On August 17, 2006 Northeast Native American Liaison D.J. Monette visited Maine to meet with many of the local Native American Tribes, including the Aroostook Band of Micmacs in northern Maine. Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge has been working with the Micmacs on a number of projects including a contaminant study that involves refuge and Micmac property adjacent to the refuge. One stop for D.J included meeting with Aroostook manager Bill Kolodnicki, biologist Dawn Washington and Tribal environmental coordinator Fred Corey. Fred educated D.J. and refuge staff on an ongoing project taking place on tribal and refuge land that was funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Tribal Wildlife Grants Program. The project site is located along the East Branch of Greenlaw Brook, which separates refuge and tribal land. Thousands of brown ash (Fraxinus nigra, commonly known as black ash) trees have been planted on both sides of the stream. The tree is of special cultural significance to the Micmac. It is used in the ancient traditional practice of constructing hand-woven baskets.