PIE-Rivers Partnership Focuses on Action

The PIE-Rivers Partnership’s Annual Meeting was held on the first week of December and was a chance for the towns, organizations and volunteers who make up the three-watershed collective to give feedback on the Partnership’s Action Plan and priorities moving forward.

Thanks to grant funding from the Essex County Community Foundation, the Partnership is in a good position to focus on specific areas of the Action Plan to drive on-the-ground work throughout the watersheds. In addition to soliciting feedback at the meeting, the agenda for the Annual Meeting shone a light on newly completed and ongoing projects in the PIE-Rivers region.

Boxford’s Superintendent of Public Works John Dold and Conservation Agent Ross Povenmire presented One Town’s Perspective on PIE-Rivers Priorities, which describe their town’s efforts to implement the recommendations and methods found in the Action Plan. Among their many achievements over the past year is an upgraded culvert on Middleton Road.

Ipswich River’s Restoration Manager Kaitlyn Shaw introduced and hosted a panel discussion on existing water quality monitoring efforts across the Parker, Ipswich, and Essex watersheds. The panel was comprised of Yvonne Buswell (Parker River Clean Water Association), Sue McLaughlin (Chebacco Lake Watershed Association), Gina Snyder (Ipswich River Watershed Association board member and RiverWatch monitor), Ryan Joyce (Division of Marine Fisheries) and Drew Robison (Plum Island Ecosystems Long Term Ecological Research/ UNH). The panel discussion focused on what is being sampled, how it is being used to inform management, and how the PIE-Rivers Partnership can strengthen water monitoring programs regionally.

There is much more to be done in the region, and of particular interest for many municipalities and land owners is stormwater and the use of town by-laws to support climate resiliency planning. Ariel Maiorano, Assistant Coordinator of Mass Audubon’s Shaping the Future of Your Community program, presented tools and programs to help guide citizens and towns with her presentation on Climate Resiliency Through Land Use Planning.

If you were unable to attend, or saw a slide or two that you wish you could look at again, you are in luck. Follow the hyperlinks of each presentation title to revisit each presenters slides for future reference. The PIE-Rivers Partnership encourages anyone who has an interest in the work the partnership is doing to sign up for the PIE-River emails and look out for volunteer opportunities.

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