Category: Talk of the Towns

Producer/host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Topic: Agriculture Setting the Table of Maine’s Creative Economy

What were the origins of John Harker’s report on Maine’s Agricultural Creative Economy to the Maine Legislature?  What is the mission of Farms for Maine’s Future?  What resources does the university employ to assist farmers and agricultural producers?

Guests: John Harker, Maine Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources;  Keri Sands, Farms for Maine’s Future and CEI;  Beth Calder, Food Science Specialist, UMaine Cooperative Extension;  Nanney Kennedy, Seacolors, Washington, Maine

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Producer/host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Topic: Maine Feeds Maine–An Idea Whose Time Has Come, Again

Guests: Jane Livingston, Coordinator, Maine Feeds Maine;  Logan Perkins, Food for Maine’s Future; Jim Cook, Director, Crown of Maine Organic Cooperative;  Carly DelSignore, Tidemill Organic Farm; Chris Grigsby, Belfast Co-op

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Producer/host: Ron Beard

Topic: Constructing Town Land Use Ordinances that Work

Guests: Tom Martin, Executive Director, Hancock County (Maine) Planning Commission; Noel Musson, CES Inc.; Dale Sprinkle, Chair, Planning Board, Surry, Maine

How does a town exercise its authority to guide land use decisions in Maine?  What is the legislative basis for towns to “plan”?  What is a land use ordinance and how does it affect the ways in which landowners use their land?

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Producer/host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Topic:  Making Meetings and Groups More Effective

Guests: Craig Freshley, Good Group Decisions, Brunswick, Maine; Deb Burwell, Organizational Consultant, Belfast, Maine

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Producer/host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant

Topic: Maine’s fisheries

Guests: Robin Alden, director, Penobscot East Resource Center, Stonington ( former commissioner, Dept Marine Resources; Aaron Dority, project director, Downeast Fisheries Initiative, Ted Hoskins, Chaplain, Maine Sea Coast Mission

Producer/host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Topic: Healthy Boating and Healthy Beaches

Why are we concerned? What are the human health aspects of swim beaches? What sorts of contaminants are common and how/where do they originate?

Guests: Esperanza Stancioff, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Sea Grant Coordinator, Maine Healthy Beaches Program; Pamela Parker, Maine Department of Environmental Protection; Jane Disney, Mount Desert Island Water Quality Coalition; Bill Gawley, Water Quality Specialist, Acadia National Park

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Producer/host: Ron Beard

Producer/host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Topic: Intersections of Science and Place on the Lower Penobscot Watershed

Guests: David Hart, Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, University of Maine; Gayle B. Zydlewski, President, Cove Brook Watershed; Aram Calhoun, Professor of Wetland Ecology, University of Maine; Greg Burr, Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

What are some of the natural and human communities that share the ecosystem? Why is “place” important? Why are you focusing your efforts on this place?