Woolwich selectmen are weighing an offer from Mid Coast Wood Bank (MCWB) to provide free firewood to eligible residents as a source of winter heat. Nat Pulsifer shared details of the program with the board when they met Wednesday, Aug 19. The town participated in a similar arrangement last year.

“We’re a volunteer partnership with community volunteers providing emergency firewood fuel assistance from Oct. 1 through April 15,” said Pulsifer. If selectmen agree the group would place two 4’x4’x5’ wire baskets on town property where residents could take up to three armfuls of wood per visit. The baskets hold about a third of a cord each. MCWB will also deliver two cords of firewood free of charge to qualified households in need, added Pulsifer.

Community volunteers are needed to help replenish the wire baskets with wood, continued Pulsifer. MCWB has similar agreements with Bath, West Bath, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Lisbon, Lisbon Falls, Topsham, Brunswick and Harpswell. According to Pulsifer, MCWB delivered 120 cords of firewood last year. Their woodyard is on River Road, Topsham.

The selectboard allowed two wire wood baskets to be placed across from the town office last year. “Unfortunately, a lot of it went for camp firewood,” commented Chairman David King Sr. "I think a better place would be ... at the salt and sand shed where we have security cameras." The selectboard wants to work out the details before deciding where to locate the wood cages.

Selectmen agreed to partner with Kennebec Estuary Land Trust (KELT) in applying for a “Maine Coastal Community Grant” administered through the Maine Coastal and Municipal Planning Assistance Program. KELT Tidal Restoration Coordinator Kyler Phillips said applicants are eligible to receive from $5,000 up to $50,000 in funding. Although a municipality has to file the grant, there’s no financial commitment being requested of Woolwich, Phillips said, adding, a required 10% match would be provided by KELT. The funding will be part of KELT’s planned restoration of the tidal crossing adjacent to the dike at the lower end of George Wright Road. The area is just north of the new Station 42 bridge.

According to a KELT fact sheet provided to selectmen, “These tidal crossings are the culverts and bridges that cross a stream, river, or wetland that is either currently tidal or expected to become tidal with rising sea levels in the next 75 years. Due to the low-lying nature of these crossings, they are particularly vulnerable to flooding—driven by rising sea levels and increasingly intense storms—which disrupts transportation and cuts off access to homes, business, and emergency services.

“Undersized tidal crossing structures at these sites also harm habitats and diminish the ability of streams and tidal wetlands to support vibrant coastal fisheries, protect shorelines from the impacts of storms, and support at-risk fish and wildlife species, like saltmarsh sparrow, striped bass, and shortnose sturgeon,” it states.

Phillips said if there were interest from the community, KELT would be happy to give a public presentation on the findings of its work. 

Town Administrator Kim Dalton announced the town had received a $2,936 dividend from Maine Municipal Association for its good performance and loss prevention efforts.

In his bi-weekly report, EMS Director Danny Evarts said the ambulance department will hold a training session the week of Aug. 24 on the use of the Lifepak defibrillator and Cardiac Rhythm Recognition for first responders. Woolwich Ambulance has averaged one call a day for August; 19 patients were seen and 16 transported. MC1 has been called twice. Two mutual aid calls were made to Wiscasset and one to Dresden, said Evarts.

Fire Chief Shaun Merrill said the re-painting of the North Station is done and he was pleased with the work. The fire department had responded to 11 calls so far this month, he said.

Both the fire and ambulance departments planned to participate in Woolwich Central School’s annual Block Party Aug. 26.