# Presentation: 247771

## Gulf of Maine Rivers Ecoteam2005 Review

**Notes:**
Purposes of this presentation are to:
 Review where we’ve been, what we’ve done as the GOM Rivers Ecoteam.
What’s worked? 
What hasn’t worked?
What’s our real purpose?

Use presentation as a springboard for discussion: 
Is it worth continuing the Ecoteam? 
Does the idea still makes sense?
Where do we go from here?

## Gulf of Maine Watershed

- 69,115 sq. mi. land
- 100% ME
- 70% NH
- 41% MA
- 56% New Brunswick
- 36% Nova Scotia
- 0.45% Quebec

**Maine**

**NH**

**MA**

**Notes:**
Very brief orientation to GOM watershed to set the stage – obviously, Project Leaders know this stuff:
Gulf of Maine watershed land area covers 69,115 square miles.
3 states (100% ME, 70% NH, 41% MA) and 3 provinces (56% New Brunswick, 36% Nova Scotia, 0.45% Quebec)
Gulf of Maine is a semi-enclosed sea bounded to the south and east by underwater banks that form a barrier to the open North Atlantic Ocean.  Darker areas of blue on the map are the deepest sections of the ocean, and the lighter blues indicate the shallower waters, including the offshore banks. 
Surface water circles the Gulf of Maine in a counter-clockwise gyre in 3 months – driven by the cold current off Nova Scotia which enters the Gulf of Maine over Browns Bank and through the NE Channel, fed by the world’s most powerful tidal surges in the Bay of Fundy, and from the freshwater that flows into the Gulf from the major watersheds – including the St. John, St. Croix, Penobscot, Kennebec, Androscoggin and Merrimack Rivers
Deep, cold oxygen-laden waters hit the banks and rise upward, mixing with sunlight to create a soup of microscopic plant and animal life that in turn, feed the Gulf’s high biological productivity. 
Salt marshes, intertidal mudflats, sandy beaches, rocky intertidal and nearshore subtidal zones, coastal nesting islands, rivers, mountains, forests and wetlands all play vital roles in sustaining the natural environment in the Gulf of Maine. 

## Gulf of Maine Rivers Ecoteam

- 9 NWRs
- 7 Fisheries offices
- 2 LE offices
- 3 ES offices, including a
- Coastal Program office

- Leader: Tom King, Craig Brook NFH
- Alternate: Paul Casey, Lake Umbagog NWR

**Notes:**
Established in 1994
Project Leaders meet twice each year 
Provide brief orientation to the GOM Rivers Ecoteam – its members and its management

## Our mission...Work with each other and partners to...

- Assess, protect and restore priority habitat for trust species
- Manage and build fish and wildlife populations
- Manage Service lands
- Enforce fish and wildlife
- 	laws

## Our initial task: Establish Ecoteam priorities

- Geographic focus
- Inland landscape-scale river basins
- Coastal habitats
- Service lands/biodiversity
- Species focus
- T & E species
- Migratory birds
- Diadromous fish
- Atlantic salmon in 8 listed rivers + St. John, St. Croix, Penobscot, Saco, Union,Kennebec, Merrimack

**Notes:**
Early Ecoteam task was to develop a Plan, identifying the top FWS resource priority issues in the GOM watershed.
These, in somewhat consolidated form, are the priorities that what we agreed are important to all of us.
The concept in setting priorities was linked to our interest in:
	-- doing “more with less”
	-- focusing our collective attention to issues where we could do the most good. 

## How we work together

- Communicate/coordinate/support
- Seek “natural opportunities” to
- 	work together
- “Work smarter”
- Share and leverage funds
- Share skills
- Identify priorities
- Support each others’ budget needs
- Send clear and united messages to Regional Directorate
- Minimize potential for “mixed messages”
- Encourage field office staffs to work together
- Avoid redundancy/increase efficiency

**Notes:**
Hard to overstate the importance of the Ecoteam as a forum for networking in our decentralized agency, with its separate field office structure, distinct programs and specific skillsets segregated in multiple offices. Field office structure surely provides great benefits to partners and is undoubtedly worth maintaining as a way of being responsive and involved with our partners and knowing the issues, but field office structure also increases our need for pro-active work to build and maintain supportive, collaborative relationships within the Service.

Without concerted energy input, there’s plenty of history to suggest that our ability to work as a team can quickly degenerate into unproductive and destructive “bowling shirt” mentality, replete with all its inefficiencies, confusions and lack of coordination that can lead to less successes. Teamwork may occasionally stumble into happening without pro-active effort, but 1) it would be unusual, based on the “luck of the draw,” and a random mix of matching personality types – not something we can depend on. Institutionalizing teamwork requires pro-active effort, and the Ecoteam approach has been an attempt to do that.

A few speaking point notes:  
1) Budgets can be supported at the Regional and Congressional level
2) Recent examples of sending messages to the Regional Directorate include the need for contaminants biologists and the need for fish passage engineers.
3) Examples of coordinating etc. include: 
sharing skillsets/technical support between field offices, 
 brainstorming to develop effective strategies to accomplish goals,
 coordinating on permitting requirements for restoration activities, 
 ensuring that we have a consistent message with external partners. 

Bottom line – Because of Ecoteam meetings, Project Leaders in the GOM Rivers Ecoteam know each other personally, quickly dispel any misunderstandings, and work better together. We learn from each other, help each other accomplish our goals,  help establish a positive attitude in our own field office towards other offices, and encourage inter-office communication and coordination amongst our staffs.

## What have we done?

- Directed flex funding to high priority projects
- Coordinate on multiple projects within a landscape-scale sub-watershed
- Coordinate on species-specific or habitat-specific individual projects

**Notes:**
Too many activities to describe in anything but a few examples during this brief presentation – The Ecoteam has supported multiple high priority projects benefiting trust resources throughout the watershed – sometimes with funding support from the Flex Funds, but oftentimes with important contributions that are borne out of Ecoteam communications and coordination:

To review Ecoteam accomplishments, we’ll first mention some of the projects we have supported financially with flex funding. For reasons that will soon be apparent, we will direct more attention in this presentation on multi-office collaborative efforts that may not have involved funding, but did involve coordination, sharing of skillsets and complementary efforts that involved multiple field offices. 
First, we’ll overview one landscape-scale, sub-watershed initiative in the Kennebec, in which multiple Service offices took the lead on individual initiatives within the region. 
Then, we’ll discuss four other examples of species, species-group or habitat-specific initiatives (often individual but still complex initiatives) where multiple field offices played an important role. 

## Flex-funding projects

- Salt marsh restoration
- Piping plover conservation
- GOMCP Gulf-wide habitat modeling
- Breeding bird habitat restoration
- Merrimack shad and alewife restoration
- Maine fish passage improvements
- Acid rain assessment for juvenile salmon
- Moosehorn NWR land acquisition
- Canada lynx tracking studies
- Red-bellied cooter rehabilitation

**Notes:**
In hindsight, the roster of flex funding projects supported may look impressive, and undoubtedly the funds have always been helpful and sometimes absolutely vital, for completing important projects. However, asking Project Leaders to make funding decisions – when funding was extremely limited and could only support a few of many legitimate projects – created at atmosphere of competition, dissension, infighting, turf battles, etc. that were counter-productive to our Ecoteam’s priority goal of working together, building trust, and building relationships to help us better accomplish our work.  Therefore, I might suggest that in the future, flex funding allocations may not be an appropriate role for the Ecoteam, and instead, may be better suited through a different organizational structure unrelated to the Ecoteam. 

Once we have a clear articulated and broadly accepted understanding of our role and purpose as an Ecoteam, we will be in better position to determine appropriate roles for the Ecoteam that keep us on track. 

## How Ecoteam coordination has helped in the Kennebec/Androscoggin R.

- Dam removals
- Diadromous fish passage
- Seabird island restoration
- Invasive plants inventory
- Atlantic salmon habitat assessments
- Habitat protection in estuary
- Habitat protection in headwaters

**Notes:**
In the Kennebec/Androscoggin River watersheds, we can illustrate how we have combined the talents and expertise of various Service field offices -- Fisheries, ES, Coastal Program and NWRs -- under the umbrella of the GOM Ecoteam -- to communicate, coordinate and collaborate with each other and with many partners – to conduct a diverse array of habitat protection and restoration activities that all contribute to a healthier watershed for trust resources. 
 Edwards Dam removal – Maine FO as lead
 Upstream fish passage projects on the Sebasticook, as identified in the KHDG Plan – GOMCP as lead
 Center Pond fishway – GOMCP as lead
 Pond Island seabird nesting island restoration – Petit Manan NWR as lead
Invasive plants inventory  -- GOMCP as lead
 Atlantic salmon habitat assessments – Fisheries , GOMCP as lead
 Habitat protection (fee and easement acquisition) in Lower Kennebec and Merrymeeting Bay – GOMCP as lead
Headwaters land protection in Umbagog NWR – NWR and Realty as lead

## Edwards Dam removal - 1999

**Notes:**
This project barely needs introduction – received national media attention.
Precedent-setting landscape-scale restoration initiative in which FERC required that the dam be removed because negative environmental impacts outweighed its economic values. 

Removal of dam re-established 17 miles of free-flowing Kennebec upstream to Winslow and Waterville, restoring exceptional spawning, rearing and migratory habitat for many diadromous fish, bringing back a host of predatory birds (osprey and eagles) as well as fishermen and other outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy the bounty of the restored river. 

MEFO played lead role in the complex FERC negotiations leading to Edwards Dam removal.

## Upstream fish passage projects on the Sebasticook

- Plymouth Pond fishways

- Pleasant Pond fishway

- Archers Mill Dam (removed)

- Sebasticook Lake fishway

- Guilford Dam (removed)

- alewives

- elvers

- Doug Watts

- Doug Watts

**Notes:**
A lesser known success story relating to the Edwards Dam removal was the forging of the KHDG Agreement, which established a timeline for upstream passage requirements in the Sebasticook drainage (a 946 sq. mi.watershed and  the largest tributary of the Kennebec).  MEFO took USFWS lead in forging the KHDG Agreement, which required passage at multiple upstream non-hydro facilities to trigger passage requirements at the three mainstem Sebasticook hydro dams. GOMCP followed through in achieving goals of the KHDG Agreement by working with multiple partners to install fish passage at the non-hydro facilities for alewife, blueback herring, American eel and American shad. 
Once terms of KHDG agreement are met (including passage at the mainstem hydro dams at Fort Halifax, Burnham and Benton Falls), we will have restored an additional 28 river-miles restored to support:
Alewives
   19,000 acres
   4.5 million adults
American shad
  1,400 acres
  155,000 adults
Total cost for the five upstream non-hydro fish passage projects totaled approximately $1 million. GOMCP provided approximately $100K, primarily through NFWF Maine Habitat Restoration Partnership Grant administered by GOMCP. GOMCP also provided coordination and technical services that led to project implementation.

## $3.7 million federal (NAWCA, CWG, NFWF)
$5.6 million non-federal
6,300 acres

**Lower Kennebec Estuary Land Protection**

- $3.7 million federal (NAWCA, CWG, NFWF)
- $5.6 million non-federal
- 6,300 acres

- 1992 - present

**Notes:**
Since 1992, the Maine Wetlands Protection Coalition (including the USFWS Gulf of ME Coastal Program, MDIFW, The Nature Conservancy, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Land for Maine’s Future Program, Ducks Unlimited, Inc. and local land trusts) has worked in partnership to protect high value habitat in this Focus Area of the North American Waterfowl Mgt. Plan.  Region includes mudflats, wetlands and upland buffer -- salt marshes in the Lower Kennebec and freshwater tidal marshes in Merrymeeting Bay. The region offers important feeding and resting habitat for thousands of migratory waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds and other waterbirds.  The region also provides habitat for rare, T/E species, including nesting osprey and eagles, short-nosed sturgeon, piping plover, and least and roseate terns. The region is close the the state’s largest population centers and is receiving increasing development pressures.

A GOMCP habitat analysis identified 27,000 acres of high value waterfowl wetlands, upland buffer zones and T/E spp. habitat. Together, the Coalition has successfully applied for and implemented four Large NAWCA grants, three National Coastal Wetland Grants, a NFWF grant and a Land for Maine’s Future grant – leading to-date to the permanent protection of an additional 6,300 acres of high value wetlands and assoc. upland buffer.  All lands protected through these grants will be permanently protected in fee or easement by MDIFW, TNC, MCHT or local land trusts. 

With Edwards Dam removal upstream leading to enhanced fish passage, increased bird use and improved water quality, the land protection work downstream complements that effort by providing permanently protected habitat for fish and other wildlife to utilize. 

## Invasive species inventory

- Purple loosestrife

- Phragmites

**Notes:**
Given the considerable attention ME Wetlands Coalition has directed to land acquisition in the Lower Kennebec Estuary, Gulf of ME Coastal Program has conducted an annual baseline survey by boat since 2000 to identify the extent of Phragmites and purple loosestrife from the mouth of the Back River northward to the northern tip of Swan Island. TNC staff and volunteers have followed up with detailed ground surveys in areas that GOMCP boat survey identified as areas of concern.  Intent is to implement invasive species control program on lands currently permanently protected by Coalition partners that are now in state or land trust ownership. 

## Pond Island seabird restoration

- Common tern

- Roseate tern

**Notes:**
Pond Island, located at the mouth of the Kennebec River, was once a thriving seabird colony. However, like so many other islands in coastal Maine, herring and black-backed gulls took over much of the nesting habitat. Consequently, the roseate and common terns that once nested on Pond Island disappeared. 
In the mid-1990s, Petit Manan NWR and National Audubon Society initiated an effort to restore avian diversity to this historically important nesting island. Two biologists work on the island through the nesting season, discouraging nesting gulls and other predators (great horned owl and great blue heron) and documenting nesting success of other seabirds. (Gulf of Maine Coastal Program has provided a limited amount of support service when requested, by transporting equipment and supplies to the island). Ongoing active management has led to the expansion of the nesting colony from zero in the mid-1990s to 429 pair of common tern and 9 pair of federally endangered roseate terns in 2004. 

## Umbagog NWR land acquisition

- Donna Folsom

- Dennis Dupuis

- Upper Androscoggin watershed
- 16,300 acres
- Wetland and upland habitat for priority trust species

**Notes:**
Located in the headwaters of the Androscoggin watershed, Umbagog NWR now protects more than 16,300 acres through fee and easement acquisition with LWCF and other(?) funds. In addition, the states of New Hampshire and Maine have acquired an additional 1,000 acres and 1,600 acres respectively. Together, nearly all of the Lake Umbagog shoreline in New Hampshire and significant lengths of shoreline along the upperAndroscoggin and Magalloway Rivers have been acquired to protect habitat for many wetland dependent migratory wildlife species of concern including bald eagle, peregrine falcon, waterfowl such as the declining black duck, and many species of federal and state management concern including common loon, northern harrier, woodcock and others. For the common loon and osprey, Umbagog provides some of the best breeding habitat in the region – an important biological link to the Gulf of Maine coastline where loons winter. 

Threats to Refuge include jet skiis, ORVs, increasing motorized boats (up to 200/day on lake) – creating habitat disturbance and invasive species concerns. The uplands surrounding Lake Umbagog and the surrounding rivers are important for interior forest species. They are also magnets for subdivision and second home building. Fragmentation, road building and overdevelopment of important habitats are major concerns at the Refuge. Increased protection of these uplands will help maintain healthy wildlife populations ranging from amphibians and reptiles to birds and mammals that depend on uplands as well as wetlands.

## Piping plovers in southern ME

- On refuge work at Rachel Carson and Parker River NWRs
- Maine Field Office coordination with nearby towns on management plans

**Notes:**
Now, let’s move on from the Kennebec/Androscoggin watershed focus to projects supported by the Ecoteam that focus on species or species groups.
Rachel Carson NWR works on Refuge lands to protect piping plover nesting habitat.
There is also nesting habitat on town beaches near the Refuge, and the MEFO carries out its role in protecting endangered species by working in coordination with nearby towns to develop management plans for piping plover. 
In this arena that can be contentious with local residents and beachgoers, coordination between the Refuge and the Maine Field Office is vital to ensure that standards and messages are consistent. 

## Salt marsh and river restoration

- Gulf of Maine Coastal Program
- Maine Fishery Resources Office
- Maine Field Office

**Notes:**
Three Maine field offices are keenly interested in identifying and implementing high priority fish passage restoration projects statewide. To implement projects effectively, it is very important to tap into the skills, experience and local knowledge of field offices widely scattered in the state. 
GOM Coastal Program can provide experience in fluvial geomorphology, fish passage design considerations from a biological perspective, outreach, permitting and funding with partners.
Maine Fishery Resource Office may provide considerable biological background on the importance of specific projects.
MEFO often knows the particulars – both opportunities and challenges -- of hydro projects in terms of permitting and/or FERC issues. 
Together, we are stronger than the sum of our parts – and we have achieved success by coordinating. 

Similarly, for salt marsh restoration projects, 
GOMCP and Partners Program are actively involved in salt marsh restoration efforts, identifying priority restoration sites, providing technical support, funding, permitting, outreach services, and knowledge of monitoring. 
ME Field Office plays a critical and supportive role in permit review.

## Seabird protection and restoration

- Maine Coastal Nesting Islands NWR staff
- Maine Field Office
- Law Enforcement
- Gulf of Maine Coastal Program

**Notes:**
Similarly, on nesting islands, multiple offices in Maine capitalize on their individual skillsets and strengths to support seabird island restoration and protection. Together, we do more than any of us could do alone. 
Maine Coastal Nesting Islands NWR staff takes the lead in management and restoration of NWR islands
Maine Field Office coordinates on contaminants studies of nesting birds
Law Enforcement investigates violations that threaten seabird nesting success
Gulf of Maine Coastal Program:
developed and maintains a statewide database of nationally significant nesting islands, used by the NWR and partners to identify land protection opportunities.
provides logistical/boat support on southern ME seabird surveys and restoration projects
coordinates with partners, provides support in developing grants that lead to permanent island protection with federal and matching funds.

## Atlantic salmon restoration

**Notes:**
MFRO and GOMP coordinate on GIS habitat/geomorphic assessment work in the Penobscot drainage. 
Maine Fishery Resource Office: 
Serves as USFWS focal point for coordinating with federal and state partners to identify research needs, implement studies, apply results in hatchery operations, and conduct habitat assessments. 
Conducted habitat connectivity assessments to examine fish passage potential at bridges, culverts, non-hydro dams and other road crossings in two major Penobscot tributaries. Chad Baker surveyed 55 sites in the Kenduskeag and 196 sites in the Piscataquis, developed and populated a database that identifies passage problems for use by roadway engineers, resource administrators and fisheries managers. 
Salmon in Schools Program: MFRO, working with ASF, provides eggs for culture by 124 school systems in ME
Craig Brook NFH hosts 40,000 visitors annually at its Visitor Center for demonstrations and presentations about Penobscot River restoration activities and DPS recovery work
Green Lake NFH: Insert facts ‘n figures re: Penobscot stocking 
Craig Brook NFH: Insert facts ‘n figures re: river-specific stocking for the listed rivers 
Gulf of Maine Coastal Program:
Field Coordinator for $2 million NFWF-funded Maine Atlantic Salmon Collaborative grant which provides grants for community-based efforts to protect and restore Atlantic salmon habitat, conduct research directly tied to salmon recovery, etc.
Conducts geomorphic assessments on listed rivers to identify river restoration priorities and to inform restoration designs.
Compiles data and develops mapped information for partners identifying spawning and rearing habitat for salmon in listed rivers. 
Builds capacity of locally-based watershed groups to increase their effectiveness in habitat protection and restoration work
Helped permanently protect a wide riparian corridor along the length of most of the Dennys, Machias and Ducktrap Rivers.
Maine Field Office: 
coordinates toxicological studies on Atlantic salmon
Section 7 consultations
FERC coordination on dam relicensing
Took USFWS lead on Penobscot dam relicensing agreement designed to remove 3 mainstem dams and restore 150 miles of mainstem passage.
Atlantic Salmon Recovery Plan –GOMP and MEFO staff are members of the Atlantic Salmon Recovery Planning team

## Where do we go from here?

- Has the Ecoteam been useful for us?
- Can the Ecoteam be useful in the future?
- Do we have suggestions on how to improve the Ecoteam?
- Things we should do more of?
- Things we should do less of?
- Things we currently do “just right”?
- Other recommendations?

**Notes:**
Wherever we’re working,  we hope the examples in this presentation clearly indicated the value-added of the Ecoteam. The Ecoteam helped us work more effectively on behalf of geographic priority regions, and on behalf of trust species or species groups. 
The Ecoteam provides our geographically dispersed field offices – each with different and fast-paced daily tasks -- a vital tool that enhances our ability to know the business of other field offices in the Region, seek opportunities to support one another – with moral, technical, financial and outreach support – and keep the hope alive that we can build on our commitment to coordinate together to use our considerable but disparate skillsets to accomplish the most we can for fish and wildlife resources in our watershed.  

It’s important to partner externally – but it’s also important to recognize the importance – and the challenges -- of partnering internally. 
Partnering:
Provides opportunity to encourage coordination, leverage our capabilities and knowledge, and solicit understanding and support between field offices
Helps build toward the promise of true landscape-scale conservation by providing Project Leaders a forum for communication
Helps promote field office activities to partners by building appreciation of how individual office activities fit into a larger landscape picture. 

The Ecoteam is primarily a pro-active tool to ensure cross-programmatic coordination and cooperation that leads to better FWS coordination and more on-the-ground success.