The Wrack

We have 19 native goldenrod species in Maine, but they're not to blame for itchy eyes and runny noses. The real culprit is ragweed, which blooms at the same time and is pollinated by wind.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 8/7/2016, and?Making It At Home's 8/11/2016 issue.

The orange ruffles hadnt been there last week, but now they were impossible to miss. Overnight, it seemed, a chicken-of-the-woods had returned to roost on the old oak stump in our yard.

On July 7, we hosted our annual Volunteer Reception. Normally an August event, we celebrated early this year to honor Nancy Viehmann, who just retired after 16+ years as our volunteer and visitor services coordinator. It was also a good opportunity to introduce her successor, Lynne Benoit-Vachon, to many of our most faithful volunteers.

What a pleasant evening! It's not often that crafts festival volunteers, trail rangers, education docents, receptionists, landscapers, beach monitors, trustees, RMA members, and the staff get to mingle. Everyone looked happy to be visiting.

Capturing personalities at the event was Lucie Lachance, who kindly shared her collection of images. We've selected a few to share. Thanks, Lucie, and to everyone who came out for the social.

Pollinator heaven: The purples and pinks of bee balm and liatris.

Dr. Jason Goldstein will oversee the Wells Reserves fish studies, salt marsh restoration activities, and long-term environmental monitoring program. He will expand the reserves shellfish program, currently focused on green crab research, into lobster and Jonah crab ecology.

Every morning as I make my coffee, I watch the birds at the bird feeder outside my kitchen window. The other day I noticed, perched on the deck railing near the feeder, a brownish-greyish bird throwing a temper tantrum.

Elderberry is a pioneer species that is found in disturbed and open areas. It displays opposite branching, deeply cut green leaves, and creamy, flat-topped blossoms. Its berries are important food for birds.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 6/19/2016, and?Making It At Home's 6/22/2016 issue.

The week before Fathers Day, my sons gave me a great gift: they went to California for seven days with their grandmother, leaving me and my wife alone for the longest stretch of time weve had together in eight years.

For the past 2 weeks, I've been doing my Kennebunk High School senior project with the Wells Reserve, examining the type and frequency of comments submitted to the Kennebunk Light and Power District (KLPD) regarding the possibility of dam removal on the Mousam River. I also reviewed information? addressing the concerns of commenters, to help people understand the probable effects dam removal would have on the river.

The most common concern, noted in 15% of 232 total comments, was the loss of the rivers aesthetic. This encompasses the fear of a drawdown-like future, bad smells, and more visible mud. Approximately 55% of comments discussed either this, decreased river recreation, harm to the wetlands, or a possible reduction in property values.

Information provided by the KLPD through a contractor's report (Wright-Pierce report), and a researcher at Bates College addressed these primary public concerns, as summarized here.

Yesterday, the picnic table under the copper beech was covered with clipboards, bird books, and banding supplies for the first time since last summer. Around the table, a bird-banding team kept busy with catbirds, veeries, waxwings, and other species brought up from the nets. This long-term monitoring and research project has entered its 29th year (28th on the Laudholm campus)? but it's got a new look for 2016.