PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

11/19/2019

CCSWCD Awarded Grant by EPA for Soil Lead Testing & Outreach to Home Gardeners in Portland, Maine

The Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation District (CCSWCD) has been awarded $25,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Healthy Communities Program to educate home gardeners on the effects of soil lead contamination in Portland, Maine. Over the two-year project, direct outreach will be provided to residents of four Portland neighborhoods known to have both the highest levels of lead contamination as well as populations of new immigrants who might not account for this hazard when starting a garden. The targeted neighborhoods are East Bayside, Bayside, Parkside, and the West End.

Project work will include the following tasks:

• Create & Translate Outreach Materials: Produce region-specific outreach materials with information about gardening in soil with lead contamination or suspected contamination (3 fact sheets plus 1 door hanger). Project partners will contribute to an English version of documents. After the English version is finalized, materials will be translated into 4 locally spoken languages.

• Conduct soil sampling: During the 2020 growing season, up to 120 samples will be collected from home gardens in Portland Maine with a focus on the four targeted neighborhoods. Sites will be selected through direct neighborhood-level canvassing to include existing or potential home garden sites. Results of sampling will be provided to residents with a detailed action plan for mitigation if needed, dependent on individualized lead level and gardening practices.

• Detailed Action Plan Follow Up: During the 2021 growing season, at locations with high levels of lead contamination samples of plant tissue will be compared between pre and post action plan implementation.

• At the end of the project, summarize findings in a report and present to public.

All sampling costs will be covered by grant funds.

CCSWCD, based in Windham, has worked to “Assist and educate the public to promote stewardship of soil and water resources” in Cumberland County since its founding in 1946. CCSWCD looks forward to working with numerous partners to implement this project, including local neighborhood organizations, Cultivating Community, UMaine Cooperative Extension, the UMaine Soil Test Lab, Opportunity Alliance, and the City of Portland.

FMI:

Damon Yakovleff, Environmental Planner
Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation District

dyakovleff@cumberlandswcd.org
(207) 892-4700