23 July 2020
Buckets on the Table: Backpack Program (drop off donations to Kim at the bank in Camden or mail in)
Speaker of the Day: Alison McKellar, Camden Fish Ladders
Camden is a large water shed area and has many dams to help with water control. The town has received a grant to move forward with the study of the system. Alison has a lot of extra info for all who are interested! Camden received a grant for coastal resilience planning from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a nationally competitive grant program. The focus areas are to work with identified areas of the country that are vulnerable to climate change and restore habitat. The goal is to prevent flooding and water levels rising. They are looking for more nature made solutions such as marshes, sand dunes etc. Megunticook River watershed is a coastal watershed, running from Hope to Lincolnville to Camden, a steep watershed, water must pass through downtown Camden.
Several dams are located around the area that help control water levels reaching Camden. Megunticook Lake has the East and West Dams, controlling water moving from this lake, mill owners began to own these dams and regulated water that was allowed downtown (they would shut down water at night and turn back on in the early morning!) if they were removed, it would not change the lake back into anything that it already is. These two dams are now owned by the town of Camden and maintained with Lincolnville’s assistance. Seabright Dam was a mill dam as well, recently repaired to stop leaks. None of the dams were built for flood control, rather water retainment. Dam Ruins again Mills and gun power, Shepard Storage, has no controls on this one (piled rocks) providing no flood protection. Knowlton Street, foundry and mills, privately owned therefore no inspection required. Knox Mill, a Woolen Mill and the Montgomery Dam, town owned. Fish are having issues getting up from the harbor, climate change are causing increase in rain events, Knox and Waldo counties are seeing a lot of results of the increase in precipitation. There exists a delicate balance of opening dams to stop flooding and not cause downtown flooding. Fish ladders are a good option for dams that cannot be removed.
Committee Reports:
Community Service: 7 mulchers met and placed bridges at PAWS this past Saturday. Habitat, Aug 8, contact Tim, need 6 more folks
Monday, July 27, Susanne will be here in Camden, meet a Harbor park at 5 pm for presentation of the citation achieved by West Bay Rotary! Come Early for fellowship, we will try to film the event as well!
Aug 29, 8-12, outdoors, MRC (Aug 24 to begin bringing over).
International Community meeting 8 am, Monday at the amphitheater in Camden.
Tom, Christmas Trees have been ordered! Christmas in July!
Still working on E-Waste plan. Rockland is running one the end of August. Maybe we can get one for September/October. Is it too early, what are the issues, cautions?
Looking for face to face meeting in August…more news next week!
Next Week’s Speaker: Jeremy Martin, Camden Planning & Development