Each year, the Gulf of Maine Council gives Visionary Awards to two individuals, businesses, or organizations within each state and province bordering the Gulf. The awards recognize innovation, creativity, and commitment to protecting the marine environment. Dr. Jane Disney, Executive Director of the MDI Water Quality Coalition, was chosen for this award in 2007 for extraordinary leadership and commitment to monitoring water quality in the waters surrounding Mount Desert Island.

by Bill Trotter
Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - Bangor Daily News

BAR HARBOR - There’s not much fishy happening off Hadley Point in Eastern Bay. A project that enlisted the help of a small group of schoolchildren Tuesday is aimed at remedying the situation.

The immediate goal, according to project organizers, is to restore eelgrass habitat in the bay, which branches off Frenchman Bay between Lamoine and Bar Harbor. If the eelgrass can be re-established in the area, they hope a variety of marine wildlife will follow.

By Rich Hewitt
Monday, April 23, 2007 - Bangot Daily News

BLUE HILL - When volunteers begin monitoring coastal waters this year, they’ll use a new method designed to provide more information about the phytoplankton that causes red tide, and help researchers predict red tide occurrences along the Maine coast.

Alison Sirois, volunteer coordinator for the Maine Department of Marine Resources, is traveling the coast to meet with the 60 or so volunteers who monitor about 46 sites along the coast from Cape Porpoise to Eastport to teach them the new method.

The 2005 Ambassadors of Frenchman Bay Final Presentation was held Friday, December 9th, at the Maren Auditorium of the MDI Biological Laboratory.

Salisbury Cove- The MDI Water Quality Coalition offered an Environmental Stewardship Through Service Learning Teacher Workshop on Tuesday, October 18th, 4:00-7:30pm at the MDI Biological Laboratory. This was a workshop for teachers ready to engage students in authentic environmental stewardship projects in their community and was made possible by funding from Maine Community Foundation and support from the MDI Biological Laboratory.

Bar Harbor Times, September 15, Coastlines
Laurie Schreiber

Bar Harbor- A group of four high school age students and their adult mentors. coordinated by the Mount Desert Island Water Quality Coalition's Maine Coast Learning Expedition program, will launch a four-day kayak expedition on Frenchman Bay to study issues affecting water quality and marine resources.

September 19, 2005
Maine Coast Learning Expedition students and community members are setting out on a 4 day kayaking expedition with the aim of understanding the state of Frenchman Bay, the stresses on water quality and marine resources, the issues that are important to local residents, and to gain a bay-level perspective on this unique coastal environment. As a collaborative learning community, the kayaking team will record observations and conversations with coastal residents, document the state of the bay, generating a list of impacts both on shore and offshore, and will produce a report for use in land use planning, conservation consideration, and education. They will adhere to a Leave No Trace philosophy throughout the trip.

SALISBURY COVE – This summer the Mount Desert Island Water Quality Coalition hosted four teacher internships through the Community Environmental Health Laboratory (CEHL). CEHL is a research and education collaborative with the MDI Biological Laboratory.

by Sarah Hinckley
May 5, 2005
Mount Desert Islander

Mount Desert- Members of a water quality monitoring group are opting to pinpoint the source of pollution that closed Seal Harbor Beach to swimming last simmer by conducting a watershed survey of Stanley Brook.

by Mark Good
June 2, 2005
Mount Desert Islander Maritime Section


Southwest Harbor- The town's shellfish committee has come up with a plan that should improve both the harvesting of clams and the bottom lines of class trip accounts at the Pemetic Elementary School.

The committee is getting sixth and seventh grade students from the school to dig clams from the thown's harbor and plant them in Fernald Cove. Hor thier effort, the town will make a donation to each class's respective class trip fund.

June 2, 2005
Bar Harbor Times Education Section

The Mount Desert 7th and 8th graders have teamed up with the MDI Water Quality Coalition to conduct an optical brightener study in Stanley Brook. An optical brightener study will provide information about whether the high bacteria counts that plague the brook in the summer months originate from sewage, or comes from other sources such as animal waste.

The Conners Emerson 8th graders partnered with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the MDI Water Quality Coalition to plant a vegetative buffer on Eddie Brook. The planting took place on May 11th on the bank of the brook that abuts the Conners Emerson playground.

Bar Harbor Times Education Section Sept. 30, 2004

Bar Harbor- The summer internship program at The Community Environmental Health Lab (CEHL), which took place at the MDI Bio Lab, was the most successful ever. With 10 interns and five different projects, it was a very busy lab. Nicole Grohoski from Middlebury College served as lab manager and coordinated all field and lab work. Danielle Bartlett from Acadia College and Michelle Brown and Lauren Kuffler from MDI High School monitored for phytoplankton, islandwide. They looked for toxic phytoplankton- those species responsible for red tide. They had more work than they bargained for when the biggest red tide in 40 years hit the coast of Maine in July.

January 9, 2003 Bar Harbor Times pA13
The Mount Desert Island Water Quality Coalition (MDIWQC) received a $26,000 grant from the Robbins De Beaumont Foundation to launch its pilot interdisciplinary stewardship program for high school students, the “Maine Coast Learning Expedition”. The foundation has also offered to document the program to show as a model to other innovative around the state.

October 7, 2004 Bar Harbor Times Education Section
This semester, the MDI Water Quality Coaltion has two high school research fellows participation in Maine Coast Learning Expedition, a 13-week environmental stewardship program focused on the scientific study of coastal water quality.

by Carol Williams
Bar Harbor Times, September 16, 2004

Bar Harbor- The Bar Harbor Conservation Commission started a study on Monday night that members hope will ultimately lead to a council resolution governing the fast-growing industry locally.

The commission's goals, according to member Greg Veilleux, are to learn about the effects of cruise ships on the local environment, community, commercial fishing, and economy. But after hearing from Jane Disney, Executive Director of the MDI Water Quality Coalition, that cruise ship discharges were not polluting Bar Harbor's waters, much of the discussion focused on the local economy.

by Trina Travers

MDI High School seniors Bik Wheeler and Randy Walls are testing the water around cruise ships coming to Bar Harbor this spring and summer as part of an ongoing project by the MDI Water Quality Coalition. As interns with the program this semester, the two are monitoring changes in water quality related to the presence of the ships in Frenchman Bay.

Bar Harbor Times, Sept. 30, 2004
by Carol Williams
Bar Harbor - Around the $800-million-dollar queen for the day, Coast Guard boats guarded the 300-yard security line. Small boats cruised, passengers craning to take in QM2's 236-foot, 23-story reach.

One boat, though- the harbormaster's - was close enough for hands on board to touch Queen Mary's black and red flank. But they reached not for boasting rights but phytoplankton; and their eyes, and arms, were to the water, filling up baggies to test whether the Queen Mary 2 was polluting Bar Harbor.

Augusta- The Eleventh Annual Maine Water Conference, a forum for water resource professionals, researchers, consultants, citizens, students, regulators and planners to exchange information on water resource issues in Maine, took place on March 22, 2005 at the Augusta Civic Center. Tifin Calcagni and Zack Steele of the Mount Desert Island Water Quality Coalition were there to present the poster "Not All Cruise Ships Are The Same- The 2004 Cruise Ship Season Report for Bar Harbor, ME".