Greg Ponte

Greg Ponte was born in Massachusetts and moved with his family in high school to Auburn, where he attended high school and later graduated from the Maine Maritime Academy. He was a Merchant Marine deck officer for more than two decades. After retiring, Ponte turned his avocation into his vocation and became a volunteer fly casting and fly tying instructor. A lifelong fly fisher, Ponte has long been active in Maine and New England environmental and angling causes. He led the Kennebec Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited as President and later served as Chairman of the Maine Council of Trout Unlimited. Ponte also helped to found Maine’s annual TU Trout Camp for teens. He lives with his fly fishing gear close at hand on the banks of Cobbosseecontee Stream in West Gardiner, Maine.

Interview conducted on October 25, 2011 in West Gardiner, Maine.

External links:

Audio: click titles below to begin listening

1. What is pollution? Imagine fish holding their breath for weeks - Interview Excerpt #1

2. Smelly memories from in high school in Auburn - Interview Excerpt #2

3. Foam‚ colors‚ dead fish‚ and sludge in a "big swirling mess" - Interview Excerpt #3

4. Clean tributaries in Rangeley and above feeding trout into the Androscoggin - Interview Excerpt #4

5. Mill workers fleeing smelly Rumford for vacations in clean Rangeley - Interview Excerpt #5

6. Shoe shops to hospitals and brewpubs in Lewiston–Auburn - Interview Excerpt #6

7. Buying the polluted river bottom in Berlin‚ NH to boost development - Interview Excerpt #7

8. "There’s nothing like standing in a river..." - Interview Excerpt #8

9. Technology and globalization creating a cleaner river for recreation - Interview Excerpt #9