MST in Two Southern Maine Watersheds
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Microbial Source Tracking Project Update

March 20, 2002

Dear Volunteer,

I hope you are well and enjoying the snow. We’ve had two sample dates since our last update to you, with some interesting results. On March 4, the bacterial levels were lower than we expected, considering the high flow conditions. On March 11, instead, the counts were higher than we expected. Perhaps more ice was melting than what it looked like. We notice that the bacterial levels are quite variable at each site. The Webhannet River and Pope’s Creek were the two most contaminated streams, with both Depot Brook and Blacksmith Brook showing low levels. As for other areas of the project, the first stage of the genetic analysis has been started. All your work in collecting and analyzing those samples is now “in the bank,” so to say.

We are starting to think about another component of our project, the shoreland survey. This is where we go out in small groups and walk portions along the streams where we’ve seen significant bacterial contamination, or where we believe there may be elevated risks for it. We will conduct several one-day events, with training in the morning, and site visits in the afternoon. You could volunteer for one or several days. We haven’t set any dates yet, but it will be sometime in May. If you are interested in helping with this, let us know.

I (Cayce) will be out of the office from March 21 to April 7, but Fred will be in on most days. He can be reached at the same phone number (646-1555, ext 103) or at fdillon@wellsnerrcec.lib.me.us. We don’t plan to do any testing during this period. Our next pre-scheduled sample date is April 15. Plan ahead, so it doesn’t interfere with your tax preparation!

As always, thank you for all your work.

Best wishes,

Cayce Dalton and Fred Dillon

207-646-1555, ext 103

CICEET funded Microbial Source Tracking Project

Project partners: UM Sea Grant, Wells NERR, UNH/Jackson Lab, University of Southern Maine and AmeriCorps/Maine Conservation Corps