Union River Watershed Summit: Looking Backward / Looking Forward

Friday, May 16, 4:00 - 6:30 PM (Zoom)

Saturday, May 17, 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM (in person)

Moore Community Center (125 State Street) & On the river

On May 16 and 17, Green Ellsworth will host its annual Union River Watershed Summit and celebration of all things relating to the river. The theme for this year’s Summit is "Looking Backward/Looking Forward." Activities and programming will enable participants to examine the historical and changing character of the river prior to the building of the Union River Dam in 1907 and reflect on the opportunities and options for the future of the river and the city of Ellsworth. 

Activities will include a May 17 (noon) tour of the Union River Dam, its historic powerhouse and fish lift (in operation—courtesy of Black Bear Hydro Partners, a subsidiary of Brookfield Renewable). This will be combined with a free brown bag lunch along the river. Other features include a 20-foot outdoor display at the Moore Community Centre (125 State Street, Ellsworth) featuring a giant brook trout created by local artist Joey Rizzo. There will also be displays by Green Ellsworth’s partner organizations as well as an indoor exhibition of Rizzo’s artwork.

Informational sessions and public forums will begin on May 16 (4:00 PM) with a Zoom session looking back at the pre-1907 history of the river in Ellsworth presented by Dwayne Shaw, Executive Director of the Downeast Salmon Federation and members of the Ellsworth Historical Society. Register for the Zoom here. 

For a full schedule and more information on the May 17 in-person sessions (Moore Community Center beginning at 9:30 AM), click here. 

Maine Arbor Week Events:

Tree Steward Workshops

• Sunday, May 18, 1:00 PM

• Saturday, May 24, 10:00 AM

Tree Planting

• Tuesday, May 20, 9:00 AM

Jordan Homestead Preserve (169 Bayside Road)

To mark Maine Arbor Week (May 18-24), community members are invited to participate in Tree Steward workshops at the nursery focused on mulching and staking trees at 1:00PM on Sunday, May 18 and 10:00AM on Saturday, May 24. Smaller and less costly trees are being planted at the Nursery to be acclimated to local soil and climate conditions before being planted in the community for better success along local city streets, in our parks, and other green spaces. To allow for weather-related shifts in schedule, participants are encouraged to register in advance for the tree care workshops at blackstm@uregina.ca or by calling 667-8878. 

Join Green Ellsworth, the Arbor Commission, the Ellsworth Garden Club, and Frenchman Bay Conservancy members to plant another batch of 80+ trees at the Community Tree Nursery at Jordan Homestead Preserve. Volunteers from these organizations will join with Second Grade teachers and students from the Ellsworth Elementary Middle School and employees of our Green Star non-profit Jackson Lab to plant the trees on Tuesday, May 20 (rain date May 22).

For more information on the events, click here.

Green Ellsworth and Partner Orgs Celebrated Earth Day and Arbor Day 2024!

April 20:  Card Brook Clean-Up hosted by the City of Ellsworth. 

April 20 - April 27:  Roadside Clean-Up Week hosted by the City of Ellsworth. 

April 26, Arbor Day:  Mark McCollough, President of the Maine Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation (TACF-ME) introduced a screening of the Foundation’s award-winning film "Clear Day Thunder." Chestnut seedlings were sold and Mark answered questions about the Foundation's program. In May, the Foundation provided a second batch of chestnut seedlings, which were planted in the Community Tree Nursery. 

April 29: Green Ellsworth partnered with the Ellsworth Historical Society and the Ellsworth Public Library to present a program on "Landscape of Change." Raney Bench, Executive Director of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society, provided an illustrated talk on this ongoing project, which operates at the intersection of history, science, and the imagination. 

A collaboration beginning in 2020 and involving the Schoodic Institute, MDI Biological Laboratory, College of the Atlantic, A Climate to Thrive, and Acadia National Park, the project uses records in the Society’s collection—particularly the Champlain Society's observations (1880-1890)—to support scientific research about climate change and establish a common understanding of how climate change is impacting MDI ecosystems and infrastructure. 

Click here to see more about the Landscape of Change program.

May 19 and 25: Community Tree Nursery Tree Planting of 80+ trees at the Jordan Homestead Preserve. The Arbor Commission, the Ellsworth Garden Club, Frenchman Bay Conservancy, and Green Ellsworth joined with Second Grade teachers and students from the Ellsworth Elementary Middle School to plant some of the trees. 

Connecting With Our Union River

April 7th - 8th, 2023 Moore Community Center

Historically the Union River has been an important salmon river, and it continues to attract sea run fish such as alewives which have been critical to thriving fresh and salt water ecosystems.  Overall, the watershed provides habitat for a wide range of aquatic and terrestrial species, and the Upper Union, in particular, has been designated as providing habitats of “statewide ecological significance.” Trout Unlimited has identified it as having the best potential in the state for helping cold water fish such as trout and salmon survive the warming effects of climate change.

Focus at the summit was on the full stretch of the river from its headwaters to Union River Bay including its lakes and tributaries. Presentations and follow up discussions addressed water quality, fish stocks, connectivity, access, land conservation, the history of the river as a window into its future as a heritage corridor, and actions for securing a healthy future for this regional water resource. 

Featured speakers included Wendy Garland, Environmental Specialist with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection; David Lamon, Fields Pond Manager, Maine Audubon; Bill Fogle, local historian and videographer; Aaron Dority, Executive Director, Frenchman Bay Conservancy; Brett Ciccotelli, fisherman, Maine Guide and river rat; and Mark Whiting, Chair, Board of Supervisors, Hancock County Soil & Water Conservation District.

The summit also included displays by state and local organizations including interactive displays such as Maine Audubon’s stream table; a story map of Union River access points created by Green Ellsworth and Frenchman Bay Conservancy summer intern, Zoe Toribio; and the Ellsworth Historical Society’s oral history corner where people could add their memories and stories relating to the watershed to those already collected.

The full schedule of events is available here.

Tree Pruning Workshop

March 25, 2023

Community Tree Nursery, Jordan Homestead Preserve

The Ellsworth Garden Club and Frenchman Bay Conservancy hosted a tree pruning workshop at the Community Tree Nursery at Jordan Homestead Preserve. The workshop was led by licensed arborist and Green Ellsworth urban forestry lead, Tabatha White. Participants learned pruning techniques they can apply to their own trees and to our city’s urban forest as Green Ellsworth Tree Stewards. 

Future of the Union River Forum

May 3, 2022, Moore Community Center and Online

Green Ellsworth’s Union River Action Team will be hosting a public forum focused on the Future of the Union River. With a recent study determining that the pristine waters of the Upper Union River may offer brook trout the best chance in the state of Maine for resiliency against the effects of climate change, the importance and potential of this river have become clearer than ever. However, the recent discovery of invasive milfoil in Hancock County has revealed that potential threats to the watershed are now on its doorstep. Recently, American Rivers has listed the Union among the 13 most endangered rivers in the United States.

This forum will include brief presentations on the current state of the river and developments that could affect its future, but the primary focus of the evening will be on breakout groups where participants can provide input on their vision for the future of the river in several key areas such as the native fishery, recreational opportunities, water quality, Ellsworth’s waterfront, sustainable economic development in the watershed, preserving access to the river, and profiling the history of the river. Forum participants as well as others in the community will also be able to complete a survey to provide additional input, all of which will help to frame and direct the Union River Watershed plan that the team is developing.

Presenters and resource people for the breakout groups include:

• Mark Whiting, Chair, Hancock County Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors

• Elena Piekut, City Planner, City of Ellsworth

• Cara Romano, Executive Director, Heart of Ellsworth

• Aaron Dority, Executive Director, Frenchman Bay Conservancy

• Nate Hanson, owner of Pinniped Kayak

• Carolyn Ackerman and Catherine Fox, Ellsworth Historic Preservation Commission

• Dwayne Shaw, Executive Director and Brett Ciccotelli, Restoration and Engagement Manager, Downeast Salmon Federation

This will be a hybrid event taking place live at the Moore Community Center (125 State Street, Ellsworth) and on zoom. Residents, property owners and other stakeholders in the Union River Watershed are encouraged to attend and all live or virtual participants are asked to register here. For more information email Mary Blackstone, Green Ellsworth Community Liaison.

Sea Level Rise in Ellsworth

November 16, 2021, online -- watch the event here!

What impacts will the effects of sea level rise have on Ellsworth, including its shoreline habitat, residential property and downtown businesses? How can we mitigate these effects and adapt to our changing waterfront? Answers to these and other questions were discussed at a recent event hosted by Green Ellsworth in partnership with the Island Institute. This forum begins the conversation around these questions and kicks off a series of forums regarding future management of the Union River and its shorefront in Ellsworth. Read the full press release here. 

Featured panelists included:

• Peter Slovinsky, Marine Geologist, Maine Geological Survey (see presentation)

• Jeremy Gabrielson, Conservation Planner, Maine Coast Heritage Trust (see presentation)

• Tora Johnson, Associate Professor and GIS Director, University of Maine at Machias (see presentation)

Union River Watershed Summit: Possibilities and Potential

Friday, May 17, 4 PM (zoom)

Saturday, May 18, 9:30 AM (in person)

Moore Community Center (125 State Street)

Green Ellsworth’s Union River Watershed Action Team will host the Union River Watershed Summit — Possibilities and Potential. On Friday, keynote speaker Joe Zydlewski of the University of Maine will cite specific examples from other watersheds to address options and possibilities related to aging dams impacting fish passage and water quality (register for Zoom here). A panel of respondents will include Mark Whiting, President of the Board, Hancock County Soil and Water Conservation District; John Banks, retired Director of the Department of Natural Resources for the Penobscot Nation; and Dwayne Shaw, Executive Director, Downeast Salmon Federation, will respond to the keynote. 

On Saturday, the Summit will include displays, further speakers, interactive sessions, a free lunch, the premier screening of a video on Mariaville Falls, and a concluding bird and fish tour along the Riverwalk in celebration of Maine Alewife Day.

The Summit's overall focus will be on projecting forward to the possibilities for the Union River watershed and next steps to realizing its full potential as an integrated ecosystem, recreational resource, and Heritage Corridor. Participants will come away with a sense of how they can benefit from and contribute to a sustainable future for the watershed. For the full summit schedule, more information and a registration link, click here.