Community Mapping and GIS
The role of QLF’s Community GIS (Geographic Information Systems) program is to increase local institutions’ utilization of digital mapping technologies, through active community involvement in mapping projects and processes. Through training and hands-on applied projects, modern mapping technologies have been brought to the local level at appropriate skill levels. Based in Farmington, Maine, the Center for Community GIS provides technical assistance, training, and educational outreach to public interest organizations engaged in community-based planning and decision-making. For more information please go to: www.community-gis.org.
Averill Cook, QLF Alumnus (Conche, Newfoundland 1971, 1972), with Stephen Engle, QLF's Director, Community Mapping Program. Averill recently returned to Newfoundland to confer with Stephen on the use of GIS and community mapping for rural planners. Photograph © Candace Cochrane
Community-based Natural Resource Management
Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM ) is based on the principle that a natural resource is better managed if a community has rights to the resource, participates in decision-making affecting the resource, and receives benefits from its value. QLF has historically engaged in this type of work throughout the Atlantic Region. While in the past, it has focused on marine birds, today, QLF and partner organizations have created the Community Forest Collaborative to expand community ownership and management of forestland in northern New England. QLF continues its leadership in the field by working to advance the theory and practice of CBNRM through research, development of tools and resources, and projects.
Aerial view of Grand Lake Stream and the Downeast Lakes Land Trust's Farm Cove Community Forest. Photograph by New England Forestry Foundation
Marine Program
Worldwide ocean management is undergoing a major transition in response to profound losses, new understandings, and emerging threats. The shift towards “ecosystem management” has created unprecedented opportunities for coastal communities to participate in the stewardship of local marine areas and resources. In the Gulf of Maine, QLF has been advancing the emergence community-based management through several interconnected initiatives at local, regional and international scales including: the Muscongus Bay project, the Marine Area Characterizations project, and Place-Based Education at the Warren Community School.
Morgan King (right), a 2004-05 QLF Intern hosted by the Friends of the Medomak Watershed, shows Michele Walsh, QLF's 2004-05 Marine Program coordinator, how to collect estuarine water samples for processing by Maine's Department of Environmental Protection. Photograph by Jen Atkinson
Employment Opportunities
QLF’s Marine Program is accepting applications for Learning Coordinator position at its field desk in Waldoboro, Maine. More info »
New Marine Program Publications
Seascapes - Getting to Know the Sea Around Us. A Guide to Characterizing the Marine and Coastal Areas. A publication of QLF's Marine Program based in the Gulf of Maine.
Muscongus Bay Atlas. Containing 23, full-sized, annotated GIS map images based on over 150 data layers, this original QLF publication illustrates the great variety of uses and environmental features of the Muscongus Bay region in Midcoast, Maine.
An Evaluation of the Warren Community School CO-SEED Site: The final report on the results of a three-year place-based education partnership between QLF's Marine Program, Antioch New England Institute, and the Warren Community School in Maine's Muscongus Bay Region.
An Environmental Bibliography of Muscongus Bay, Maine: Originally produced by QLF's Marine Program in 2005, this online publication has recently been updated with a number of articles both recent and past. Containing 125 lisitings dating from 1921 to 2008, this is the only known compilation of scientific research for this bay region.
Engaging stakeholders in community-based conservation: Findings from Downeast Maine and the Bay of Fundy. Results of a 2007-2008 study by two MIT graduate students conducted for the Nearshore Ecosystem Collaborative (NEC). This is a new partnership between QLF, MIT-USGS Science Impact Collaborative, and Ecological Policy Design forged to develop a replicable, community and science-based process for learning how discrete nearshore systems function in the Gulf of Maine.
Final Summary - Muscongus Bay Ecosystem Composition Workshop. A seven-page document describing the results of a one-day workshop held in Waldoboro, Maine in December, 2008 to gather and share scientific insights about the core features that both define Muscongus Bay and influence how it functions.
The Sounds Conservancy
The Sounds Conservancy is a marine research and education program designed to protect the estuaries and coastal waters of the Sounds of southern New England. Its regional focus is specifically the waters from Long Island Sound to Nantucket Sound. Through the use of a small grants program, the Sounds Conservancy working within QLF, seeks to secure the protection of its region’s marine resources through the support of projects focused on marine education, research, advocacy, and conservation. For more information contact:
Map of The Sounds Conservancy Grantees from 1995 – 2008: Link »
The Sounds Conservancy Program Grant Application: Download form »
The Sounds Conservancy Grantee, Helen Hays, has studied Common and Roseate Terns on Great Gull Island for 38 years. She and her colleagues are now tracking the birds on their annual migration from Great Gull Island to Punta Rosa, Argentina. Photograph © Greig Cranna
Biodiversity Conservation
QLF works with communities to develop and implement projects that conserve biodiversity and sustain local livelihoods. In co-operation with local residents, organizations and governments, projects empower communities to take an active role in managing their natural resources, promote initiatives that provide economic benefit from biological conservation and improve public awareness of the significance of healthy environments through outreach and education. Many of these community-based projects are recognized globally as successful models of long-term conservation. Projects within the Biodiversity Conservation Program include: Marine Species at Risk; Sea Duck and Seabird Conservation; Climate Change; Environment and Health; Leadership; Sustainable Fisheries.
A large female humpback whale identified as Lobo H147 was found stranded on a beach in Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon in 2005. She was first observed in 1989 by whale researchers in the southern Gulf in 1989. This species is being monitored as part of QLF's Marine Species at Risk Observer Program. Photograph by Trish Nash
Transportation
QLF’s transportation program, based in Vermont, promotes the use of advanced vehicle technologies, fosters progressive transportation emission policies, seeks to broaden public support for such policies, and works towards the advancement of technologies to meet those emission goals. Since 1996, QLF has provided substantial technical assistance to Vermont and other states in the northeast to help them adopt and implement the California LEV program. In addition, QLF provides public outreach aimed at educating the public about the interrelationships between transportation, air quality, and climate change.
QLF has also helped to create EVermont, an advanced vehicle technology research consortium focused on the role of electricity and efficiency in transportation. QLF managed the operations of the consortium, and staff member Tom Horn now serves on its Board. QLF staff also provide consulting services to various partner entities to help address local and national energy and transportation issues.