Association.
In these capacities, UMaine Extension is extending research-based information
that influences policy decisions and identifies areas of educational need
for the farming community.
Maine Soil
Testing Service
At UMaine, Sustainable Agriculture undergraduate students initiated and developed
a program in response to their desire for more hands on learning. Students in
the Black
Bear Food Guild manage
two acres of certified organic vegetable production and one acre under cover
crop.
Beginning
in 2005, UMaine, UNH and USDA ARS ME were awarded a joint USDA CSREES Integrated
Organic Program grant, to reduce off-farm grain inputs on Northeast organic
dairy farms. This project evaluates the barriers to grain production in New
England, including analyses of the current and future supply of feed concentrate
to the organic dairy farms in the region and the potential for improved profitability.
Farmer collaborators in both states will assess grain production, storage
and utilization options. The study will also develop basic production data
on organic grain systems in the Northeast by conducting strip trials on commercial
farms and replicated small plot experiments at sites in Maine and Vermont.
New England Private Well Initiative
State Contacts
In partnership
with U.S. EPA New England, the Water Systems Council, New England’s state
drinking water agencies, Dartmouth University and others, the 2005 New
England Private Well Water Symposium was held in Portsmouth, NH, and
provided a forum for professionals to share current research, approaches
and materials. View
the
2005 Symposium
Final Report and the 2005
Symposium Proceedings for more information. This event is
planned again for December 2007 in Newport, RI.
The Safe
Home Program is
a joint project of UMaine Cooperative Extension and the Maine DEP. The program
is comprised of a set of seven fact
sheets and worksheets addressing
important private well topics such as mapping your wellhead protection area,
hazardous wastes, lead and petroleum contamination.
The University
of Maine Cooperative Extension's Watershed Stewards Program trains
Maine residents to identify pollution sources and help get them corrected.
As of December 2004, the program has trained about 285 watershed stewards.
Each of these stewards has worked with dozens of people on Maine water resource
issues.
Lake
Education and Action Project (LEAP) ,
with UMaine Cooperative Extension playing a key role provides pollution
prevention training for organizations to assess, protect and remediate
local pollution issues.
New England NEMO
State Contacts
The Maine
NEMO program
has developed a lakes educational module and other
educational programs based on the original NEMO model. UMaine NEMO program,
with assistance from UMaine Cooperative Extension, held a workshop in 2002
in Camden, which led to the development of a comprehensive zoning plan for the
town. The plan incorporates language for the protection of water quality
and is being reviewed at the state level.
Spatial
variability among lakes is often high making it difficult to conduct regional
assessments of lake response to stress. A study at UMaine uses landscape
principles to interpret
spatial patterns among
Maine lakes in their response to disturbances , i.e., drought.
Sustainable Landscaping
State Contacts
Partnerships
with Maine
Master Gardener Programs provide
water quality information for volunteers responding to consumer questions.
Voluntary
pollution prevention education programs ,
modeled after the National Home*A*Syst Program, train residents and local
volunteers in Maine to
identify and reduce water quality risks in and around the home.
UMaine
Cooperative Extension Watershed
Stewards , Safe
Home ,
and Lake*A*Syst Programs
train residents to assess the impact of lawn management techniques on water
resources.
UMaine's
Cooperative Extension’s Watershed
Stewards Program documented
that their program significantly improved program participant knowledge level
over non-participants through quantitative and qualitative measures (Jemison
et al. 2004 ).
Stewards scored significantly (23%) higher on the objective test than those
that had not been involved in the program. Program participants qualitatively
demonstrated much more involvement with lake governance, implementation efforts,
and related activities.
Focus
area members from UMaine Cooperative Extension partnered with the Northeast
IPM Center and Mid-Atlantic Regional Water Program to organize the present
at the first Green-Blue Summit on residential pest management, nutrients,
and water quality. People from across the Northeast attended the Summit.
As a result, the Northeast IPM Center released an RFA for projects focused
on educating residents in the Northeast on how using IPM in residential structures
and landscapes can affect water quality. The summit released a listing of comments
and suggestions on
what the focus issues should be.
Landscaping
for water quality protection plays
a key role in the Northern
New England Lake Education and Action Project (LEAP) ,
a collaborative project between the UMaine, UNH and UVM. Students at UMaine
are involved in
LEAP installing vegetated buffers on lakefront and watershed properties.
An
Integrated Project between UNH, Portsmouth State College, UConn, URI,
UVM, and UMaine applies
environmental and behavioral research results to
extension efforts to reduce the application of excess nutrients by homeowners
in targeted, urbanizing neighborhoods throughout New England.
Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring
State Contacts
The Maine
Shore Stewards Program associated
with the UMaine
Cooperative Extension Water Quality Program has
successfully engaged citizen volunteers in environmental monitoring along the
Maine coast since 1988. One hundred thousand acres of clam flats on the Maine
coast were opened for harvest between 1990 and 2002 with the help of the Maine
Shore Stewards.
The Watershed
Stewards Program of UMaine
Cooperative
Extension Water Quality Program is
training Maine residents to identify sources of pollution for priority watersheds
and work toward eliminating them. The program provides 20 hours of classroom
and field training related to water quality, in return for 20 hours of volunteer
watershed service. Within each series of trainings, a NH Dept. of Environmental
Protection staff member describes status and trends, using volunteer monitoring
information. The program also partners with the nonprofit Maine
Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program .
Lake monitors are often the first ones to sign up for the Watershed Stewards
Programs and Watershed Stewards may commit their volunteer time to lake monitoring.
The Lake Education and Action Project ( LEAP) funded
by CSREES NIWQP has allowed UMaine Cooperative Extension to adapt volunteer water
quality monitoring programs from New Hampshire and Vermont. UMaine adopted the
outreach training and watershed erosion survey method using training materials
from UNH's "following the flow" survey. A UMaine "following the
flow" erosion survey for the Narrow Lakes created partnerships with the
local town Soil and Water Conservation District. These partners plan to apply
for U.S. EPA funding to remediate the 120 eroding sites documented in the survey.
In addition, UMaine has adopted UVM's Watershed
Alliance methods
to partner with area schools.
The New
England Regional Monitoring Collaborative (NERMC) was
formed by the New England Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring programs and coordinates
the delivery of training and related services regionally. In
2005, NERMC brought together federal, state, and volunteer water
quality monitoring partners at the New England Monitoring Summit to develop a
sustainable support system for volunteer monitoring. Following the summit, a final
report 
outlined
recommendations to ensure adequate resources and technical support to sustain
and expand volunteer water quality monitoring efforts in New England.
The Maine Shore
Stewards at
UMaine is coordinates the Maine
Coastal Swim Beach Program. The
program will be conducting a side by side study of two methods – Enterolert
method by Idexx in volunteer labs vs. membrane filtration with 24 hour incubation
in certified labs - to analyze Enterococci bacteria. For more information, contact Esperanza
Stancioff.
Related Water Quality Information in Maine
Digital Atlases
Maine Office of GIS
USEPA's EnviroMapper for Maine
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and 303(d) Programs
ME DEP: Biomonitoring and Assessment
Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP)
ME
Public Drinking Water Source Water Assessment Program
Service
Connection Update: Community Surface Water Systems
Storm Water Phase II Program
USEPA's Storm Water Regulations for New England
MDOT Environmental Office Surface Water Resources
Stormwater Program Homepage
NPDES Phase II Stormwater Program Designation Maps
Agricultural Nutrient and Pest Management