Nick Bennett Earns Bates Award for Environmental Stewardship

NRCM Scientist Nick Bennett Earns Bates Award for Environmental Stewardship

Nick Bennett, staff scientist for the Natural Resources Council of Maine for more than 16 years, has been awarded The Bates-Morse Mountain Award for Environmental Stewardship.

This award goes to an individual or group demonstrating significant commitment to and achievement of environmental stewardship and will be presented at the Harward Center for Community Partnerships Awards Celebration, on Wednesday, May 8, 2013, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Muskie Room at Bates College, in Lewiston.

Bennett has a long history of success at NRCM, working with lawmakers, community and business leaders, and others, to protect Maine watersheds, now and for future generations. Among the many successes, under Bennett’s leadership:
·         As a founding member of the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, NRCM was instrumental in removal of the Great Works Dam last June, an important step toward opening up more than 1,000 miles of river to endangered Atlantic salmon and other native fish while increasing energy generation on the river. Nick serves on the steering committee of the Penobscot River Restoration Trust and plans are in the works to build on this success, as the Veazie Dam is removed this summer.

·         Bennett led NRCM’s successful efforts to defeat efforts to roll back laws and rules that protect Maine’s wetlands from inappropriate development, including in habitats important for herons, ducks, and other wildlife.

·       Bennett led NRCM’s successful efforts to restore the Kennebec River watershed. After the removal of the Edwards Dam in the Kennebec, Bennett led NRCM’s work that resulted in the removal of the Fort Halifax Dam at the mouth of the Sebasticook River, resulting in the largest alewife run on the eastern seaboard and the return of Bald Eagles, Osprey, and other wildlife to these magnificent waterways.

·         Bennett is leading NRCM’s efforts to protect Maine from open-pit metal mining that could put Maine’s water resources and wildlife habitat at risk from sulfuric acid, arsenic, and other pollutants.

The Harward Center for Community Partnerships, which grants the Bates-Morse Mountain Award for Environmental Stewardship, is the Bates College office responsible for sustaining relationships between the college and the community.  The Center’s annual awards honor people and organizations for their efforts to strengthen college-community ties.

Nick is a graduate of the Yale School of Forestry. His professional background includes work in PCB contamination; wetlands delineations; wildlife surveys; and analysis of fish, soils, surface and ground water. Prior to working at NRCM, Nick worked at an environmental consulting firm, the Center for Marine Conservation, and the Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole. Nick resides in Hallowell.