Northeast Sea Grant Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Group Award. Nominee Packet

Transcription

1 Northeast Sea Grant Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Group Award Nominee Packet Nominees: Maine Sea Grant: Natalie Springuel and Kristen Grant Group Members: Dana Morse, Maine Sea Grant Stephanie Showalter, National Sea Grant Law Center Tom Murray, Virginia Sea Grant Jim Connors (retired), Maine Coastal Program Hugh Cowperthwaite, Coastal Enterprises, Inc. Rita Heimes, Center for Law and Innovation, University of Maine School of Law Jennifer Litteral, Island Institute Overview of the project s development, implementation, evaluation and results Coastal access is and will continue to be a pressing issue in Maine, where, as in many states and nations around the world, population is concentrated along the coast. Maine has a long tradition of public access to private property. Until recently, property ownership was often associated with sharing that property with the larger "community." Within the last two decades, liability issues, economic risk, and changes in public demand and etiquette have become major concerns for landowners. In some extreme cases landowners have excluded the public by gating or fencing their properties. In addition, the escalating real estate prices have moved many acres of coastal land out of local and traditional ownership to new owners who may not understand the history of local access customs. Therefore, some may seek to deny access for traditional uses such as commercial fishing or recreational beach access. User conflicts over access to Maine's coastal lands and to the water itself are increasing. This loss of coastal access is impacting the quality of life in Maine by reducing coastal space available for public recreation and water- dependent businesses, raising the costs of doing business for commercial fishing and tourist- based businesses that depend on waterfront access, and increasing conflicts between private property and public trust interests. For the last decade, Maine Sea Grant has been part of a team dedicated to addressing coastal access and working waterfront issues in Maine and the Nation, culminating with several major milestones in Following is a chronological description of our access- related activities from the beginning of our involvement nearly a decade ago to the present. Phase I, Increasing Understanding of the Issues and Building Capacity * Literature review and resource development: An informal needs assessment conducted in 2002 by Maine Sea Grant staff and partners identified coastal access and working waterfronts among the top concerns of hundreds of coastal stakeholders throughout the 1

2 Gulf of Maine region. Natalie Springuel, Kristen Grant, and the Maine Sea Grant Marine Extension Team (MET) began their work by compiling existing resources pertaining to coastal access law in Maine. The team then conducted a needs assessment to determine what information communities sought and the status of currently available material addressing those topics. It was found that most existing resources were outdated and unavailable to the public. In response, the MET partnered with faculty from the Marine Law Institute at the University of Maine Law School to revise and update the educational booklet, Public Shoreline Access in Maine: A Citizen s Guide to Ocean and Coastal Law (see Appendix A). This booklet provides a critical missing link for educating communities about the law and legal tools for addressing access issues. Demand for this resource remains high to this day. Additionally, the MET teamed with the Washington County Council of Governments, to produce the educational brochure Moosabec: the Downeast Fishing Community of Beals and Jonesport (see Appendix A), to portray life in these commercial fishing communities. The document is intended to promote understanding among newcomers and existing residents over traditional uses of land and water. Upon publication, other coastal communities expressed interest in developing similar educational materials, resulting in our subsequent production of Harpswell's Working Waterfronts (see Appendix A). * Professional development: Again working in partnership with the faculty at the Marine Law Institute, the MET conducted training for 30 professional and community partners on coastal access law and policy (see Appendix A). This training provided valuable information on the public trust doctrine, coastal private property issues, and Maine s Colonial Ordinance. As a result, we initiated partnerships with other agencies and organizations, leading to our regular and active participation in Maine s Working Waterfront Coalition. * Needs assessment: In 2003, along with the Gulf of Maine Foundation, Maine Coastal Program, and Island Institute, we hosted the workshop, Working Waterfront Access (see Appendix A), in Walpole (Midcoast), Maine. The 70 diverse participants identified experiences, challenges, and solutions for waterfront- dependent communities and businesses, and shared information about the tools available to shape the future of Maine s working waterfront. Following this initial workshop, MET members were invited to assist several communities seeking to address local access issues. By successfully bringing together diverse interests and businesses many who were historically at odds and fostering collaborative discussion, this initial workshop would set the tone for all of Maine Sea Grant s future work in this area. Phase II, Understanding Regional Needs *Regional needs assessment: Maine s 5,300 mile coast is distinguished by regional differences in social, environmental, and economic conditions. The coast is typically divided into three regions (from southwest to northeast): Southern, Midcoast, and Downeast. Recognizing these regional differences, the MET held two additional stakeholder coastal access workshops modeled after the Working Waterfront Access in Midcoast Maine described above, with the goals of identifying specific needs, interests, and approaches in 2

3 each region, and seeking collaborative approaches to solving conflicts. Roughly 100 participants attended the Downeast Forum on Coastal Access (see Appendix A) in Machias in January, In June of the same year, 75 people attended Coastal Access in Southern Maine: an open discussion among regional stakeholders (see Appendix A). Evaluation and analysis of the findings from this series of workshops resulted in the compilation of next steps for activities addressing coastal access in the state. The central themes to emerge were: Foster an environment of cooperation among diverse stakeholders; use and/or refine existing state policies (tax programs, planning, zoning) to address coastal access issues; and address the need to balance access to and use of coastal resources with the need for protecting these resources from overuse and degradation. Phase III, Meeting Identified Needs, Sharing Resources, Developing New Tools *Current use taxation workshops: The success of Maine's two statewide ballot initiatives in 2005, current use taxation for working waterfront properties and a working waterfront lands bond, put Maine in the forefront as a national leader in the preservation of coastal access for commercial and recreational marine use. In 2007, in order to promote awareness of and application to the newly launched current use program, Maine Sea Grant and our partners worked with the Maine Department of Revenue Services to design, deliver, and evaluate Current Use Taxation and Other Tools to Preserve Working Waterfront in Maine (see Appendix A), an information session for municipal tax assessors and coastal property owners. These sessions were held in five locations along the coast in February and March As a result, municipal officials were significantly more aware of how to apply current use taxation in their jurisdiction. Feedback on the program by municipal officials was shared with the legislature s Taxation Committee, for the purpose of improving the new system. Subsequently, other states have also implemented current use taxation systems for their working waterfronts, inspired by our work in Maine. *Sharing the Maine model: As other states recognized their own struggles with preserving coastal access and working waterfronts, Maine s leadership and early experience proved invaluable. In 2005, Sea Grant staff was asked to present information on our state s success stories at workshops in Mississippi, Alabama, and North Carolina, each of who were in the early stages of their own coalition building. *Legal tools research: In 2006, the National Sea Grant Law Center opened its first request for proposals for legal research and outreach. Maine Sea Grant drew on the results of its regional needs assessment to guide proposal development and successfully received funding to conduct Legal and Policy Tools for the Protection of Coastal Access in Maine and the Nation. We formed a project team with key partners to direct legal research by a University of Maine Law School advised- law student (see Appendix A for research results: Legal Tools to Enhance Public Coastal Access While Protecting Private Property Rights), and presented the findings of this and subsequent research to Maine s Working Waterfront Coalition, inspiring their initial concept of a Working Waterfront Conservancy. To widely share these findings with stakeholders, the project team began the process of translating the legal tools through the design of a stakeholder- focused website (see below). 3

4 *Coastal Access Toolkit: In part with the Law Center funding, Maine Sea Grant worked with the Island Institute and other partners to produce a folder brochure with inserts on the following access tools: taxation, outreach and education, planning and grant programs for local governments, economic diversification, land- use research, grant funds, loan funds, public investment, and coalitions (see Appendix A). *National Research: At Sea Grant Week 2005 in Rockport, Maine, dialogue among Sea Grant colleagues working in the area of Coastal Community Development led to including coastal access and working waterfronts as key components in programs fostering vibrant coastal communities. This planning session launched a national- level discussion to define Sea Grant s role in addressing these issues across the country. To inform this goal- setting process, National Sea Grant Office and Hawaii Sea Grant invited Maine Sea Grant to take the lead in implementing national- level research resulting in the needs assessment Access to the Waterfront: Issues and Solutions Across the Nation (see Appendix A) in The findings in this report have been referenced extensively including by US Representative Chellie Pingree s legislative testimony on October 20, The findings were also presented at Working Waterways & Waterfronts A National Symposium on Water Access hosted by our team member Tom Murray at Virginia Sea Grant in Phase IV, 2008 present National Leadership *Legal and Policy Tools web sites: The project team worked with advertising consultants to design, develop, beta test, launch in 2009, and evaluate Following Maine Sea Grant s success in developing the site with initial National Sea Grant Law Center funding, Maine Sea Grant was awarded supplemental Law Center funding to devise an approach to making the website content and format available in a transferable template that could be adapted by other coastal and Great Lakes states. We designed and implemented a Request for Proposals process to make mini grants available to successful applicants to facilitate their adaptation of the site. The website template now has been adapted for use in five other states: Alabama, Hawai'i, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia. *Tax Opportunities for Working Waterfront Preservation: The project partners also hosted a new round of Maine- regional coastal access workshops in Spring 2009 to introduce the new web tool to Maine stakeholders. Feedback from these workshops indicated that additional information on tax strategies to preserve working waterfronts was an emerging information need. Funded in 2009 through a new round of Law Center funding, the original Legal and Policy Tools Project team was expanded to include tax attorneys and a specialist from Maine Department of Revenue Services. Maine Sea Grant led the Project Team through a similar process of advising the research of a UMaine Law student (memo, see Appendix A) and revising the resulting information for release on and the five other access websites. Maine Sea Grant presented the findings from the tax research to Maine s Working Waterfront Coalition, who immediately provided the information to Maine legislators who are working on incorporating findings in a potential new real estate transfer tax bill for working waterfronts. In addition, the model language in our research memo that proposed that working waterfront land donations be considered charitable (non- taxable) donations, was picked up and referenced in Virginia Legislation, VAHB 2263, A Bill to amend the Code of 4

5 Virginia relating to state and local tax, fee, and regulatory relief for the preservation of commercial fisheries. *Working Waterways and Waterfronts National Symposium on Water Access: In 2009, Virginia Sea Grant (inaugural event host) invited Maine Sea Grant to host and coordinate the second Working Waterways and Waterfronts (WWWWF) National Symposium on Water Access, held in Portland, Maine, September 27-30, 2010 (see Appendix A). The symposium s 28- member steering and coordinating committees harnessed the issue expertise and sponsorship support of about 30 organizations across the country to design and implement the fundraising, content, communications, and logistics of the event. WWWWF 2010 engaged roughly 220 participants and 100 presenters, and resulted in plans to form a national working waterfront council (see below). *National Working Waterfronts and Waterways Council: By consensus, WWWWF symposium participants agreed that efforts to address mounting issues on working waterfronts could be directed more effectively through a national- level working waterfront coalition. Maine Sea Grant is part of the ad- hoc steering committee that is now designing a national strategy that addresses working waterfront issues through research, education, outreach and policy. The council is expected to play a major role in moving the access issue forward at the national level and Maine Sea Grant is central to the planning process. *Working Waterfronts Calendar 2011: Working waterfronts were the theme of Maine Sea Grant s 2011 calendar (see Appendix A). Each month featured a photograph of a working waterfront scene, taken by high school students participating in the Trekkers community arts program, and highlighted one of the 12 properties that have been preserved by Maine's Working Waterfront Access Pilot Program. This was the third calendar produced by Maine Sea Grant since 2000; the working waterfront theme was selected in recognition of our collaborative accomplishments, and to express our gratitude for our partners, including VIP speakers at the National Symposium as well as a way to educate Maine residents and visitors about the need to preserve and enhance access. The students who contributed photos received small stipends as well as the publication credit. *Working Waterfront and Coastal access related presentations: The following list is a sample of some of the events more recent where Maine Sea Grant staff spoke or chaired sessions on working waterfronts and coastal access at local and national meetings, workshops, and conferences: Maine Fishermen s Forum, Maine Beaches Conference, Working Waterways and Waterfronts National Symposium on Coastal Access, Working Waterfront Coalition member meetings, Maine Land Conservation Conference, Maine Sustainable Island Living Conference, Maine Sea Grant Research and Outreach Symposium, Maine Association of Sea Kayak Guides and Instructors member meetings, American Planning Association Conference, Coastal Zone Conference, The Coastal Society Conference, plus assistance finding speakers for the Capitol Hill Working Waterfronts briefing, as well as regular consultations with Maine congressional delegation and staff on working waterfront issues. 5

6 Evaluation Each of the above- described extension activities (including training, workshops, conferences, publications, websites and direct community outreach), has been evaluated by participants. Evaluation themes consistently indicate that Maine Sea Grant and our partners are effective at bringing together disparate groups of people and interests for collaborative problem- solving and coalition building, and that participants can directly put their learning to use in their communities. Our program evaluations, be they formal or informal, have also always contained suggestions for more programming needs, and it is through this process that our working waterfront and coastal access programs continue to be so directly relevant and targeted to public needs. For example, while we began with quite a broad approach, as was needed at the time, our more recent work on tax policy has been very targeted to a need clearly identified by stakeholders through previous work. The adoption and adaptation of our work in Maine throughout the country, whether it be through educational approaches like the website, or state and federal legislation, is evidence of our success. The 2010 Working Waterways and Waterfronts National Symposium on Water Access, and the subsequent creation of a National Working Waterfront Council, was pinnacle in our long and continuing legacy of coastal access outreach. Regional implications As described earlier, understanding the regional aspects of coastal access issues is critical to devising approaches to addressing them. In Maine, we came to appreciate the distinct needs of our state s three coastal regions and the relationships between actions in one region to reactions in another. The same is true for regional considerations in the Northeast, where coastal access issues have moved from more densely to less densely populated parts of the region. As population and development pressures forced increases in local coastal land values, the pressures gravitated northward to the comparatively less expensive coastlines of Maine and even Atlantic Canada. The coastline in each Northeast state is unique in terms of culture, environment, and economy, requiring equally unique and local approaches to retain access to these distinctive places. Lessons learned are to be shared. Focusing then on regional resource sharing with the goal of retaining access to distinct places along our Northeast coast, many of the products of Maine s work have regional implications. Since Maine s ocean and coastal laws originate in Massachusetts colonial law, materials such as Public Shoreline Access in Maine: A Citizen s Guide to Ocean and Coastal Law and the training seminar based on it, as well as are easily transferable to that state. Similarly, the adaptation of Maine s access website for application in New Jersey suggests that it can be readily adapted to any other Northeast state. Additionally, Access to the Waterfront: Issues and Solutions Across the Nation organizes analysis in a regional context, providing extensive models from the Northeast. Hosting the Working Waterways and Waterfronts Symposium in Portland, Maine, also provided the opportunity for a large contingent of Northeast colleagues to attend and 6

7 share, giving the event an inherent Northeast focus. It can be expected that each subsequent symposium will spotlight the host region. Related materials: APPENDIX A Appendix item Public Shoreline Access in Maine: A Citizen s Guide to Ocean and Coastal Law Marine Law Institute Ocean and Coastal Law Training outline Moosabec: the Downeast Fishing Community of Beals and Jonesport Harpswell's Working Waterfronts Working Waterfront Access, Walpole (workshop program) Downeast Forum on Coastal Access, Machias (workshop program) Coastal Access in Southern Maine, Biddeford (workshop program) Current Use Taxation and Other Tools to Preserve Working Waterfront in Maine (workshop programs) Maine s Working Waterfront (presentation in Mississippi, Alabama, and North Carolina, 2005) Coastal Access Toolkit (pocket brochure with fact sheets) Legal Tools to Enhance Public Coastal Access While Protecting Private Property Rights Access to the Waterfront: Where it can be viewed access- and- working- waterfronts Part of Appendix A. PDF file included with application. access- and- working- waterfronts access- and- working- waterfronts access- and- working- waterfronts access- and- working- waterfronts access- and- working- waterfronts Part of Appendix A. PDF file included with application. access- and- working- waterfronts Part of Appendix A. PDF file included with application. it/resources.shtml access- 7

8 Issues and Solutions Across the Nation Website: Accessing the Maine Coast Website: Accessing the Mississippi Coast Website: Accessing the Alabama Coast Website: Coastal Access in Hawai i Website: New Jersey Coastal Access Website: Accessing the Virginia Coast Memorandum: Tax- based opportunities and challenges for working waterfront protection. Memorandum: Working waterfront tax strategies. Working Waterways and Waterfronts National Symposium on Water Access us.com/ (conference program) Maine s Working Waterfront Calendar 2011 and- working- waterfronts access- hawaii Part of Appendix A. PDF file included with application. Part of Appendix A. PDF file included with application. access- and- working- waterfronts Research contributions In addition to obtaining funding to support legal research by the University of Maine School of Law and private law firms as described above, Maine Sea Grant extension staff have served as reviewers on numerous peer review committees relevant to this topic area, including those for: New York Sea Grant, Michigan Sea Grant, Mississippi- Alabama Sea Grant, the Louisiana Port Authority, and more. Within Maine, Maine Sea Grant has awarded program development funds to the Island Institute to conduct a comprehensive GIS inventory of the state s working waterfront access. The results of this inventory have been instrumental in all outreach and education conducted by our extension staff and the Maine Working Waterfront Coalition, by helping 8

9 us frame the case of declining working waterfronts into a visual language that policy- makers can understand at a glance (e.g., The Last 20 Miles ). Finally, Maine Sea Grant has joined several of our national partners in submitting a major research and outreach grant to the US Economic Development Agency to further analyze the working waterfront and coastal access trends throughout the nation and develop a strategy to address them at the national level. Letters of support enclosed Hugh Cowperthwaite, Fisheries Project Director, Coastal Enterprises, Inc. Kathleen Leyden, Director, Maine Coastal Program John Duff, Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director, UMaine Boston Bob Foley, Board of Directors, Save our Shores Maine Janice Parente, Chairperson, Surfrider Foundation Rita Heimes, Director, Center for Law & Innovation University of Maine School of Law Paul Anderson, Director, Maine Sea Grant Jennifer Litteral, Policy Director, Island Institute Nominee Biographies Natalie Springuel, Marine Extension Associate with Maine Sea Grant College Program, is based at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. Springuel s outreach work in working waterfronts and coastal access strives to bridge the gap between traditional waterfront uses such as fisheries and the rapidly growing interest in nature and heritage tourism. She was chair of the September 2010 Working Waterways and Waterfronts National Symposium on Water Access, and has helped coordinate both local and national research and outreach projects to identify tools that protect and enhance working waterfronts, including producing the widely cited report: Access to the Waterfront: Issues and Solutions Across the Nation. Kristen Grant began work with Maine Sea Grant and University of Maine Cooperative Extension as Marine Extension Associate in 1999, based at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve. Grant is a member of the National Sea Grant Sustainable Coastal Communities Focus Team, as well as Vice Chair, Northeast Regional Coordinator, and Training Committee Chair for National Sea Grant s Sustainable Coastal Community Development Network. In these roles, Grant has contributed to the evolution of Sea Grant s national goal to build the capacity of communities to plan for coastal access and working waterfronts as a central theme of sustainable coastal development. In Maine, for ten years Grant has worked to address these issues in partnership with diverse organizations and agencies across the state by developing collaborative processes and tools such as the web site Accessing the Maine Coast: everything you wanted to know about rights and responsibilities of accessing the coast of Maine. 9

10 Two Portland Fish Pier Suite 206 Portland, Maine Creating opportunities for people and places since 1977 To the Award Review Committee, September 19, fax Coastal Enterprises Inc (CEI) and Maine Sea Grant have partnered on working waterfront programs for nearly a decade, in collaboration with numerous other agencies and organizations. Sea Grant's role as a purveyor of non-biased information has been instrumental in helping the fishing industry, other water-dependent industries, municipalities and waterfront land-owners understand their options for securing and protection our state's valuable working waterfronts. CEI has been administering the State's Working Waterfront Access Pilot Program for the past 6 years. This bond-funded and voter-approved program has protected 17 working waterfront properties (6 more are currently pending an award) and nearly 1,000 jobs. Maine Sea Grant has helped organize many workshops throughout the state to publicize this and other programs, has provided resources and staffing to create informational materials and conduct research, all of which have provided a crucial outreach link to people on this issue. For example, one of our funded working waterfront land owners, the Davis family in Tremont, reported that they were directly inspired to apply for the funds as a result of one of the regional workshops hosted by Sea Grant. Maine Sea Grant staff led the charge to plan, organize and deliver a conference representing working waterfront challenges and solutions from around the nation. The 2 nd Working Waterways and Waterfronts National Symposium was held in Portland Maine in the fall of 2010 and I had the pleasure of serving on both the Conference Planning and Steering Committees with Maine Sea Grant staff. With Nearly 250 attendees, the conference was a huge success and plans are already underway for the next conference for the fall of As I stated two years ago to Maine Sea Grant's national review panel when they visited Maine, our partnership with Maine Sea Grant helps us, a community development organization, better meet the needs of the fishermen and waterfront industries in Maine. I encourage you to recognize them for their work. Sincerely Hugh Cowperthwaite Coastal Enterprises Inc. Fisheries Project Director A private, nonprofit community development and financial institution providing capital, technical assistance and advocacy for people, businesses and communities outside the economic mainstream. CEI is an equal opportunity provider.

11 Executive Department PAUL R. LEPAGE Governor DARRYL BROWN Director September 2011 Northeast Sea Grant Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Award Review Panel To the award review panel: I would like to indicate my support for the nomination of Natalie Springuel, Kristen Grant and their group of colleagues for the Northeast Sea Grant Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Group Award for their extraordinary work in coastal access and working waterfront issues. Maine Coastal Program has collaborated on and supported this work since its inception, and as is true with most activities in Maine, the outcomes have been made stronger by this team approach. No one organization could have achieved such enduring results at the national, or even the state level. Maine Sea Grant, represented primarily by Natalie Springuel and Kristen Grant, has provided critical leadership throughout. Over ten years, they have spearheaded needs assessments, training, public engagement, communications, research, tools development, and most recently, national coalition formation. Communities, state officials, marine-related businesses and property owners are more informed about coastal access and working waterfront conservation due to the team's efforts. Maine Coastal Program anticipates continuing to work with Maine Sea Grant on coastal access and working waterfront activities into the future and I welcome your questions regarding our cooperative efforts. Sincerely, Kathleen Leyden Director, Maine Coastal Program 19 UNION STREET, 38 STATE HOUSE STATION, AUGUSTA MAINE PHONE: (207) internet: FAX: (207)

12 20 September 2011 Kristen Grant Maine Sea Grant and University of Maine Cooperative Extension at the Wells Reserve 342 Laudholm Farm Road Wells, ME Re: Letter of support Northeast Sea Grant Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Group Award Committee Dear Ms. Grant: I am pleased to offer this letter of support for your collaborative work with communities in the Northeast US to secure the vitality of working waterfronts. My work in the region over the course of the last twenty years indicates that economic activity in waterfront communities often serves as the socio-economic foundation for the larger communities in which they reside. From New Jersey to Maine the history, capital, labor, recreational, academic and even artistic threads of coastal activity all paint a picture of vibrant forces coming together at the water s edge. With that productivity comes inevitable tensions among a variety of interests new and old. My work with you and many of your collaborators suggests that such tensions merit thoughtful discussion, analysis, negotiation and problem solving to ensure that the range of benefits emanating from working waterfronts are maintained by enhancing the resiliency of the policies and practices that support them. I have been particularly heartened to see that your collaborative efforts (in which I have been fortunate to participate) have brought important knowledge to stakeholders with disparate and sometimes adverse interests and in doing so have countered myths and stereotypes with information and perspective. Maine Sea Grant s outreach and extension support (along with the ongoing support of many of your working waterfront partners) have afforded me the venues and resources to play a small role in informing the public about coastal infrastructure, resource management, public access, and spatial planning, topics that remain crucial in affording people with the benefits that derive from robust working waterfronts. I continue to respond to request for information that emerged from my work on public access issues with you five to ten years ago. I hope that the Northeast Sea Grant Consortium supports your efforts and I will be happy to continue to make my services available to as you deem appropriate. Sincerely, John A. Duff John Duff Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director John.Duff@umb.edu (617) fax: (617)

13 To Whom it may Concern: Please add our support for Kristin Whiting- Grant and the Maine Sea Grant Program for consideration for the Regional Sea Grant Extension Award. As an association of coastal property owners, with several municipal members as well, we have worked with Maine Sea Grant, and in particular Kristen, for the last 10 years collaborating on coastal access issues and participating in their Maine Beaches Programs. Their work has helped foster a better understanding of the complex issues facing coastal access and providing potential avenues for solutions. This work has been important for all our coastal partners. Respectfully submitted, Robert Foley, Board of Directors Save Our Shores- Maine

14 September Dear Review Panel Members, The Maine Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation is thrilled that Kristen Grant is part of a group that has been nominated for the Northeast Sea Grant Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Award. We have worked with Kristen for years on the Maine Beaches Conference. She is nothing but awe inspiring. Her dedication to her work and the passion with which she derives her energy is unique and so worthy of recognition. I remember walking into my first Maine Beaches Conference board meeting. I proceeded to watch Kristen easily focus an opinionated, disparate group of beach enthusiasts on the task at hand. Her knowledge of Maine s coastline, its players, and unending needs is vast. She listens to concerns and directs the content so that it is both varied and directly applicable to current events. Her ability to then coordinate mere concepts into a brick and mortar conference is exceptional and ongoing throughout the planning process. Her ability to simultaneously coordinate content as well as budgetary requirements and associated fundraising needs is also noteworthy. She drives the process and keeps the board on track ultimately producing an extremely informative, memorable bi- annual conference on- time and within budget. We are proud to be a part of the Maine Beaches Conference and recognize that its success is a direct result of Kristen Grant s dedication and influence. She is a leader in her field and we are lucky to have her. Sincerely, Janice Parente Chairperson The Surfrider Foundation, Maine Chapter Scarborough, ME (cell)

15 Faculty of Law 246 Deering Avenue Portland, Maine (207) The Law School of the University of Maine System An Administrative Unit of the University of Southern Maine Fax (207) TTY (207) MEMORANDUM To: Northeast Sea Grant Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Award Review Panel From: Rita Heimes, Clinical Professor & Director, Center for Law & Innovation University of Maine School of Law Date: September 20, 2011 Re: Northeast Sea Grant Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Group Awards The University of Maine School of Law has been fortunate to work with Maine Sea Grant on multiple projects in the past several years. Two, in particular, bear mention here: (1) the Accessing the Maine Coast project; and (2) the Working Waterfront Taxation project. Each project allowed students from our law school to make a major contribution to public understanding of the legal landscape affecting the Maine coast. In each instance, the student found outstanding support and feedback from a multidisciplinary and highly engaged group, who worked to narrow and refine the issues and then translate the legal language into human-readable forms accessible to all. As a direct supervisor of the law students, I was incredibly impressed by the professionalism, dedication, creativity and organization of this group. Maine Sea Grant has uniquely dedicated staff with great ideas for policy research and educational outreach. They organize outstanding teams and work collaboratively with enviable efficiency. It is never difficult for them to find supporters from the ocean and coastal communities because everyone knows their projects are relevant, the outcomes useful, and the process seamlessly executed. Funders are also aware of their excellent reputation, contributing to their ongoing success in receiving grants for their work. It is an honor and privilege to work on Maine Sea Grant projects. I hope to be involved in many more. Please look with favor on their nomination for this well-deserved achievement award.

16 September 19, 2011 Northeast Sea Grant Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Group Awards Committee To the awards review committee, I'm pleased to write in support of Natalie Springuel, Kristen Grant, and the dedicated group of colleagues that has been nominated for the Northeast Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Group Award. Their decade of work in bringing stakeholders together to address coastal access and working waterfront issues has significantly raised the profile of these issues, leading to powerful impacts not only in Maine, but nationally. Here in Maine, resources are limited and collaboration is required, but also embraced. Our Marine Extension Team for example, includes professionals from both Maine Sea Grant and UMaine Cooperative Extension working seamlessly together. MET members have a range of expertise from fisheries and aquaculture to sustainable development, hazards, and tourism which are coordinated to meet the needs of our stakeholders. It is not news to the MET that I believe we have the best team in the world. It is the strength of this partnership that makes outstanding outcomes possible. This team approach has been an essential component of our coastal access and working waterfronts work since its inception. With MET members solidly grounded in all of our coastal regions, there was universal agreement that access conflicts were becoming more prevalent across our long Maine coast, although the nature and approaches to the issues were regionally distinct. Recognizing the scope of the problem in Maine then, a team approach was designed to begin to address it and MET members formed strategic partnerships within and outside Maine. Maine Coastal Program, Island Institute, National Sea Grant Law Center and many others are all among the nominees for this award, and success is built on these partnerships.

17 The reach of this partnership has expanded from regional needs assessment here in Maine in the early days, to legal research that would be adapted for application in other states and cited in state legislation, to hosting and coordinating a national symposium that led to the launching of the first national council dedicated to working waterfronts in Thank you for this opportunity to recognize the stellar work of this team and the role that Maine Sea Grant has played in its successes, past, present, and future. Sincerely, Paul Anderson, Director Maine Sea Grant

18 September 21, 2011 Northeast Sea Grant Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Award Review Panel Re: Northeast Sea Grant Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Group Awards Dear Review Panel, I am writing to you on behalf of Maine Sea Grant. I have personally had the honor and privilege of working with the amazing and dedicated Sea Grant staff in Maine over the past 6 years. We have worked with them on so many successful projects that it is difficult to list them all here. It goes without saying that without their collaborative efforts we might fall short of some of the successes that we have all come to hang our hat on here in Maine. An example of a few collaborative projects include: the 2010 National Working Waterfronts and Waterways Symposium; Working Waterfront Taxation project; Current Use Taxation for Working Waterfronts; Accessing the Maine Coast tool web portal; Maine s Working Waterfront Coalition. Where I have seen their strengths add to projects is their thoughtful and inclusive processes that bring about a more holistic approach, as well as their technical expertise in research and delivery of projects. Collaborating with Maine Sea Grant has elevated all of the groups working with them as leaders nationally. While we have had many triumphs over the past 6 years working together much of our hard work goes with little fan-fair. I thank you for your time and consideration of Maine Sea Grant, they are most deserving of this achievement award. Sincerely, Jennifer Litteral Policy Director