Our Staff
Lilit Mathieu
Shore Corps Steward
AmeriCorps Service Member, hosted by LAWPC in partnership Maine Conservation Corps, AmeriCorps, and Volunteer Maine.
Lilo’s service objectives focus on nature-based solutions for shoreline stabilization and community outreach. You can find Lilo leading a demonstration project focused on planting species native to the watershed or making informational videos for your enjoyment.
Contact Lilo
lakeauburnshorecorps@awsd.org
Phoebe Hopkins
Watershed Outreach Coordinator
Phoebe leads the way for community engagement and outreach in and around the watershed. Browse through LAWPC’s event list to join Phoebe on a guided walk through the watershed or on a paddling adventure with other local partners. Can’t make it? Read through LAWPC’s newsletters to check out other watershed insights presented by Phoebe.
Contact Phoebe
phopkins@awsd.org
Danielle Olsen
Watershed Manager
Auburn Water District & Lewiston Water Division, acting on behalf of Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission
Danielle focuses on all things watershed protection. Whether it is finding a creative way to conserve land in the watershed, organizing erosion control projects, or collaborating with landowners and local or state partners, Danielle focuses her time on keeping contaminants out of the drinking water supply. Danielle can help assess your property for run-off and erosion and help find solutions to manage it.
Contact Danielle
dolsen@awsd.org
Our Focus Areas
• Land Conservation
• Land Use Management
• Erosion and Run-Off Control
• Community Engagement & Outreach
Our Work
Staff and service members with Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission collaborate to implement projects and other tasks to balance out the focus areas.
Connecting the community with the watershed and building relationships with our community through events, newsletters, recreation planning, and technical assistance
Controlling erosion and run-off through the installation of nature-based solutions and resilient infrastructure, such as vegetative buffers and Stream Smart crossings
Monitoring land use activity throughout the watershed and specific to shoreland zones, working with property owners to implement protective strategies on their own properties
Maintaining partnerships to assist in protecting Lake Auburn:
- City of Auburn Planning, Permitting, and Code, centered on local permitting and land use management within the Lake Auburn Watershed Overlay District
- Lake Auburn Drinking Water Work Group with Maine DOT and Maine CDC’s Drinking Water Program, centered on run-off control on roads surrounding Lake Auburn
- Shore Corps Program with Maine Conservation Corps and Maine DEP’s climate and erosion control programs, centered on nature-based solutions to shoreline erosion
These are just highlights of the day-to-day tasks carried out by the watershed team. This work is guided not only by LAWPC’s mission and staff’s strategic work plans, but is based on the best available information from watershed inspections and updated guidance on practices from the State.
Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Plan + Highlights
Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Plan [opens PDF]
The strategic driver of LAWPC’s work is the Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Plan, approved in 2025.
Approved in 2025, the Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Plan was developed based on monitoring and data analysis and provides a range of practices and timelines to help protect Lake Auburn’s drinking water quality. These practices include small scale community outreach efforts to large scale, engineered projects. Staff frequently evaluate more data and the changes documented on the ground in the watershed, paired with changes and trends in water quality data. This enables LAWPC to make informed decisions on what should be implemented next and to what extent and when.
Technical Assistance
Stormwater Evaluations
All residents in Lake Auburn’s watershed can request a no-cost property consultation assessing stormwater runoff on their properties. The evaluation will focus on sources of erosion and provide recommendations to reduce erosion and runoff, containing it to the property or filtering it to the best extent possible. Other recommendations will be made regarding lawn care and other property maintenance activities, and information on all local and state regulations will be made available. The Watershed Manager will provide continued technical assistance to property owners who wish to implement recommendations.
Shorelines Assessments
Shoreline property owners, whether situated on Lake Auburn and its upper ponds or any of its tributaries, may request a shoreline assessment. This assessment is similar to a stormwater evaluation but focuses most of the evaluation on the potential for erosion on the shoreline area and makes recommendations for stabilization, using the State’s OUR SHORE guidance for nature-based solutions. Both the Stormwater and Shoreline assessments can be completed, at no-cost, during the same visit. Both of these programs are vital to watershed protection, as erosion control is our most important goal aside from land conservation itself. For shoreline properties, there may be project assistance available.
One-on-One Property Consultation
If any property owner would like a property consultation to simply ask questions about any property concerns, ask for specific recommendations, or speak more about protection options to be done by the resident independently or in partnership with LAWPC, an appointment can be made for this type of visit with the Watershed Manager similarly to the other assessments.
Septic Inspection Program
Property owners within Auburn’s Lake Auburn Watershed Overlay District required to have their septic systems inspected under the 2024 subsurface wastewater ordinance qualify for financial assistance through LAWPC. Any resident within the Lake Auburn Watershed using a current septic system or wishing to install a new septic system can get technical assistance through LAWPC regarding maintenance, inspections, and system updates.