Public meeting to probe Kennedy Brook restoration effort

Mallard ducks rest on the lawn at Mantle Lake Park in Presque Isle. Below, a larger group wanders and rests around a tree at the park. Mallards have become an increasingly large part of the park's scenery and seem to be a favorite of many park-goers. The man-made Mantle Lake was created by water flowing from Kennedy Brook. (File photo/Paula Brewer)

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is inviting Presque Isle to learn about the problems affecting the Kennedy Brook watershed and the $64,000 effort to reclaim it.

The 3.1 square mile Kennedy Brook watershed running through the most densely populated residential area of Presque Isle and nearby farmland is currently considered to be an “urban impaired stream” by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Last year, the DEP, the city of Presque Isle and the University of Maine Presque Isle embarked on a new study and management plan development process for the Kennedy Brook watershed.

On Tuesday, July 11, the DEP is hosting a public meeting on the project from 5-6 p.m. in room 105 at UMPI’s Folsom Hall.

Flowing into the Presque Isle Stream, a tributary of the Aroostook River, the Kennedy Brook is classified as a class B stream, but it is not meeting that standard and has suffered from elevated nitrogen and phosphorous levels, according to the DEP.

With $41,600 in federal funding and $23,000 in matching funds totalling $64,000, the effort is aimed at further understanding the impacts to the watershed and ways to address them.

Although the stream is considered to be impaired, it is currently meeting class C status and restoration is “a reasonable goal,” according to the DEP’s report.