Rural Issues Symposium

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  Advancing Agriculture Sustainability in Rural Maine by Using PFAS-free Paper

  Muhammad Ahmad Ishaq and Xiaoxiao Zhao

  Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely used globally for their properties such as water and oil repellency, chemical resistance, and thermal stability. Their applications include food packaging, non-stick cookware, fabrics and textile, cosmetics, etc. However, PFAS are harmful to human health and environmentally toxic. Their resistant carbon-fluorine bonds cause bioaccumulation in the body, increasing the risk of cancer, lung diseases, and immune system. This persistence also leads to long-term water contamination and ecosystem disruption. Our research aims to replace PFAS with alternative materials that are biologically and environmentally safe. To achieve this, we have developed a PFAS-free omniphobic paper that repels water, oil, and other liquids. To create this omniphobic paper, we used vapor-phase deposition of chlorosilane molecules on release liners to form a nanoscale layer (< 5 nm) of flexible, “liquid like” polymer brushes. This solvent-free strategy prevents paper from conventional damage, such as deformation and wrinkles, caused by immersing in liquids. The obtained paper shows unique properties, such as a low contact angle hysteresis (CAH<60) for liquids with a broad range of surface tension (from 72.8 to 22.4 mN m-1). These unique properties allow for potential applications in various fields such as food packaging containers, oil funnels, microfluidics, and microtiter plates.

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  Outdoor Learning in Rural Maine Schools: Lessons from a Positive Outlier Case Study

  Lauren Jacobs, Christiaan Abildso, Adam Daigneault, Jessica Leahy, and Christopher Nightingale

  This study explored the barriers and facilitators to outdoor learning and outdoor activities in a small K-12 case school in rural Maine. The case school was a positive outlier (PO), providing significant outdoor learning and activity opportunities to all students during the school day. Outdoor learning and outdoor pursuits in school settings can increase student physical activity, provide opportunities for students to reap the mental and emotional benefits from time in nature, and help them make important connections to local culture (Tremblay et al., 2015; Roberts et al., 2020). The positive outlier methodological approach sought to uncover reasons for the case school’s PO status and find practical strategies that could be useful to other rural schools seeking to increase outdoor learning. The PO case school was identified following surveys of administrators and physical education teachers of all K-12 inclusive schools in Maine. The PO school took part in the next phase of the study, including multiple interviews with educators and administrators, a site visit, and administration of two components of the Rural Active Living Assessment (Yousefian et al., 2010). A case narrative for the PO was created from the collected data. We found that incorporating outdoor learning time during the regular school day and curriculum was an important facilitator. Additionally, providing outdoor learning related professional development opportunities and curricular connections for teachers, strategizing long-term program sustainability, and connecting outdoor curricula to the local culture were critical in supporting this work.

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  Popularizing Science Among School Children in Northern Maine

  Udaya Jayasundara, Taylor Soucy, and Samantha Davis

  The central science, chemistry, is considered to be one of the hardest subjects to teach and learn. Hence students are reluctant to enroll in science or chemistry classes. A solid background of science in high school is crucial for the foundation of science in higher education. Critical thinking and innovative skills are essential components for someone to fully understand chemical phenomena. With the impact of global pandemic, exposure to science, especially chemistry, has been heavily affected. Hence, it is essential to recreate the enthusiasm among school students. In this project, we develop and demonstrate ten chemistry experiments using household chemicals. One of the experiments is the walking rainbow which demonstrates several natural phenomena such as capillary action, diffusion and dissolution. Having related these experiments to real life phenomena, students would be able to learn the underlying principles easily. These educational (based on magic chemistry) experiments are demonstrated to high school students in Aroostook County in the fall 2024. The schools have been notified and there is an impressive demand to conduct these experiments in their schools to develop the enthusiasm among students in both high school and middle school. Therefore, we plan to conduct up to ten demonstrations from September to December. It is also expected to obtain the feedback from the students and teachers to evaluate the quality of this project which could be further developed to other parts of the state of Maine in the future.

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  Lessons Learned from the Maine Rural Community Health Improvement Partnership Demonstration

  Celia Jewell, Yvonne Jonk, Cheyenne Ghougasian, and Brianna Holston

  Lessons Learned from the Maine Rural Community Health Improvement Partnership Background: From 2022-2023, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services developed the Rural Community Health Improvement Partnership (R-CHIP) demonstration aimed at addressing health related social needs (HRSNs) such as housing, transportation, and social connectiveness that can impede equitable access to health care and contribute to poor health outcomes. R-CHIP funding enabled public health, health care, and social service sectors in three rural communities to develop a partnership with a shared purpose, governance, data sharing, financing structure and plan to address complex HRSNs and mitigate disparities. Purpose: This poster highlights the lessons learned from the September 2023-September 2024 evaluation of the three demonstration sites’ Phase I planning process. Methods: Using a mixed method design, we evaluated the three R-CHIP demonstration sites’ progress towards achieving Phase I goals to develop: 1) a formalized community partnership, 2) a detailed plan describing the targeted populations and HRSNs, 3) an outline of the strategies to address the HRSNs, and 4) a sustainability plan for Phase II Implementation. Results: The three rural communities developed partnerships consisting of organizations from the public health, health care, and social service sectors. To varying degrees, they established a shared vision, governance structure, coalesced their partners around priority HRSNs and strategies to address them, and created a sustainability plan. Lessons learned involved partnership development and management strategies, community engagement, data sharing systems, and accountability measures. Conclusion: The R-CHIP project demonstrates how Maine rural communities can develop partnerships to address HRSNs.

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  Challenges and Opportunities for Climate Action in Rural Maine

  Tora Johnson and Brooke Hachey

  The Maine Climate Council is currently developing updated recommendations for the Maine Climate Plan. To inform their recommendations, the council sought input and expanded engagement with priority populations across the state regarding needs, interests and concerns related to climate change. This project was conducted under contract with the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions and focused on engaging with rural Maine residents, particularly those experiencing poverty, aging in place, participating in municipal government, or operating small businesses. We used a mixed-methods approach, beginning with three online and paper surveys, one for municipal officials, one for business owners, and one for the general public. We conducted five follow-up focus group interviews with consenting survey respondents, one for municipal officials and four with low-income residents, older adults, and others. Most participants resided in Washington County. Results indicate widespread interest in energy efficiency and electrification options, but participants faced barriers to implementation due to cost and grid unreliability. Housing and heating insecurity were major problems facing participants. Many lived in inefficient or unsafe housing with minimal access to government assistance. Many participants said they were concerned that rural parts of Maine would experience undue burdens and insufficient benefits arising from the Maine Climate Plan, particularly with increased land conservation affecting local property taxes and energy-related programs that may be inaccessible or impractical for rural people. Some participants expressed doubts about the reality or severity of climate change. Others sought support for more effective communication about climate-related issues in their communities.

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  Harbingers of Earlier Spring in Aroostook County

  Jason Johnston and Stephen Grierson

  Maine’s three degrees of latitude have a climate gradient similar to the twenty degrees of latitude from southern Europe through Scandinavia. Given this steep gradient, the impacts of climate change may proceed more rapidly across Maine’s diverse ecosystems, impacting management of all of our natural resources. The Acadian Forest is a unique forest community that occurs along this gradient and comprises a mix of more southerly and boreal species. The birds and other non-commercial species that inhabit this region are facing considerable changes. We highlight three studies conducted in northern Maine that have tested hypotheses related to shifting ranges, phenology, or migratory arrival to this region. In one study observations from the 1940’s and 1950’s were compared to current observations and temperature data. Leafout and flowering of many species of trees and herbaceous plants was earlier in response to April temperatures, although bird arrival was not significantly earlier. In a second a study that analyzed citizen scientist data from 1969-2013, the majority of short-distance migratory birds was significantly earlier, while most long-distance migrants did not arrive earlier. A third study used DNA metabarcoding to test whether arthropod species consumed underlies the northward range shift of a suite of resident or migratory birds; preliminary analyses are presented. Overall, there is evidence from both birds and plants that changes in weather patterns over multiple decades have resulted in adaptive responses, with the exception of some migratory birds. These findings add to a growing body of literature from Maine with similar conclusions, implicating agricultural, marine, freshwater, and other natural systems, as well as associated social and economic well-being.

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  Using Registered Apprenticeship to Build a Sustainable Teacher Workforce

  Walter Kimball

  The Maine Departments of Labor and Education are supporting Registered Teacher Apprenticeship Programs (RTAP) as a sustainable "Grow Your Own" pipeline for people who aspire to be teachers. A Registered Teacher Apprentice is a full time instructional employee of a school district who is completing teacher certification requirements as part of their employment with the guidance of a professional teacher mentor. The school district partners with a postsecondary education provider for training and instruction that accompany the on the job learning and meet teacher certification requirements. RTAPs have potential for rural districts to identify people in their communities who want to be educators and provide them with mentored employment and a pathway to teacher certification to join that community's teacher workforce. RTAPs include pre-apprenticeship, which is a program to enable high school students interested in teaching to participate in an apprenticeship-like experience. The University of Southern Maine is currently a post secondary partner with schools in Washington and Oxford Counties offering Registered Teacher Apprenticeship Programs, including pre-apprenticeship. This poster session will describe (a) the structure of an RTAP, (b) describe the roles of apprentice, employing school district, and postsecondary training and instruction provider, and (c ) resources available for RTAPs.

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  Developing a Self-Supporting Professional Learning Community for Math Specialists in Maine

  Shannon Larsen and Kelly McCormick

  “Just being able to surround myself with other people who have the same role as I do is invaluable because one of the things that I've found this year is that…no one knows what I do. And I didn't realize how lonely it could be” (Coach A). Mathematics Specialists (MS) work across Maine. They support teachers with instruction, teach in their own classrooms, provide intervention support to students, facilitate professional development (PD) for teachers, analyze school data, and serve in various leadership roles. MS frequently work in isolation and may be the only person in their school or district who holds their position. National organizations call for MS to receive their own PD (AMTE, 2024; NCSM, 2019), yet PD designed specifically for MS is rarely offered. In our poster presentation we will highlight findings from a study conducted in 2019–2020, showing the benefits of providing professional support to MS in Maine. We will then turn our attention to early work on a new project, aiming to develop a self-sustaining professional learning community for MS in Maine. We will share information from a recent literature review about the need for, content of, and structure(s) for PD for MS with focus on the barriers to providing such support in a large, rural state. Finally, we will ask attendees to share their own ideas about how professional learning opportunities might be developed so that a sustainable system of professional support can be developed for mathematics education leaders from across Maine.

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  An Exploration of Resilience Adaptive Capacities in Rural Maine Municipalities

  Vanessa Levesque, Eileen Johnson, Kathleen Bell, and Jessica Leahy

  How do rural municipal governments respond to challenges that arise and affect local residents? Are these rural local governments able to take actions that help the community respond and move forward? In this poster, we explore the ways in which economic development, social capital, information and communication, and community competence – four adaptive capacities tied to community resilience - were demonstrated in Maine rural communities during COVID-19, and how they interacted to build resilience. We conducted interviews with staff from 20 Maine municipalities that vary in population size, geographical location and governance form. We found that rural municipal governments do indeed demonstrate adaptive capacities and resilience, and do so in ways that make sense for their unique contexts, drawing on both existing and new resources in the process. Social capital was especially important, not only in its own right, but also in its role in advancing other capacities such as information and communication, and community competence. Overall, our analysis of the relationship between capacities, and their resultant impact on community resilience demonstrates the importance of holistic analyses when studying concepts as complex as community resilience. Further, we suggest that the context matters not only in how capacities emerge locally, but also for how to advance resilience in rural areas of Maine. There is no one single formula likely to help all rural Maine develop resilience capacities, but rather efforts to do so must be tailored to local strengths and opportunities.

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  Exploring Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Rural Maine

  Lisa Luken

  In Maine, the need to develop entrepreneurial ecosystems has been identified as a key strategic initiative aiming to inspire innovation through cross-sector collaboration, increasing entrepreneurship, and establishing policies that welcome more women to the workforce (Maine, 2019). A supplemental report identifies entrepreneurship as one of four ways to grow Maine’s economy, specifically listing goals to “fill gaps in Maine’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and unlock the entrepreneurial spirit in Maine’s small business sector” and “cultivate an entrepreneurial support ecosystem” (Maine, 2020, p. 5). The presence of these initiatives indicates that women, entrepreneurs, and rural communities are crucial to Maine’s economic development. While these initiatives seem promising, it is important to understand how to support women in developing these ecosystems. Insights from previous studies illustrating the impacts of entrepreneurial ecosystems on entrepreneurial success from other regions will be presented as will findings from a study of women entrepreneurs from rural Maine that explored what these women need from each other and their communities to thrive. Additionally, information will be presented about a developing study that will explore opportunities for cross-cultural entrepreneur exchanges that support the development of local and regional entrepreneurial ecosystems.

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  Building Resilience in Rural Communities through Strong Schools – RiSE Center Programs to Counter Teacher Isolation and Teacher Turnover, and Improve Student Engagement and Learning in the STEM Disciplines

  Susan McKay, Mitchell Bruce, Beth Byerssmall, Kelsey Davis, Jim Fratini, Jennifer Fronczak, Sara Lindsay, Susan McKay, Laura Millay, Beth Muncey, Eric Pandiscio, Franziska Peterson, Maureen Raynes, Heather Rockwell, Christina Siddons, MacKenzie Stetzer, Dave Thomas, Marina Van der Eb, and Bill Zoellick

  In Maine’s rural communities, schools play a particularly important, central role. They bring students together to learn, grow, and acquire the knowledge and skills needed to support their hometowns in the future. Schools are also often the gathering place for families and other community members. Rural teachers are more likely to face professional isolation, high turnover and unfilled positions in school staff and administration, and difficulties arising from the economic challenges of their communities. Through funding from the National Science Foundation, the Maine Department of Education, rural school districts, and private donations, the RiSE Center works to support and retain teachers in subjects of particular need, the STEM fields. It has successfully developed communities of practice, co-designed with new and experienced teachers, across multiple rural districts. The RiSE Teaching Fellowship Program, based upon a model developed with funding from the NSF Noyce Program (NSF Award #1557320), has helped keep graduates of Maine teacher preparation programs teaching in Maine and in high-need districts. Over 85% of program participants have stayed in these districts for at least four years and many have become leaders in their schools and in statewide professional learning offerings for their colleagues. This statewide community of practice meets regularly to reflect on the effectiveness of strategies that they have implemented and design improvements for future use. The RiSE Teaching Fellowship Program is just one example of RiSE initiatives to support Maine teachers and thus improve access to high quality STEM learning experiences for rural Maine students.

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  Community Engagement to Understand, Protect and Restore the Bagaduce River Estuary

  Karen Merritt, Bailey Bowden, Kerry Whittaker, Sarah O'Malley, Ann Cleveland, and Karen Merritt

  For over a decade, community-guided monitoring of the Bagaduce River and Estuary in Hancock County, ME has focused on understanding system ecology with studies focusing on recruitment and predation of softshell clam; impacts of invasive species including green crab; identification of point-sources of fecal contamination; assessments of species presence and abundance; and population counts following fish passage restoration. As well as contributing to a more robust scientific understanding of the ecosystem, these efforts are contributing socially to increased community awareness of the health of the Bagaduce. Efforts to study the Bagaduce are also generating opportunities for local students from the elementary to college level, as well as creating engagement with local non-profit organizations. The Bagaduce River and Estuary have experienced significant changes over past decades, including significant declines in abundance of softshell clams and resultant harvester income, and the return of historically significant species (alewife) following fish passage restoration. Changes within the system baseline are also continuing and include sea level rise and increased storm surge as well as declines in ice cover during warming winters. The Corning School of Ocean Studies (OS) at Maine Maritime Academy offers three majors which afford opportunities for direct student engagement with the Bagaduce system. Within OS, we are continuing to collaborate and engage with community partners, with a range of proposed and upcoming projects. Through the opportunity to continue to work collaboratively within the Bagaduce ecosystem, our students gain tremendous opportunities to contribute to the understanding, protection and restoration of this local ecosystem.

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  Undergraduate Civil Engineering Projects in Maine

  Edwin Nagy

  Over the past decade, UMaine Civil Engineering students have worked with nearly 50 municipalities and a dozen schools, non-profit organizations, and other groups around the state of Maine to provide preliminary engineering on issues including stormwater mitigation, coastal resilience, pedestrian and vehicular transportation safety, town center revitalization, wastewater and solid waste infrastructure, wetland restoration, hydropower and aquaculture facilities, bridge replacements, and development of recreational areas. The student work has helped these municipalities and other organizations make preliminary decisions, prioritize work efforts, determine budgetary requirements, and apply to private, state, and federal sources for funding. The projects primarily come from a request sent to Maine’s town managers, although many come via word of mouth. New efforts are underway to use the connections of our second- and third-year students to their hometowns to increase the visibility of our program and to provide civil engineering student role models to high school students. The initial phase, currently underway, is developing training materials that would allow our students to productively meet with town engineers and managers, school district superintendents, heads of local utility districts, and similar owners and managers of civil engineering infrastructure. The students would learn what issues their towns face and how they might help resolve them. In parallel, students would make presentations or hold workshops with local high school students showing them how civil engineering relates to them and their locales in an effort to increase interest in engineering as a career.

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  Characterising the effects of management strategies on PFOS uptake by perennial forage systems

  Sonora Ortiz, Jean MacRae, and Ellen Mallory

  Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) is a type of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) linked to carcinogenic and immunotoxic effects, among others. A major route of human exposure is through milk and beef from cows fed with hay contaminated as a result of historic sludge spreading on farm fields. In this field study, we seek to explore the effects of various management strategies on PFOS uptake by perennial forage systems. The comparisons we will be making are crop type (perennial vs. annual, grass vs. legume), “optimal” vs. “late” harvest timing (referring to the timing of the harvest, whether the crop is at the optimal growth stage or beyond that), plant partitioning (leaves vs. stems vs. grain/storage organs), harvested product (silage vs. snaplage vs. grain for corn and whole plant haylage vs. grain for oats and winter triticale), cutting height (8 cm vs. 15 cm) and cut number (first vs. second). Our primary objective is to determine management strategies that can be utilised by farmers to safely continue growing hay on PFAS-impacted fields.

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  Attracting, Developing, and Retaining Teacher Workforce Talent: Insights from Three Rural Maine Projects

  Williams Patricia

  Rural schools are harder to staff than urban or suburban ones (Monk, 2007; Hodges et al., 2013). However, rural school districts are more likely to struggle with teacher vacancies due to turnover and job dissatisfaction than their urban or suburban counterparts (Ingersoll & Tran, 2023). Drawing on data from three projects examining the teacher workforce in rural Maine, this poster with help conference participants better what it takes to attract, develop, and retain Maine’s teacher workforce in rural area. Select data from statewide surveys of the future teacher workforce (pre-service teachers and new inservice teachers, n=224), educational technicians (n=256), and participants in the New Teacher Academy (n=130) will be presented. Together, these data sets will highlight factors contributing to turnover and job dissatisfaction. Factors identified include a need for (1) more job flexibility, (2) increased attention to educator well-being, (3) improved communication around not on job responsibilities, but the philosophy and context of schools and in the hiring process, and (4) the need for networks of peer support within districts. Recommendations to develop a resilient rural teacher workforce will be discussed, using lessons learned from these three University of Maine System (UMS) supported projects.

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  How People, Place, and Technology Fit: Participatory Methods to Support Community Resilience in Ocean Renewable Energy Siting

  Jessica Reilly-Moman and Heather Leslie

  Ocean renewable energy (ORE) such as offshore wind holds the potential to mitigate climate change at the scale needed to meet the ambitious renewable energy goals of Maine and the U.S. However, ORE projects will affect Maine’s rural and coastal communities in unknown ways, and social opposition continues to challenge developers and the states who seek to host them. We use the concept of “place-technology fit” to describe the degree to which a given energy project is suited to a place, as determined by place-specific values, beliefs, meanings, economies, and ecologies, as well as social and cultural identities. We used a knowledge coproduction approach and found, in contrast to a public framing of offshore wind as a binary conflict, a deeply nuanced spectrum of perspectives assembled from nested individualist and collectivist cultures. Both proponents and detractors of offshore wind share values of responsibility to past and future legacies, a deep distrust for an “already baked” process, and an obligation to uphold the public position of their social group (for or against offshore wind). Participants indicated that ORE development processes disrupt traditional formal and informal processes that have guided ocean decision making in Maine in recent decades. Identifying how these factors influence place-based social acceptance can potentially facilitate appropriate development, allowing states to meet mandated climate mitigation goals while respecting and including diverse rural stakeholder livelihoods and needs.

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  Local knowledge provides the foundation for community science on Maine’s rural coasts

  Sarah Risley and Heather Leslie

  Maine’s rural coastal social-ecological systems have long supported diverse human activity and interests, like fishing, aquaculture, tourism, and recreation. Yet in the face of rapidly changing conditions, many linked with the climate crisis, communities often lack systematic, place-based approaches to monitor and develop solutions to address social-ecological change. We report on a collaborative community-based research project in Maine, USA that aims to address these gaps. In 2019-2021, we used participatory mapping and interviews to document local knowledge in the Damariscotta River Estuary in midcoast Maine. Through this study, we documented observations of change as well as hypothesized drivers. These results directly informed the design of an ongoing community-based research program that is contributing information to help support local decision making. We propose that research that emerges from local knowledge: 1) provides the foundation for knowledge co-production and feedback among scientists and collaborators; 2) uplifts diverse forms of knowledge and local voices; and 3) can tackle transdisciplinary questions that have both local and broader significance. Local knowledge documentation is a process that supports collaboration and allows for knowledge from marginalized rural populations, like shellfish harvesters, to be shared, thereby contributing to more just and equitable social-ecological research. This project represents an approach to collaborative research in rural coastal social-ecological systems that can foster knowledge co-production, enhance the visibility of local knowledge, and ultimately improve monitoring and understanding of change in dynamic social-ecological systems.

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  Empowering Maine’s Future Rural Workforce to Advance Forest and Community Resiliency

  Kennedy Rubert-Nason, Libin T. Louis, and Stephanie Landry

  A socioeconomically and ecologically conscious workforce is imperative for building climate resilient and sustainable forests and rural communities. Through multiple intersecting, interdisciplinary initiatives led by Dr. Rubert-Nason over the next four years, faculty at the University of Maine at Fort Kent will engage 20+ undergraduate students of forestry, biology, and environmental studies in hands-on research experiences that empower them for ecologically-conscious STEM careers. With ongoing support from the Maine Economic Improvement Fund, National Science Foundation, and Harold Alfond Foundation grants, a cohort of students will work alongside faculty on various projects exploring the impacts of land/water management practices and climate change on Maine’s forests. Our presentation showcases new investigations of the possibilities for using biochar to increase soil carbon storage and create resilient forests, prior work on forest health, and opportunities for future research exploring the interactions among trees, soils, and people. Woven throughout these initiatives is a mentoring philosophy grounded in critical education theory and informed by traditional (Indigenous) ecological knowledge. This mentoring approach aims to empower students with the foundational STEM knowledge (e.g., forestry, ecology, microbiology, mathematics), leadership, dialogical, intercultural and technological skills to increase the resilience of forests and their interdependent human communities to global change threats. Anticipated outcomes include multiple scholarly publications, increased undergraduate student recruitment and retention, insights into building climate-resilient forests and rural communities, and recruitment of socioeconomically disadvantaged people into the STEM workforce. These outcomes align with the emphases of Maine’s Science and Technology plan, climate action, and economic development goals.

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  Evaluating transfer of PFAS from soil to lettuce, tall fescue, and tomato to support management of contaminated lands

  Alex Scearce, Jean D. MacRae, Caleb P. Goossen, Kylie P. Holt, Yongjiang Zhang, and Rachel Schattman

  The historical practice of fertilizing farm fields with sludge, some of which contained high levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), has led to uncertainty surrounding the viability and health risks associated with highly contaminated farming operations. There are adverse health impacts (decreased immune response, decreased fetal growth, liver cancer, and kidney cancer) associated with both prolonged occupational exposure and consumption of crops and livestock grown in PFAS contaminated soils. As a result, rural farming and indigenous communities face heavy impacts amidst the widespread discovery of PFAS concentrations in Maine and beyond. One of these challenges is the regulatory gap in PFAS policy whereby soil screening guidance has yet to be established for cropping systems besides preliminary forage guidance. In our field study, we partnered with Hunter Farm, a farm removed from production due to elevated levels of PFAS contamination, to evaluate uptake of PFAS into three distinct crops: lettuce, tall fescue, and tomato. From this, we found that PFAS transfer from soil to crop varied greatly by compound and plant part, but perhaps more importantly, this variation was accompanied by high levels of in-field variation of PFAS concentrations in soils. These results contribute to the growing body of research documenting transfer of PFAS from soil to crops, which will be of use for future models and soil screening thresholds.

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  Communities and Offshore Wind: Learning from Two Maine Rural Coastal Communities

  Amber Schultz, Teresa Johnson, and Caroline Noblet

  Maine is expected to be a leader in offshore wind development. As planning for offshore wind development advances, there remain uncertainties regarding the potential positive and negative impacts on Maine’s rural coastal communities. Through stakeholder interviews and surveys in two rural communities in Maine, our project aims to understand community perceptions, preferences and expectations regarding offshore wind and how these views change over time. Understanding expectations and preferences regarding impacts can aid offshore wind development related decision-making processes. When complete, this research will provide actionable information to decision makers, developers, and community leaders for developing and negotiating equitable community benefits.

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  Stormwater Management Systems in Rural Coastal Maine: Identification of place-based solutions through study of current practices

  Alisha Shrestha, Tora Johnson, Shaleen Jain, and Jessica Jansujwicz

  Rural coastal communities in Maine are increasingly vulnerable to stormwater flooding due to the effects of climate change. Coastal flooding from storm surge, inland flooding and intense precipitation overwhelm the stormwater drainage systems at an increased frequency and severity. Failures in proper functioning of this infrastructure is mostly attributed to the increase in frequency of occurrence of floods. To support rural communities in adapting to climatic changes, it is necessary to assess the multifaceted aspects of stormwater management, including infrastructure cleaning and maintenance practices, decision making process, and policy frameworks. Effective and sustainable solutions to these problems require a bottom-up approach at a community level tailored to the requirements of Maine’s rural coastal communities, with a particular focus on the interlinked components of the built infrastructure (for example, roads and culverts). Therefore, this study will use semi-structured interviews with the town officials to study the existing stormwater management and maintenance practices and guidelines used locally to find the existing gaps and required sustainable and cost-effective improvements. Preliminary interviews with town officials indicated that stormwater infrastructure maintenance and management are mostly overlooked because of inadequate capacity and availability of funds. Reactive decisions are taken rather than proactive decisions, ultimately increasing the expense. Further interviews and literature review are underway and may provide additional insights into potential solutions.

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  Increasing Rural Maine's Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Workforce

  Sean Sibley

  The need for primary care nurse practitioners reflects Maine’s demographics. All 16 Maine counties have designated Medically Underserved Populations. The UMaine School of Nursing was awarded a 4-year $1.9 million grant in 2023 to strengthen its Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) program, with a focus on the care of vulnerable patients in rural, underserved areas. The Advanced Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW) program’s overarching goal is to increase the number of FNPs prepared to provide primary care services, including mental health and substance use disorder care, and/or inclusive reproductive health. FNP trainees are recruited from their communities and receive tuition and other financial support to ensure degree completion as educational costs prevent registered nurses from advancing their role. Curriculum enhancements and continuing education opportunities for students, faculty, and clinical preceptors have been developed to address emerging rural health needs and develop a state-wide network to support population health. As of May 2024, seven trainees have graduated, 21 trainees are matriculated, and recruitment is ongoing. A preceptor-training module has been developed with a state-wide pilot launching in Fall 2024. ANEW has implemented programming on manual-based cognitive behavioral psychoeducation, providing disability inclusive care, telehealth best-practices, integrated behavioral health, and addiction medicine. The collaborative effort of ANEW partnering with Maine’s healthcare organizations and interdisciplinary educational programs showcases the varied interventions to develop rural-practice ready FNPs.

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  Rural Older Adults: Access Challenges in Healthcare, Transportation, and Food

  Kimberly Snow, Mary Lou Ciolfi, Karen Pearson, Robyn Dumont, Jennifer Pratt, and Jayne Foley

  In fall 2023, we conducted a statewide needs assessment to inform the development of the Maine State Plan on Aging, which strategizes the most effective ways to support older adults in aging comfortably in their homes and communities, particularly for those services and supports funded through the Older Americans Act. Several areas of key concern to older Mainers living in rural areas emerged through surveys, listening sessions, focus groups, and key informant interviews. In health care, the concentration of healthcare providers in urban centers such as Portland and Bangor results in older rural residents having to travel hours to get care, including recommended screenings like colonoscopies, sometimes necessitating an overnight stay or otherwise going without. There are few, if any, public transportation options outside of urban centers. For older adults with limited incomes, the expense of owning a car can be significant. Fuel costs for long trips to appointments and errands can be high, and regular maintenance or urgent repairs may be financially out of reach. We heard from rural, older adults that access to fresh foods is hampered by large grocery stores located far away in more urban settings rather than small communities. When corner stores have fresh fruits and vegetables, they are often expensive. Although rural older adults experience challenges, many noted they feel safe in their communities, the environment is beautiful, and new services developed from the COVID-19 pandemic, including telehealth and fresh food delivery through Amazon and other vendors, contribute to their resiliency.

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  Next-Generation Ecosystem Science Centers Pluralistic Ways of Knowing

  Josh Stoll, Darren Ranco, Sudarshan Chawathe, Heather Leslie, Chaofan Chen, Tora Johnson, and Joshua Stoll

  We – a transdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Maine, in collaboration with other scientists and practitioners from government and non-profit institutions – see a critical need for research and training programs and funding that foregrounds collaboration, ontological and epistemological diversity, and stakeholder empowerment. M.S. and PhD students from multiple fields will be equipped with the theoretical foundation, knowledge, and professional skills needed to effectively access, analyze, synthesize, and communicate diverse types of information from local ecological knowledge to big data. We refer to this convergent science as 3-D ecosystem science. The three axes that contribute to 3-D ecosystem science are: (1) time, the temporal progression in science and policy towards holistic approaches to research and management; (2) complexity, the increasing complexity of modeling efforts to account for the social and environmental components of systems; and (3) diversity, the knowledge gained from adding ontological and epistemological depth to the study of ecosystems and their dynamics. Our training program emphasizes an emancipatory approach to convergence research (after NSF 2016). The research generated through the program will empower marine resource users, resource managers, and other stakeholders (Moon and Blackman 2014). This approach is critical for meaningful engagement and two-way communication with community partners, particularly in rural coastal communities, where geographic distance and other factors have contributed to real and perceived marginalization in previous research and management processes (Woodward 2005, Farr et al. 2018).

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  What is Missing? Policy Silences in Rural Serving Post Secondary Articulation Agreements

  Bragdon Tobby and Kathleen Gillon

  Over the past 2 decades, scholars have made efforts to critically examine challenges in the vertical transfer pathway for community college students transferring to 4-year institutions (Handel, 2011; Jain et al. 2020; Strempel, 2013). Though there are many challenges in the vertical transfer pathway, credit loss and extended graduation timelines can significantly affect the economic and social mobility of minoritized students. Articulation agreement policies were developed to reduce credit loss in the vertical transfer between community colleges and public 4-year institutions (Brint & Karabel, 1989; Cohen, 1995). Acknowledging the cyclical nature of large sociopolitical discourses and the reflective and productive properties of discourse in articulation agreement policy is important. This study aimed to explore and interrogate discourses in articulation agreement policies that may contribute to challenges in the vertical transfer pathway for minoritized students. This was done by identifying predominant discourses that depict community college transfer students and what reality was produced by discourses in the policy. I approached this question from a feminist poststructural paradigm, using the theoretical framework of transfer receptive culture (Jain et al., 2020) to guide the sample selection and policy discourse analysis to analyze the discourses in the chosen policy documents (Allan, 2008; Dirks, 2016; Jain et al., 2020).