OARS director to retire in June
CONCORD >> After 18 years with the group, OARS Executive Director Alison Field-juma announced Aug. 28 that she will retire next year from the watershed organization that she helped to expand.
In an announcement from OARS, spokesperson Sarah Kwan said Fieldjuma will step down in June, and the process of recruiting a new executive director will begin this month.
In the announcement, Field-juma said she felt it was the right time for her to leave, not only because she is ready, but because she feels that OARS is ready to be in a good place without her.
“It’s hard to leave something that means so much to me and has very important work still to do. It’s possible because there is a team of smart, energized, insightful, and professional people who are OARS and who will carry the work forward with a new leader. They are also kind and very funny, which will get them through the challenging but rewarding work ahead,” said Fieldjuma in the announcement. “I’m so excited to see OARS’ new ecological restoration program with two major dam removal projects in progress to make our rivers more resilient to climate change, realizing a vision over two decades in the making. This is the right time for OARS to take the next step forward, and I will be cheering the team on!”
Field-juma has been with the watershed organization since 2005, when she was a policy director. At the time, the organization was called The Organization for the Assabet River. In 2011, Field-juma led an effort to expand their focus to the Sudbury and Concord rivers, and they formally changed their name to OARS, with a mission to protect and preserve the local waterways that are crucial to both the environment and to local drinking water supplies.
In an Aug. 29 phone call, Field-juma said that after her retirement next year, she hopes to partake in “citizen science,” and continue to contribute to watershed preservation efforts by voluntarily gathering data.
“OARS has a lot of citizen scientists, who are volunteers who collect water quality data,” said Fieldjuma. “We often get important data from them when there may not be other ways to collect it. It is crowdsourcing science in some ways, but with people who are actually trained.”
Otherwise, she said she has no concrete retirement plans beyond visiting
the Mayoral Primary Election is fast approaching on Sept. 12. Donchess faces candidate Mike Soucy, a former firefighter, police officer and alderman; and candidate Mark Gallant, a licensed master electrician.
Ortolano wants Donchess out. “I am prochange, and I have a
Soucy sign in my yard. There is no accountability for our money, and City Hall is closed to citizens with general questions. The City, and particularly the Mayor, adopted a very strict RSA 91-A rule that any question is a Right-toknow. This is absurd, but it is being enforced by the City daily. At this point, I would vote for a paper bag over Donchess, but I am supporting change. And many Aldermen seats need to change as well.”