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Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District hosts a luncheon with local Legislators in Dover-Foxcroft

The Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) welcomed legislators to a locally grown luncheon on January 25, 2010. Guests at the luncheon were Senator Doug Smith, along with Representatives Paul T. Davis and Doug Thomas These legislators conversed with the PCSWCD Board Members regarding financial cut backs on State funding that will affect Soil and Water Conservation Districts all over the State of Maine. Chairman Steve Hobart made it very clear that the Districts’ survival depends upon state funding. Should that funding cease, the Soil and Water Conservation Districts would disappear, leaving USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service without the local arm for outreach that is needed to stay prominent in the local vicinity. Soil and Water Conservation Districts are the strong link that maintains partnerships between the Government and the local people.

Many Piscataquis farms such as; Moss Flower, Widdershins, Breakneck Ridge, Checkerberry, Goats and Gardens, Gilrock, Blueberry Ridge, Haven, Stutzman’s, and Bob’s Farm and Garden donated their home grown products top the luncheon, helping PCSWCD drive home the fact that Soil and Water Conservation Districts are important to the local farm economy. The Districts are active helping put Government programs on the ground for local farmers and foresters, conducting a variety of workshops for the public, instilling best management skills in municipalities and road workers, putting on natural resource and agricultural summer camps for youth each year, and generally, being the central avenue for increasing revenue on the local level. The conservation districts are finding themselves fighting to stay in existence within the state funding budget.

The next day Board Supervisor Felix Blinn traveled south to Augusta to meet with many other legislators during District Day in the Hall of Flags. Felix headed up discussions on the effects of State funding cut backs and the recent scale of the economy over Maine-made maple muffins and maple sap tea, donated by Blanchard’s Breakneck Ridge Farm. Blinn noted that there was a significant amount of people in the legislative halls and PCSWCD was delighted to have had the opportunity to meet with the Legislators both in Dover-Foxcroft and in Augusta.

Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District’s Board Supervisor Felix Blinn with Representative Paul T. Davis at the Augusta State Office.

Piscataquis County Soil & Water Conservation District, A Leader In Conservation Education

Dover-Foxcroft, Maine–Members of the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) attended a two day event at Hollywood Slots, Bangor, Maine on December 2^nd and 3^rd, 2009. The Maine Association of Conservation District’s (MACD) Winter Meeting supported an atmosphere for Soil and Water Conservation Districts around Maine to gather and share information regarding the health of Maine’s economy, funding sources, Natural Resource Conservation Service programs, Department of Environmental Protection Programs, and plans for Maine’s “green” future.

One informative speaker who presented at the Winter Meeting was Gary Fish. He introduced “YardScaping” as a greener way to care for your yard. PCSWCD currently has plans to host a Yardscaping Workshop on Tuesday, February 23, 2010. You may visit our website, www.piscataquisswcd.org and follow the link to an informative YardScaping site. You will find that the philosophy of planting depicted in their site closely resembles PCSWCD’s ongoing plans for the Williamsburg Demonstration Forest. Creating a new Wildlife Habitat for 2010 is the district’s intent. Creation of a field began in July of 2009 and plans are in place to plant with warm season grasses and fruit bearing shrubs, which should benefit grassland birds, reptiles and many other wildlife species through upland wildlife habitat improvements. In addition to providing a great wildlife habitat, the project will serve to re-establish the old fields which existed on the Larson and Decker homesteads in the early 1900s. Assistance for this project is being provided by a grant awarded through the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) through Natural Resource Conservation Service. We hope to have shrubs and grasses established by June of 2010. Volunteers and Master Gardners looking for volunteer hours are encouraged to give us a call and join in this planting project that will enrich wildlife habitat areas.

An awards luncheon was held on the second meeting day. Well deserved awards were presented to: PCSWCD’s Board Chairman, Stephen Hobart for his 15 years of service; Lazy W. Farm of Industry, Maine for the 2009 Conservation Farm of the Year; and China Regional Lake Alliance for the 2009 Conservation Organization of the Year.

MACD raised $2,878 through their Annual Envirothon Fundraising Auction for the 2010 season. This auction is made possible by contributions from many of the fine folks from Piscataquis County. The Envirothon is a program that meets the criteria of the Maine Learning Results and promotes environmental awareness through hands on learning at the high school level. This program creates a heightened opportunity for these students to go on to the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture, at the University of Maine.

Please contact Shelia or Lynn at PCSWCD (207) 564-2321, with any questions or if you have an interest in becoming a volunteer. Don’t forget to check their website: www.piscataquisswcd.org for upcoming information.

A well deserved award was presented to PCSWCD’s Board Chairman, Stephen Hobart for his 15 years of service, by MACD President, Daniel LaBrie.

Sustainable Hardwood Forest Created in Maine

Williamsburg, Maine - On a clear, sunny weekend in May, volunteers from several local community groups joined together to create a unique hardwood forest in Piscataquis County, Maine. A partnership was formed in the local community between the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD), the Central Maine Chapter of the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine (SWOAM), the Maine Forest Service, Lumbra Hardwoods, Incorporated, the Maine Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation and a teenage program called Lifejackets, through the local Charlotte White social service agency, when the PCSWCD applied for and received grant funds for this special project from the Hardwood Forestry Fund.

The Hardwood Forestry Fund is an educational organization dedicated to establishing sustainable hardwood forests, Since 1990, Hardwood Forestry Fund members have joined together to celebrate and conserve the beauty and sustainability of hardwoods. Through tree planting on public land, the Hardwood Forestry Fund promotes hardwood timber growth, management, environmental education, and wise use of our nation's renewable forest resources. Trees planted by the Hardwood Forestry Fund require a management plan that ensures they will be cared for to provide quality natural resources for future generations. The PCSWCD has developed such a plan that includes for education and demonstration to help teach school children and private landowners how to establish and be good stewards of hardwood forests.

A generous contribution to the project was made by Lumbra Hardwoods, Incorporated, a family owned hardwood lumber manufacturing plant in Milo. This hardwood lumber manufacturing plant was first established in Vermont in 1952 and then moved to Maine in 1960 because of Maine’s quality hardwood log supply. They are a sawmill that does not own forestland, so Lumbra Hardwoods, Inc. has long been dependent upon the health and sustainability of Maine’s forest. Some of the finest hardwoods in North America come from Maine. Hardwoods are often used for furniture and other wood products. Forests also serve to help keep our air and water pure, and are a valuable renewable energy resource.

The Maine Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) also made a generous contribution to the project. TACF was founded in 1983 to restore the American chestnut tree throughout the United States. According to the American Chestnut Society, there was “a group of prominent plant scientists who recognized the severe impact the demise of the American chestnut tree imposed upon the local economy of rural communities, and upon the ecology of forests within the tree’s native range. The American chestnut tree reined over 200 million acres of eastern woodlands from Maine to Florida, and from the Piedmont west to the Ohio Valley, until succumbing to a lethal fungus infestation, known as the chestnut blight, during the first half of the 20th century.” Chestnut trees were a valuable source of timber and food for colonial Americans.

SWOAM was formed over thirty years ago to provide a voice and resource to Maine's small woodland owners. SWOAM strengthens long-term woodland stewardship by improving tree quality and forest health, protecting our waters and wildlife habitats and demonstrating good forest management through their land trust.

The PCSWCD was formed over sixty years ago to protect the soil and water in this region. Its mission is to be a leader in agriculture, forestry and other natural resource education, providing assistance and coordination of resources and information to promote practices that maintain our way of life.

The MFS works to ensure that the trees and forest lands of Maine will continue to provide benefits for present and future generations of Maine people. They will assist with monitoring this forest.

Through the 2008 Woodland Management Workshop Series being offered by the PCSWCD and SWOAM, this project and several other educational programs for the public are being offered to build this region’s sustainable natural resources. The Maine Forest Service has provided valuable assistance to bring this series to our region of Maine.

This forest project includes long term plans to plant 1000 American chestnut trees, 2500 red oak trees and 200 bur oak trees at the PCSWCD Demonstration Forest and Woodlot in Williamsburg, and will be managed through a cooperative effort of the PCSWCD and the MFS. So far, 300 American chestnut trees and 1700 oak trees have been planted. Project goals are to restore the American chestnut and to assist in the development of a very unique hardwood forest, which will create a legacy for future generations!

The Demonstration Forest Receives Two National Awards

The Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District is the recipient of two national awards for our work at the Demonstration Forest in Williamsburg Township. The 2006 National Association of Conservation District’s District Excellence Award for the Forestry category for Education recognizes successful initiatives that the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District has made with the Demonstration Forest to support educational opportunities for the public, while it also serves as a training site for teachers, foresters, and others interested in conservation education, and also the 2006 National Association of Conservation District’s Collaborative Conservation Award given in partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, for their work at the Demonstration Forest. This national award recognizes a conservation district this is carrying out, with their partners, outstanding community and collaborative conservation projects that have a significant positive impact on the community resource base. For more information on these awards and to view pictures from the awards banquet go to the NACD Website National Association of Conservation Districts and visit the Education and Outreach page. You may also view a media press release about our Demonstration Forestt. Access our forest trail map here.

Read ME Agriculture Program for Piscataquis County Students

Students in Piscataquis County will have an opportunity to learn about agriculture through a new program that is being brought to the state by Maine Agriculture in the Classroom (MATCA). MAITCA has received a grant for a project called "Read ME Agriculture” that will take place during Agriculture Week in March. The project involves volunteers that will read books about agriculture to grades K - 3 in schools across Maine. They will then talk to the students about their own farms, gardens or products and try to answer student questions. Each volunteer will donate a book, several lessons and additional resources to the classroom visited. According to Willie Sawyer Grenier, MAITCA Executive Director, "To have the harvest, we must sow the seed." MAITCA hopes this effort to link reading literacy and agriculture will grow each year. Maine's First Lady, Karen Baldacci will start the program off on Monday, March 17th. Tuesday the 18th is "Ag Day" at the Maine Legislature and then volunteers will read to classrooms on Wednesday - Friday, March 19th - 21st. In Piscataquis County this project is being brought to you through a collaboration between MAITCA, the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Valley Grange, the Moosehead Region Literacy Volunteers, schools in SAD #4, SAD #68, Greenville and Shirley as well as the Guilford Memorial Library and the Thompson Free Library in Dover - Foxcroft. These local libraries will have agriculture displays and books for all ages, and invite Piscataquis County families to stop in during Agriculture Week to learn more about farming traditions. Both libraries are open Tuesday - Saturday, weather permitting. For more information about their hours please contact the Guilford Memorial Library at 876 - 4547, or the Thompson Free Library at 564 - 3350.

MAITCA is a grassroots program coordinated by the United States Department of Agriculture. Their goal is to help students gain a greater awareness of the role of agriculture in the economy and society so that they will become citizens who support wise agricultural policies. Agriculture in the Classroom is carried out in each state according to state needs and interests, by individuals representing farm organizations, agribusiness, education, and government. MAITCA was established in 1987 as an independent, non-profit organization with the participation of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Department of Education and Maine Farm Bureau. The PCSWCD is a leader in agriculture, forestry and other natural resource education, providing assistance and coordination of resources and information to promote practices that maintain our way of life. The Valley Grange members have been volunteering twice weekly to serve as “Grange bookworms” by visiting the local schools and having children read to them. The Moosehead Region Literacy Volunteers Program is dedicated to providing increased access to literacy services for Maine adults who wish to acquire or improve their literacy skills. One way they do this is by collaborating with other organizations to develop integrated literacy services throughout the state, and by educating policy makers and the general public to increase awareness of literacy issues. Other groups partnering on this project around the state include the Maine Potato Board, the Dairy Nutrition Council, Phonological Society, Maine Wild Blueberry Commission, and agricultural producers. For more information about this exciting program for Piscataquis County students, or to find out more about organizations working to increase literacy in this region, please contact the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District at 564 - 2321 Extension 3, the Moosehead Region Literacy Volunteers program at 695 - 3961, the Valley Grange at 564 - 0820 or 876 - 4131, or the Guilford Memorial or Thompson Free Library.

Conservation District Presents 2008 Conservation Awards

Each year the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) recognizes a landowner who has implemented conservation practices on their land and a teacher who has been outstanding in working with students to educate them about our natural resources. This year’s award winners are the Blueberry Ridge Farm in Sebec, owned by Lester and Olive Buck, as Piscataquis County’s 2008 Outstanding Cooperator of the Year, and Mrs. Judy Chase Thompson of SAD #41’s Brownville Elementary School as Piscataquis County’s 2008 Outstanding Conservation Education Teacher of the Year.

Mrs. Judy Chase Thompson has been a science teacher for about twenty five years, and has always worked to help children become good stewards of their environment. While working at the middle school she worked to create the “Schoodic Lake” experience for her students, testing water and fish, and learning how to protect this lake in our area. It was a wonderful experience for several years.

Upon coming to Brownville Elementary School, Judy took teacher training so her students could attend the Challenger Center in Bangor. This year she was involved with the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), and took her class to the Little Lyford Pond for two days, where she and the students hiked the area and participated in education programs. She’s also been working with the AMC to come to the school and help with the school’s nature trail in the spring.

This year she also (during an ocean unit) brought crayfish to the classroom for the children to study. In the spring the class went to Bar Harbor to “Dive in Theater” and Thompson Island to explore tide pools. Mrs. Thompson is an excellent science teacher and conservationist. She works very hard to help her students learn more about the area in which they live.

Blueberry Ridge Farm began in 1970 when Olive and Lester moved to Sebec from the dairy farm they had in East Dover. They started harvesting blueberries in 1971 on 25 acres. They have since cleared an additional 25 acres. Their family has always pitched in and helped out on the farm, including their daughters and husbands, Nancy and Lou Sidell and Lorraine and James Caitlin, as well as their grandchildren Janelle, Tania, Janie and Barry.

Over the years Lester and Olive have attended many meetings and trainings to learn more about raising blueberries, based on the latest research. They have participated in the Blueberry Integrated Crop Management Program through the PCSWCD since 2006, and are also in the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program to assist with rock removal. They have managed their woodlots on their 180 acres, and have one of the most beautiful woodlots around - with some very old pine trees and even a cedar that has been dated as approximately 400 years old! At one time they kept their own bees to pollinate the blueberry fields, but they now rent the hives.

Lester and Olive have been very active in local community organizations as well, since they were married in 1945. Lester was born in Atkinson and has worked in mills throughout our county. Lester was awarded as the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Farmer of the Year in 1982. Olive was born in Milo and has worked at Dexter Shoe and Hibbard Nursing Home. She has been active in 4 – H, and has served as a leader in the local club, as well as serving as a leader in the Piscataquis County Junior Leaders Club. She was a past president of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Board, and an associate supervisor of the PCSWCD Board. She also served for several years on the Farmer’s Home Association Board, and was a selectman in Sebec.

Lester and Olive will be honored during the conservation district’s Annual Tour and Luncheon on Friday, August 15^th from 9:00AM to 1:30PM at their Blueberry Ridge Farm in Sebec. Their conservation practices will be highlighted on a tour that will be led by Olive, David Power of the NRCS and Cory Todd, ICM Blueberry Technician of the PCSWCD, who has been monitoring their fields this summer. This will be followed by a picnic luncheon and awards ceremony. The picnic luncheon will include specialties of the farm such as homemade blueberry muffins, blueberry cheesecake and ice cream topped with fresh blueberries. The cost for this will be $6.00. The public is invited to attend this Annual Tour and Luncheon to learn more about conservation practices they have implemented to help grow and sustain their blueberry fields, and to lend a hand to applaud Lester and Olive as the 2008 Cooperators of the Year. Please confirm your attendance by August 12^th, by stopping by the district office at 42 Pine Crest Drive, Dover – Foxcroft, calling 564 – 2321, extension 3 or e-mailing info@piscataquisswcd.org.

Olive and Lester Buck of Blueberry Ridge Farm in Sebec are the 2008 Outstanding Cooperators of the Year.

A tour of their farm will be held on Friday, August 15^th.

Award Winning Project Learning Tree Teacher Workshop will be Held on October 10th

The Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District will be offering a Project Learning Tree (PLT) Teacher Workshop on Friday, October 10th. PLT is an award winning, multi-disciplinary, international environmental education program for educators and students in grades preK-12. A program of the American Forest Foundation, it is one of the most widely used environmental education programs in the United States, operating in all fifty states. PLT continues to set the standard for environmental education excellence.

It uses the forest as a “window on the world” to increase students’ understanding of our complex environment. PLT not only teaches about trees, but has informative lessons about land, air and water. These lessons help to instill the confidence and commitment to take responsible action on behalf of the environment. Workshop participants will learn about new sources of information and identify resources for them. PLT activities are hands - on, appropriate for indoor and outdoor learning, and are designed for formal and non-formal educators. PLT has an interdisciplinary approach, integrating important environmental lessons into the sciences, mathematics, art, social studies, music and English.

This training will provide in two parts: a classroom session followed by a field session at the PCSWCD Demonstration Forest that is located in Williamsburg Plantation. Our interpretive trails wind through 180 acres of old farm sites on the property, a “canyon” created by glacial and stream action, and headwater wetlands, which feed the Pleasant River. There is a great diversity of flora and fauna. The Timber and Watershed Management Plan for our forest encompasses practices that benefit tree growth, enhance wildlife habitat, protect soils and water, and promote public education. There is an outdoor classroom, an information kiosk, a geocache site, and picnic tables. Interpretive signposts guide and teach visitors throughout their forest journey. Brochures are available to explain the significance of each posted location along the trails. As it has evolved, it has provided a place where students and the public can learn.

Our goal is to bring the forest into the classrooms and the classrooms into the forest. For more information about this award winning training for teachers please visit the Project Learning Tree website at www.plt.org or contact the PCSWCD. Complete the registration form on the back page of this newsletter and submit to the PCSWCD by Wednesday, October 1st. We hope you will join us!

Local High Schools Participate in the Demonstration Forest Community Development Project

Teachers and students from the Tri County Technical Center (TCTC), Greenville High School (GHS) and Foxcroft Academy (FA) have been hard at work this past year, participating in the Demonstration Forest Community Development Project. Art Departments from GHS and FA, under the direction of their teachers, Debi Baker and Jane Blay, have designed and painted natural resource signs for the many sites out at the forest. These signs include information on tree species and forest management, native wildlife, and other significant natural features. Karen Walsh, Teacher of the Graphic Design and Communications Department of the TCTC, led her students on designing cultural heritage signs using photographs provided by several local historical societies and by the Larson family, who were early settlers of the forest land. The cultural heritage signs included the digital layering of these photos with interpretive text, framed in a distinct border developed by students. Then all of the signs were turned over to the TCTC Building Trades Department and the FA Technical Department, teachers John Guay and Jack McLeod, and their students, for finalizing.

Once the signs are installed, forest visitors will be able to take a self – guided tour of the cultural heritage and natural resource sites that are at the forest, as well as view new brochures made by TCTC student Kelsie Bird. The signs will also be featured at the forest Open House in September. The Demonstration Forest Community Development Project was funded by a grant from Project Canopy. Project Canopy delivers the community forestry program in Maine for the Maine Forest Service, the USDA Forest Service and the Pine Tree State Arboretum. It has a vision that every community will actively and wisely manage its forestry resources in a sustainable manner, and that all Maine citizens become well informed as to the proper management of these resources and the benefits derived from them. Through this project the forest will continue to grow as an educational, recreational and economic asset for this community. The forest and its programs are unique in Piscataquis County, and provide students and other visitors with a sense of the rich forestry heritage of this region. The forest has been identified as one of this region’s top nature based tourism sites, and is available for educational field trips and tours. For more information, please contact the PCSWCD at 564 – 2321, Extension 3, info@piscataquisswcd.org, or www.piscataquisswcd.org.

Left: Greenville High School students are painting a sign for the Mountain Overlook at the forest, which shows the distant views of Ebeemee, Saddleback and Jo Mary Mountains.

Right: Teachers and students from the Tri County Technical Center’s Graphic Design and Communications Department and the Building Trades Department tour the forest to learn more about developing site specific interpretive signage. They developed the cultural heritage signs for the forest.

Bottom: Students from Foxcroft Academy’s Art Department show the new interpretive signs that they painted, which highlight the forest’s natural resources.

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