7548-R1_NewGloucester_2019-2020_AnnualReport_Web

ANNUAL REPORT Environmental Resources Committee

For the months of July, September, October, November 2019 and January, February and March 2020, the Environmental Resources Committee met on the second Thursday of the month at the New Gloucester Library from 10-12. The May 21 meeting was held by Zoom. Our mission statement is to • Participate in and report on regional environmental projects. • Advise or participate in committees in New Gloucester relating to environmental issues, including but not limited to land acquisition and land use, energy efficiency, recreation, wildlife habitat and water quality. • Provide information and education for environmental issues. • Coordinate our committee’s work with the environmental goals of the Comprehensive plan. Many of our meetings involved completing our input on environmental issues for the Comprehensive Planning Committee. Scott Hastings attended one of our meetings to help us finish this task. We examined the draft goals and strategies for water and natural resources to prepare our final suggestions to the committee. Another focus of the year was the on-going work on the beautification of the fairgrounds in cooperation with the Parks and Recreation Department. The work involved more planting, mulching and weeding at the Pollinator’s Garden as well as other town gardens. We are also interested in trail development, and several members walked the old interurban trail. For the Community Fair, we set up a booth with pamphlets related to environmental topics and answered questions that people had on issues related to the environment. Other projects included an educational display in the library called “Don’t Dump It, Donate It.” The display focused on reusing and recycling items and where items could be taken. Several articles were also written for the New Gloucester Exchange, including an article on ticks. Unfortunately, many of our planned projects and activities were postponed or cancelled due to Covid 19 closures and regulations beginning in March. Our liaison to the Town Council is the Parks and Recreation Director, Morgan Rocheleau. Current committee members include: Chairperson, Doug Smith, Joanne McKee, Diane Aromando, Alicia Howe, Tony and Trudy Hodgdon.

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