March 19, 2024

A forum for grassroots action on water rights and security in Maine

Sponsored by Community Water Justice, Sierra Club of Maine, and The Penobscot Nation

Water is the most vital resource needed for life on earth.

Here in Maine we are blessed with a plentiful supply of water, but there are growing threats to the quality and quantity of our precious resource.

  • commercial water extraction
  • challenges to the rights of the Penobscot people to protect and manage the Penobscot River
  • landfill expansion (Juniper Ridge)
  • east-west corridor proposals
  • forestry practices
  • mining
  • and more

To effectively address these serious threats, it’s imperative that concerned citizens and groups addressing water issues share information and experiences and coordinate efforts toward protecting our water resources.To effectively address these serious threats, it’s imperative that concerned citizens and groups addressing water issues share information and experiences and coordinate efforts toward protecting our water resources.To that end a number of individual water activists have organized a summit on water security and rights.

  • raise awareness of various threats to our water
  • explore all options to protect water in our communities
  • to inspire everyone to take action.
Highlights From 9/29/2018
Invocation from the Penobscot Nation
Welcome on behalf of the Penobscot Nation: John Banks Director of the Department of Natural Resources
Summit Introduction: Steering Committee Member Ken Cline
Keynote Address by Attorney/Activist Tara Houska of Couchiching First Nation and National Campaigns Director of Honor the Earth
Water Extraction And Export, Nickie Sekera
Juniper Ridge Mega Landfill, Ed Spencer
Industrial Salmon Farming, Ellie Daniels
East/West Utility Corridor, Jim Freeman
Fish Passage on Maine Rivers, Landis Hudson
” A Grassroots Movement for Community Rights & Rights of Nature: Protecting People, Communities, and Nature.”
Michelle Sanborn, President for the New Hampshire Community Rights Network
” Being Penawahpskek.”
Sherri Mitchell, Native American Rights Attorney, Activist/Author, Executive Director of the Land Peace Foundation
Panel Discussion
Soulutions Moving Foward
Tara Houska, Sherri Mitchell, Michelle Sanborn, And Nickie Sekera