Five conservation organizations spanning from Southport to Montville are exploring consolidating into a new, regional organization, and proposals could go before their respective boards and memberships as early as this summer.
According to Jody Jones, executive director of the Damariscotta Lake Watershed Association, emails went out Jan. 21 to the memberships of the DLWA, the Pemaquid Watershed Association, the Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association, Hidden Valley Nature Center, and the Sheepscot Wellspring Land Alliance about the five groups’ exploration.
The effort began in 2013 when some of the executive directors started meeting to share ideas and help solve problems, according to a Jan. 21 email Jones sent to the DLWA membership.
“Early on it became apparent that there was a great deal of overlap among organizational missions and the towns they serve,” Jones wrote. “The group realized that a consolidated organization would undoubtedly create efficiencies by eliminating duplicative efforts by allowing staff to specialize in key program areas and by enabling the new organization to develop closer ties to the communities they serve.”
The exploration is ongoing, and the organizations would have to follow their own bylaws in bringing any merger to their boards of directors and likely their general membership before it could be approved, Jones said in an interview Jan. 22.
Jones expects a proposal could come as early as this summer, and the organizations would determine at that time how best to bring it forward.
Nothing is off the table as to the form of any reorganization, Jones said, but the first look is at the structure and benefits of a consolidated group.
“That has the opportunity to create the greatest leverage for expanding our mission, creating deeper roots in our communities, and creating better efficiencies” and reach, Jones said. “It’s really a bold mission and a bold vision to create something with greater capacity and greater sustainability.”
“The vision we are working toward is an organization that is larger, more efficient, and more effective without diminishing the essential grassroots connection of each organization,” said SVCA Executive Director Steve Patton in Jones’ email. “The new organization may also have a broader mission with greater emphasis on providing our communities with a wide range of educational and recreational opportunities.”
Sheepscot Wellspring Land Alliance Executive Director Anna Fiedler said in the email she “sees great potential for building on our respective areas of expertise to meet urgent challenges we face of ensuring clean water supplies and conserving lands for the public to enjoy for generations to come.”
“One of our motivations was each of our individual service areas is relatively small,” and to address the region’s concerns, the effort has to cross the organizations’ various borders, Jones said.
In addition to the five current participants, other conservation organizations considered participating but have since backed away, Jones said.
“Right now the five of us are really committed to working collaboratively to see if this can work,” Jones said, adding the door would be open for other organizations to join in the future.
As part of the exploration, the five organizations have scheduled a workshop meeting with an expert in such mergers, to include a legal analysis, an analysis of the groups’ various land easements, and a look at how to proceed after those items are considered, Jones said.
Most land trusts have wording in their land easements to, should an organization change or dissolve, transfer the easement to another deserving nonprofit, Jones said. The analysis would help determine how to make such transfers in the most appropriate way, she said.
One consideration is the Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association is the only accredited land trust among the five organizations, according to Jones. Because of that, a goal during any transition process would be to raise all the organizations’ standards to make it easier for the regional organization to become accredited in the future, she said.
In studying previous mergers, those involved in the process have learned groups’ cultures can be the biggest factor in a merger’s success or failure – a hurdle which has already been overcome, Jones said.
According to Jones, “each of the organizations has a very strong conviction that we share a common culture and common values.”
Should the groups merge, the plan is for all current staff members to stay on in the new organization, but the details of how that would work haven’t been ironed out, Jones said.
“One of the things that we all believe is the people within these organizations are our biggest asset, they have the history, the knowledge, and the expertise in the areas that we need most,” Jones said.
As to facilities, several of the organizations rent their space, and the site of a potential headquarters has not yet been determined.
“I think it’s going to be very important that we maintain connections within our communities and there might be satellite offices in order to maintain that visibility,” Jones said.
Improving connections with the region’s communities is something a merger is hoped to help with, including a ground-up approach, Jones said.
“We’re working on creating an organization that actually works more closely with our communities and meets our communities needs in new ways,” she said.
Regarding a new regional organization’s governing structure, “It’s highly likely we’ll continue to have local input to the new organization, and there will likely be representatives from all our boards initially for the new organization,” Jones said. “Exactly how many and how that would work is yet to be determined.”
Community members and organizational members are encouraged to reach out to their respective executive directors, who are “on call and ready to talk to each and any of their constituents,” Jones said.
“We embrace people who have concerns, because when those are voiced, it’s the best opportunity for us to address them and make whatever decision we have be stronger,” she said.
For more information on the five organizations, visit or call: The Damariscotta Lake Watershed Association at www.dlwa.org or 549-3836; the Pemaquid Watershed Association at www.pemaquidwatershed.org or 563-2196; the Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association at www.sheepscot.org or 586-5616; Hidden Valley Nature Center at www.hvnc.org or 200-8840; and the Sheepscot Wellspring Land Alliance at www.swlamaine.org or 589-3230.
