MST in Two Southern Maine Watersheds
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August 8, 2002

Dear Volunteer,

I hope you've had a great summer so far. The weather has cooled off, and now it's wonderful out. What better way to enjoy the outdoors than to collect water samples, right? Our next sample date is set for Friday, August 16. The best times to collect the samples will be between 7:00am and 10:00am. Going out earlier in that time period will give you higher water (less mud) and probably less traffic as well. Let us know if you plan to help out on that day.

Fred and I are also still waiting for rain, so we can collect post-precipitation water samples. The one previous day this summer that we did this gave us valuable insight into the sources of fecal bacteria into the estuary. We found strong evidence that geese are significant contributors. We hope to get another chance to sample in or after a rain, to see what else we can discover. Let us know if you are able to be "on-call" for post-rain sampling in August.

Hope to see you soon,

Cayce Dalton
AmeriCorps/Maine Conservation Corps
Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve
342 Laudholm Farm Rd, Wells ME 04090
207-646-1555, x103
CICEET funded Microbial Source Tracking Project
Partners: UM Sea Grant - UNH/JEL - USM Muskie School