{"id":33809,"date":"2025-02-18T09:53:40","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T14:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/?page_id=33809"},"modified":"2026-02-12T12:30:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T17:30:50","slug":"river-stories-voices-of-the-damariscotta-river-estuary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/river-stories-voices-of-the-damariscotta-river-estuary\/","title":{"rendered":"River Stories: Voices of the Damariscotta River Estuary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Sponsor: <\/strong>Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Team Leaders:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dr. Heather Leslie, Professor, School of Marine Sciences, 91±¬ΑΟ<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dr. Hillary Smith Research Assistant Professor, School of Marine Sciences, 91±¬ΑΟ<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sarah Risley, Graduate Research Assistant, 91±¬ΑΟ<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Emma Francoeur, Graduate Research Assistant, 91±¬ΑΟ<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Partners:&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Lincoln Academy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Town of Damariscotta<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Town of Newcastle<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Bringing community members together to solve complex problems \u2014 scientists, students, residents, government officials, and other people and groups \u2014 is often called community-engaged research. An important component of community-engaged research is that it requires reciprocity between the community members to ensure mutually beneficial outcomes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During this two-year grant, the research team&nbsp; will build upon a decade of community-engaged science in the mid-coast\u2019s Damariscotta River estuary. Prior research has focused on the ecological impacts of climate change on the estuary, and in the spirit of reciprocity, the research has sought to include the perspectives and knowledge of the people living within the estuary. For instance, locals in the Damariscotta River estuary helped catalog areas of importance in the river, provided a snapshot of shellfish populations, and identified challenges and priorities related to the shellfish fishery and other human uses such as recreation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team has relied on traditional communication methods to share the results of this community-engaged research: technical reports, newspaper articles, presentations to municipal leaders and other community partners, and peer-reviewed publications. They have not, however, been fully satisfied with the level of community engagement and seek novel ways to collect and share information about the estuary.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThose communication modes have been insufficient to activate engagement by a full diversity of community members who have a stake in these places in the face of climate change and other socio-ecological stressors,\u201d the project team explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rather than these traditional dissemination methods, the team plans to use creative art-based approaches, merging science with visual and performing arts, the humanities, and history. The goal is to engage more and different types of stakeholders, particularly youth and seafood harvesters, and to activate engagement related to local stewardship and community resilience issues in ways that more traditional civic engagement opportunities have not.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An advisory committee, including participants from Lincoln Academy and the towns of Newcastle and Damariscotta, will be formed in the grant\u2019s first year to support and ground the project in relevant local and regional perspectives.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maya Crosby, Lincoln Academy\u2019s Director of Applied Learning, thinks the grant\u2019s unique approach to merging the sciences, humanities, and visual arts will catalyze unique educational opportunities for students. Crosby also thinks the grant can help support the school\u2019s newly emerging capstones for third and fourth year high school students who will be matched with local partners to engage in research, experiential learning, and professional development. \u201cThese capstones will enable students to gain deeper experience in interdisciplinary research and community engagement,\u201d Crosby said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additional plans include an on-the-water performance for mid-2025 that weaves together music, ecology, and history. The sharing of information through podcasts, blog posts, short videos, oral histories, interactive exhibits, and applied theater are other possible outcomes of the grant.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These art-based initiatives will be supported by a full-time graduate student and undergraduate students, mentored by Leslie and Smith. Additional project collaborators will include community theaters, performance professionals and volunteers, municipal leaders, youth, and other community members.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sponsor: Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions Team Leaders: Partners:&nbsp; Bringing community members together to solve complex problems \u2014 scientists, students, residents, government officials, and other people and groups \u2014 is often called community-engaged research. An important component of community-engaged research is that it requires reciprocity between the community members to ensure mutually beneficial outcomes.&nbsp; During [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":957,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-33809","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"mitchellcenter","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/author\/mitchellcenter\/"},"comment_info":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/957"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33809"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36196,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33809\/revisions\/36196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}