The Mission
On May 5th, 2024, in honor of National Drinking Water Week, environmental storytellers Jenny O’Connell and Andy Gagne embarked on a source to sea paddling expedition from Bethel, Maine, to Casco Bay, kayaking 100 miles with a small team of local adventurers and environmentalists. Our mission is to transport our audience into the watershed, demonstrating how the rivers, forests and wildlife are all so connected to the faucet, and to highlight the unique and creative ways people are working together to protect this water source for future generations.
Follow the water - a Maine Mountain Media documentary.
Premiere Info:
Join us along with Maine Mountain Media & Sebago Clean Waters at Allagash Brewing for the premiere!
When: Saturday March 22, 2025
Time: 1-3pm
Location: The Great Room at Allagash Brewing (81 Industrial Way, past the Allagash Tasting Room. Follow the signs towards the back patio in the lot located at 81 Industrial Way.
Please RSVP here to let us know you’ll be there!
The Watershed
The Sebago Lake watershed provides over 200,000 households–1 in 6 Mainers–with clean drinking water. The forests around Sebago Lake act as a natural filtration system, making it one of the top 50 cleanest water drinking supplies in the U.S. and a conservation hotspot. Losing just 8% of the watershed’s forests to development could have huge consequences for Maine’s clean drinking water. It’s a rare environmental story where humans haven't yet destroyed the natural system...but the threat is real.
The Expedition
Starting in Songo Pond, we paddled all passable sections of the Crooked River, Songo River, Sebago Lake, and Presumpscot River, ending at Mackworth Island in Casco Bay. The journey was exciting and challenging -- recreation is scarce on these narrow rivers due to dams, downed trees, and protected Atlantic salmon habitat (not to mention it was Jenny’s first time in a whitewater kayak!).
Along the way, as well as in the weeks surrounding our river trip, we spent a lot of time listening to the people who are connected to the watershed. We visited a spawning site for Atlantic salmon with a wildlife biologist, climbed aboard a boat for a water monitoring trip with Portland Water District scientists, discussed Maine breweries’ reliance on the watershed over a beer with Allagash Brewing’s sustainability coordinator, heard from a First Nations poet and environmental activist about the cultural and spiritual importance of protected waterways, and met with Sebago Clean Waters and participating land trusts as well as Friends of the Presumpscot and Friends of Casco Bay about their work in river and watershed protection.
The story that emerged paints a compelling picture of just how connected we all are -- and how all of us are needed to speak up for the right to clean water.
Meet The Team
Alex Kerney
Alex Kerney works at the Gulf Of Maine Research Institute as a Web Application Developer on the Ocean Data Products team. The team shares their lab and field research with the surrounding communities of the Gulf of Maine and beyond.
Alex has years of experience leading wilderness trips for Chewonki and other organizations around Maine. Sailing, sea kayaking, and rowing are Alex's preferred methods to explore the waters of the Gulf of Maine, but just as often you can find him further up the watersheds on his skis, whitewater kayak, or mountain bike.
In his free time, he's also been working on building his own water level gauge to know when there is water to paddle. Yet another way for him to combine work and play.
Jenny O'Connell
Jenny’s Award-winning outdoor adventure and environmental writing has appeared in magazines across the country. Her debut memoir-in-progress, Finding Petronella, traces her solo trek across Finland following the footsteps of a legendary woman beyond the Arctic Circle.
Jenny’s fifteen years as an outdoor guide have brought her all over the globe leading backpacking, sea kayaking, cultural exchange, winter adventure, and river expeditions from the Peruvian Andes to the wild waters of Maine, igniting her passion and resolve to advocate for wild places and strengthen the connection between humans and the natural world through the creative arts.
Andy Gagne
Andy Gagne is a professional photographer based in Norway Maine.
Andy has combined over a decade of working in the outdoor industry with professional photography. You can often find him mountain biking, skiing, and kayaking with a camera in hand.
He’s most passionate about creating images to help promote local environmental and recreation based organizations. Much of his published work focuses on inclusivity in the outdoor space.
When Andy moved to Norway in 2016 he was quickly drawn to the Crooked River watershed where he spends much of his time, paddling, fly fishing and mountain biking. His curiosity and connection to the river has evolved into this project.
Charlotte Nutt
When Charlotte was 4 years old, the entire Nutt family embarked on a sailing circumnavigation of the globe that took 6 years. Upon returning to Maine, Charlotte held onto her curiosity, compassion, and love of the outdoors--especially water. Her interests took her through a double major degree in geology and economics and a master's in public policy.
She now works for the Midcoast Council of Governments as a GIS and Data Planner assisting municipalities in their data pursuits. Seeing that so much environmentalism and activism happens on the town level,
Charlotte has decided to run for state representative to the Maine House and will be on the ballot in November 2024. In the state legislature, she hopes to support Maine rural towns in a myriad of planning issues including conservation. You can learn more about her at her campaign website www.charlotteformaine.com.
