Company Profile
Company Overview
We have developed a Bay-based curriculum which uses the Bay as a tool to teach many of the requirements of the Maine Learning Results program. Our Hands Around the Bay education program is dedicated to connecting Bay area students with the natural world.
Our diverse research portfolio includes a groundbreaking circulation study, bio-monitoring of toxins in caged mussels, aerial mapping/GIS plotting of aquatic vegetation and land use over time, and bald eagle egg assays.
Our volunteers annually monitor a variety of water quality measures, including dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, and pH, at over a dozen sites on Merrymeeting Bay and its tributaries.
We work with individuals from around the Bay to protect conservation land through easements. In our capacity as a land trust, we believe that conservation easements granted by willing landowners are one of the most effective means of protecting the Bay over the long term.
FOMB is a long-time member of the Maine Land Trust Network. We have adopted and follow the Land Trust Alliance's "Land Trust Standards and Practices"* providing ethical and technical guidelines for the responsible operation of a land trust.
We continue to advocate for local critters such as the American eel. We also work on issues surrounding toxins, sediment, shoreside land use, boat traffic, and fish passage at dams.
Company History
Founded in 1975, Friends of Merrymeeting Bay (FOMB) takes a holistic approach to protecting the Bay, combining research, education, advocacy, and land conservation. With approximately 375 members, one staff person, and 125 volunteers contributing over 3,000 hours of service annually, we are the only conservation organization in the area implementing these diverse tactics to achieve biological and cultural protection of the Bay as a whole.