The College of the Atlantic provided the perfect follow-up to the panel on development presented by the Conservation Commission last Fall. This past Spring, the College of the Atlantic Land Use Planning students used Lamoine as their Town to work on. The Board of Selectmen provided the perfect opportunity for the students to learn about the issues confronting the Town by holding a meeting on long-range planning needs in May. The students took off from there, calling and meeting residents and community leaders, exploring the Town with sharp eyes and cameras, and spending countless hours huddled over computer terminals entering and compiling Graphical Information Systems (GIS) data.

On June second the students came to the school and presented their findings to about 50 assembled residents. Using a tag team format, the students explored data on the history, population growth, natural resources, and building patterns in the Town, generally by use of a PowerPoint presentation of maps that they created from GIS data. The presentation was well done and well received. The Conservation Commission is very appreciative of the efforts of these students, under the guidance of their professors, Isabel Mancinelli and Gordon Longsworth.

The materials the students generated will be available in the Town Hall, both as paper maps and in the presentation format.

Other recent events sponsored by the Conservation Commission include a Roadside Litter Clean Up, created at the urging of Georgia Munsell and organized by Georgia and Lynda Tadema-Wielandt, a new member of the Conservation Commission.

The Conservation Commission also sponsored and organized the sale of Earth Machines composting systems, which will probably be delivered by the time this is published. The Conservation Commission will start to dig further by holding an informational session on solid waste and recycling at its July 14th meeting. The Conservation Commission is currently composed of Fred Stocking, Carol Korty, Donna Theall, Lynda Tadema-Wielandt and Tom Spruce, with Rae Dumont as an alternate. The Commission meets at the Town Hall on the second Wednesday of every month and sets aside time at every meeting to hear the concerns of those attending.