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Spruce Creek Watershed Projects

Spruce Creek

Recent Updates & Volunteer Opportunities

Kittery Launches Spruce Creek Watershed-Based Management Plan Update

The original Spruce Creek Watershed-Based Management Plan (WBMP) was created by the Town of Kittery and FB Environmental (FBE) in 2008. The plan, along with the updated version produced in 2014, focused on addressing the high bacteria levels in the Creek.  As a result of this plan, more than 60 best management practices have been implemented in the Spruce Creek watershed, effectively reducing the number of bacteria that enters the water.

Despite the success of the original plan, a second water quality challenge has emerged in recent years that has threatened to reverse the restorative trend in the watershed: macroalgae.  Large macroalgae blooms that were first reported in 2021 have become a recurring problem in the Creek each summer, limiting the recreational use of the waterbody and degrading the aquatic habitat for living organisms. The root cause of these blooms is likely nitrogen pollution coming from nonpoint sources such as runoff from agricultural and residential areas, along with discharge from septic systems.

To address these sources, the Town of Kittery has begun a project to update the Spruce Creek WBMP to focus on nitrogen pollution in addition to bacteria. This update includes plans for a watershed inventory survey on August 8, 2023, water quality monitoring for nitrogen throughout the summer, and volunteer monitoring to track the location and duration of macroalgae blooms. 

The project will also include the development of an action plan to address the water quality issues identified, which will be presented at a public meeting to gather public input. The project will conclude in 2024, with updated analyses and action items presented in a new WBMP document.

Here's How YOU Can Get Involved

Spruce Creek Watershed Inventory Survey

If you're unable to join the Town of Kittery at one of our volunteer events, you can still help document watershed conditions and take pictures for the Spruce Creek Watershed Inventory.

How It Works

Volunteers and community members can use their smartphones to photograph algal blooms they are seeing on and around Spruce Creek. Photographs, latitude and longitude data, and observational notes can be shared with the Public Works department where they will be compiled together to document ongoing trends. This information can help to spur emergency responses to pollution and algal blooms, and document evidence of climate change. Over time, local resident contributions are helping us amass a collection of visual data on the health of Spruce Creek and how it may be changing. Community members can begin taking pictures of the blooms they see throughout the watershed with a description of the location, extent, and general appearance of the bloom. The data collected should be sent to jkellogg@kitteryme.org or information may be texted to (207) 752-7242.

For more volunteer opportunities, please click here to visit our Volunteer Page.

Watershed & Water Quality Information

The Spruce Creek watershed is a 9.5-square-mile coastal watershed, of which 90% is within the Town of Kittery, ME and 10% in the Town of Eliot, ME. Drained by seven major freshwater streams (Barters Creek, Wilson Brook, Fuller Brook, Hill Brook, Hutchins Creek, Chickering Creek, and Crocketts Brook), the watershed feeds the Spruce Creek estuary, which in turn empties into the Piscataqua River, 1.5 miles north of the Piscataqua River’s mouth to the Gulf of Maine. Approximately 3-square miles of the watershed’s area are tidal, comprised of high salt marsh, ledge, and mud flats. Fecal contamination (as evidenced through elevated fecal indicator bacteria) comprise the primary pollutant of concern in the Spruce Creek watershed, having caused the impairment listing, as well as the closure of Spruce Creek’s shellfish beds since 2005. The estuarine portion of Spruce Creek is listed in the Maine DEP’s 2014 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report as impaired under Category 5-B-1: Estuarine and Marine Waters Impaired for Bacteria Only (fecal pollutants) – TMDL Required. Spruce Creek is also identified by Maine DEP on the Threatened Stream and Marine Watersheds Priority List due to negative water quality indicators and its status as an MS4 priority water.

The Town of Kittery was awarded a Section 319 Clean Water Act federal funding for restoration efforts for the Spruce Creek Watershed Restoration Project in 2008. The Town was awarded funding for four more consecutive phases of the project, with the overall goal of reducing bacterial impacts to Spruce Creek and restoring water quality in the estuary. The project’s focal waterbody, the Spruce Creek estuary, runs through the heart of the coastal community of Kittery, Maine. The watershed includes a diverse mix of residential neighborhoods, commercial business corridors, conserved forest and shoreland, and agricultural areas. Many parks, boat launches, and residential homes provide both public and private access to the Creek, which also provides an iconic vista for travelers along Route 1 and Interstate 95 (or direct recreational enjoyment through boating, kayaking, and fishing) and is an integral part of Kittery’s identity and local quality of life. Diverse freshwater and estuarine habitats, including forestland, meadows, freshwater wetlands, salt marshes, and mudflats, offer excellent benefits to aquatic and terrestrial species. The estuary used to and hopefully will once again provide a thriving opportunity for shellfishing.

The Spruce Creek Watershed-Based Management Plan was approved as an EPA nine-element plan by Maine DEP in 2008. The Plan was updated and approved in June 2014 after a process involving stakeholder meetings, an update to the Action Plan, incorporation of new water quality data, and updated goals funded directly by the Town. The plan included the nine minimum elements considered by EPA to be critical for achieving improvements in water quality and required under the Nonpoint Source Program and Grants Guidelines for States and Territories (April 2013).

The Town of Kittery and the Spruce Creek Association have been actively involved in protecting and restoring water quality to Spruce Creek for many years through annual Town-funded and volunteer efforts. These efforts include watershed-wide water quality monitoring and targeted bacteria source tracking projects, and the successful completion of five phases of the Spruce Creek Watershed Restoration Project, funded in part by USEPA under section 319 of the Clean Water Act. The four phases of projects (#2008RR01, #2010RT07, #2013RT06, #2015RT06, and #20180005) installed conservation practices at 27 sites, hosted nine septic and residential socials, completed an intercept survey, gathered over 90 residential pledges to install watershed-friendly practices, conducted follow-up on residential pledges, developed a septic system ordinance (though not adopted by Town Council), completed a septic system database and risk ranking, and removed an overboard discharge. The Town has a track record of matching that goes above and beyond the requirements for 319 grants, which shows a dedication to responsible use of grant funds to achieve tangible outcomes. This project provided additional resources for targeted follow-up to these recent accomplishments, through the continued work of Town staff and volunteers who are dedicated to protecting and restoring water quality in Spruce Creek.

Grant Project Administrator:
Jessa Kellogg, Public Works Inspector, (207) 752-7242 or jkellogg@kitteryme.org. 

Spruce Creek Watershed Documents