Standing on the Eastern Promenade in Portland, Joe Payne, Casco Baykeeper, points toward the houses on Munjoy Hill and explains he was born in Portland 58 years ago. “I spent part of my youth in the house behind that house. This is one of my favorite places in the world,” he says. “This is a world-class view.”
When Payne was working in New Hampshire as a young marine biologist, he saw an ad in the old Maine Times. Two marriages were born during that period of his life: one to Kim, his cherished wife of 25 years, and the other to the grassroots organization Friends of Casco Bay, formed by volunteers in 1989. On Aug. 19, 1991, Payne began work as Baykeeper for the Friends of Casco Bay. His wife, also a marine biologist from Maine, refers to herself as the “Keeper of the Keeper,” and the Friends of Casco Bay staff, board members, and community hail her husband as “a keeper.”
On this photo-perfect summer day, recreation boats, ferries and tankers crisscross the bay while seagulls cry overhead. “We figured out how to make lemonade out of lemon,” he says of the early years. He recalls a Long Island woman who telephoned for help because an island resident was dismantling his cottage and taking the wooden parts down to the low water mark for the tide to carry away. When the woman challenged him, the man maintained his right to do it because that was what had always been done. She called the local police and moved up through various levels of government agencies that all told her it wasn’t their job. Payne was the seventh person she called, and he told her, “Well, it is my job.” He made phone calls and resolved the problem without a confrontation.
When Friends of Casco Bay celebrated its fifth anniversary, Payne remembers saying, “The biggest accomplishment is that we’re still here after five years.” He describes those early years as “a very scrappy, scratchy time just to make payroll.”
The next five years followed with a list of successes: an oil spill preparedness program, the opening of many closed clam flats, a pump-out program and an EPA-approved volunteer water quality program. Payne gives special credit to the thousands of telephone calls from friends of the Friends, citizens who call to report potential environmental threats, and to a community that supports the bay and those who steward it. And he notes with pride that this September marks the tenth anniversary of the JULIE N oil spill and that Casco Bay has not had another major oil spill since then.
At 15 years, those previous successes continue to bring economic and environmental improvements to the Casco Bay region. Payne adds the dredging of the bay’s shipping channel while protecting the lobsters in the dredging area to the list. Of the Friends’ efforts Joe says, “It’s going the right way. We’ve been lucky to have some enlightened legislators who have helped.” Perhaps the most significant success of all is the July 2006 EPA designation of Casco Bay as a no-discharge zone. The EPA ship BOLD docked at the Maine State Pier, and speeches and a public gathering marked the special occasion. Joe describes the new status as “big, very big” for the Friends and the Casco Bay communities.
Looking toward his 20th anniversary, Joe cautions that for all the successes, the Clean Water Act of 1972 required that all waters be swimable, drinkable, and fishable by 1986.
“We’re so far from that goal,” he laments, “and it’s already 20 years past deadline.” He emphasizes that the need for a continued “work with” policy and strong partnerships, the goal being a “big picture and big thinking.” He wants to see an ocean agenda built into the political process and then “into the state’s consciousness.” He quotes former Maine Gov. Angus King: “Our geography is our destiny.”
But the view into the future is troublesome for Payne. He worries about the continued degradation of the world’s oceans, and he worries that Maine’s environment and natural resources, such as its forests and drinking water, might result in future wars for our children and their children. He believes “a big picture coastal plan must be debated now.” Gazing toward Fort Gorges, he says, “We have the privilege of living near a bay that is healthy in the context of the other bays in this country, but that’s not enough.”
Friends of Casco Bay has planned a “Bay Caper,” scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 10, from 4 to 7 p.m. on the campus of Southern Maine Community College (SMMC) in South Portland. To join the celebration of Joe’s “fifteen years of protecting Casco Bay” and to enjoy seafood, music, and special guests, register by calling 207-799-8574 or e-mailing keeper@cascobay.org. Admission is $20 per person. Check the “Current Events” section of the FOCB website http://www.cascobay.org/ for updates and details. q
Marcia Allen is a freelance writer based in Saco.