What We Do

Community Technical Assistance

Linking science to decision-making

The Community Technical Assistance Program is designed to build capacity through peer-to-peer knowledge transfer, connect community leaders with resources, assist partners in facilitation and meeting development, and more. At the core of the program is the Piscataqua Region Environmental Planning Assessment (PREPA) which provides a snapshot of regulatory and non-regulatory protections for natural resources in the 52 communities across the watershed.

Below are a few of the pillar initiatives PREP participates in to carry out the mission of the Community Technical Assistance Program.

PREP initiated the Piscataqua Region Region Environmental Planning Assessment Grant Program (Community Grants) in 2015. The program provided a grant opportunity in the 42 New Hampshire and 10 Maine communities within the Piscataqua Region watershed. Grant projects were associated with recommendations from the 2015 PREPA. Eleven communities applied for and received assistance through the program (2015-2016).

Summary of the 2015-2016 PREPA Grants

The Social Indicators Project was a two-year effort to kick off a process to integrate social indicators into existing measures of health in the Piscataqua Region watershed.

The project was fundamental to understanding and linking social and behavioral data to regional environmental indicators so managers and stakeholders can continue to collaborate effectively to protect coastal ecosystems and sustain a high local quality of life.

PREP debuted three social indicators in the 2018 State of Our Estuaries report:

Housing Permit Approvals
Stormwater Management Effort
Stewardship Behavior

PREP convened the Salmon Falls Watershed Collaborative in 2009 to improve watershed planning and management – and to protect water supply sources – in the Salmon Falls River Watershed.

The collaborative coordinates long-term source water protection efforts among planning commissions, land trusts, watershed associations, water systems, and town, state, and federal agencies in New Hampshire and Maine.

The goal of the collaboration is to protect and sustain high-quality drinking water in the Salmon Falls River watershed.

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Communities throughout New Hampshire struggle to provide sustainable funding for stormwater management and other climate resilience programs. Municipal budgets are tight and it’s challenging to convince decision-makers to allocate funds for environmental programs.

EPA and the Consensus Building Institute have developed a successful, interactive training series to help communities build the necessary support for funding stormwater management and other resilience efforts. Previously tested in communities throughout New England, PREP, and Great Bay NERR are bringing the series for free to New Hampshire municipalities in fall 2022. The program is designed to engage pairs (or small groups) of coworkers/municipal colleagues.

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