CENTRAL MAINE • June 8, 2025
Hall-Dale High School senior Lily Drouin-Scease was one of four volunteers who inspected dozens of points along the Vaughan Brook watershed Thursday with the help of professionals from Ecological Instincts, an environmental consulting and planning firm. The goal was to identify places in the watershed where runoff could affect the quality of the stream — a requirement for securing long-term stream remediation funding. Vaughan Brook runs for about 3.7 miles through parts of Farmingdale and Hallowell, passing through Vaughan Woods before it empties into the Kennebec River. The stream drains about 5.9 square miles. Water quality testing in the Vaughan Woods portion of the brook over the past 13 years has repeatedly missed the state’s mark for supporting aquatic life. The brook is listed as “threatened” by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.