Salmon Falls Watershed Collaborative Meets in Rochester
On Wednesday, September 6, the Salmon Falls Watershed Collaborative (SFWC) hosted its annual field tour known as the “Success Safari.” Approximately 35 participants representing municipal boards and staff from across the bi-state watershed visited property recently conserved by the Southeast Land Trust in Rochester, New Hampshire. This property serves to protect water quality in the Salmon Falls River, a primary source of drinking water for Somersworth, New Hampshire, and Berwick, Maine.
The SFWC is an ambitious inter-state effort to protect drinking water resources within 21 communities in the watershed, including 41,000 residents served by public water systems. The Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) convened the Salmon Falls Watershed Collaborative in 2009 to improve watershed planning and management and to protect water supply sources in the Salmon Falls River watershed. Conceived through the efforts of the state drinking water protection programs in Maine and New Hampshire, the SFWC continues to bring together natural resource experts, municipalities, land trusts and local water districts.
Speakers during the day’s field tour included members of the Rochester Conservation Commission, the Rochester Department of Public Works, the Southeast Land Trust, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), USEPA, and NHDES. The collaborative members work together under an action plan to protect drinking water resources in the watershed for current and future generations. A variety of actions to protect drinking water resources have already been implemented by partners across the watershed. To find out more check out, the SFWC’s website.