Melissa Paly is CLF’s Great Bay–Piscataqua Waterkeeper, working to advocate, inform, and inspire people to protect and restore the rivers, bays, and coast that make the Seacoast such a spectacular place to live, work, and play.
Before joining CLF, Melissa was a principal of CrossCurrent Communications where she provided communications strategy, public relations, and media production services to many state agencies, businesses, and nonprofits focused on environmental and social issues throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Prior to founding her own firm, she worked for US Environmental Protection Agency Region 1, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and World Resources Council. Melissa holds a B.A. in geology from Yale College and a Master of Forest Science from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. An avid telemark skier, sailor, sea kayaker, and gardener, Melissa was past President of the Kittery (ME) Land Trust. She currently serves as a trustee of the Maine Island Trail Association, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, and Yale Forestry School Alumni Board.
Recent Posts
Apr 25 2026
A version of this blog was first published on Seacoast Online. After the long, honest winter we’ve had here in New England, spring is taking its time. The sea breeze is still blowing cold, crocuses and daffodils are just finding confidence to push up through cool soil, the peepers are barely peeping. And yet the…
Nov 15 2023
“When it rains, it pours” seems an apt adage for the summer of 2023. While there were a few stretches of sunny weather, for many it was a season of rained-out outings, postponed picnics, and soggy spirits. The data bears out just how damp it was this summer. The period from June through August ranks…
Oct 24 2022
Fifty years ago, Congress adopted the Clean Water Act. This landmark environmental law aimed to clean up waterways that were too polluted for people to swim in or for fish to survive. That law – and those who have enforced it, like my CLF colleagues – has led to many clean water success stories over the…
Jul 7 2021
On a sunny spring morning, I stood knee-deep in a bed of seagrass at the southern end of New Hampshire’s Great Bay. Despite the sun, I shivered as the chill of the June water permeated my wetsuit and neoprene booties. Other rubber-suited colleagues waded nearby, stooping to gently scoop ribbons of green grasses from the…
Dec 10 2020
With headlines dominated by tough news about the pandemic and politics, you’d be forgiven if you missed some of the bright stories going on around the Great Bay estuary in coastal New Hampshire and southern Maine. From cleaner water to exciting economic opportunities, these stories give us reasons to be hopeful for the future. And,…
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