Gulf of Maine Rivers Ecoteam 2005 Review Gulf

Gulf of Maine Rivers Ecoteam 2005 Review

Gulf of Maine Watershed 69, 115 sq. mi. land Maine NH MA 100% ME 70% NH 41% MA 56% New Brunswick 36% Nova Scotia 0. 45% Quebec

Gulf of Maine Rivers Ecoteam Leader: Tom King, Craig Brook NFH Alternate: Paul Casey, Lake Umbagog NWR 9 NWRs 7 Fisheries offices 2 LE offices 3 ES offices, including a Coastal Program office

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 – Inlandscape-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

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

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

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

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

Edwards Dam removal - 1999

Upstream fish passage projects on the Sebasticook Pleasant Pond fishway Plymouth Pond fishways Doug Watts Archers Mill Dam (removed) Sebasticook Lake fishway alewives Guilford Dam (removed) elvers Doug Watts

Lower Kennebec Estuary Land Protection 1992 - present • $3. 7 million federal (NAWCA, CWG, NFWF) • $5. 6 million non-federal • 6, 300 acres

Invasive species inventory Phragmites Purple loosestrife

Pond Island seabird restoration Roseate tern Common tern

Umbagog NWR land acquisition Dennis Dupuis • Upper Androscoggin watershed • 16, 300 acres • Wetland upland habitat for priority trust species Donna Folsom

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

Salt marsh and river restoration • Gulf of Maine Coastal Program • Maine Fishery Resources Office • Maine Field Office

Seabird protection and restoration • Maine Coastal Nesting Islands NWR staff • Maine Field Office • Law Enforcement • Gulf of Maine Coastal Program

Atlantic salmon restoration

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?