The Wrack

In recent years, we've been excited to see a rise in the number of students visiting the Wells Reserve to participate in guided and self-guided programs. Last year, I wrote about how remarkable the increase was between 2013 and 2014, and this year the trend continued steadily. In 2015, our skilled team of volunteer docents led a total of 1,291 students on guided program on our estuarine trails, up slightly from last year's 1,219. Additionally, 533 students visited the Reserve with their teachers to explore the estuary on self-guided trips, up from 435 in 2014.

While the increases are not the giant leaps they were from the previous year, 2015 saw a significant shift in the ratio of docent leaders to students thanks to a cohort of new docents who attended our successful Volunteer Fair back in February. With more leaders, we were able to lead students in smaller groups, allowing for more individualized discovery and time to explore all of their curious questions!

The numbers are great to see, but until this year we were missing an opportunity to tell another story about our reach: where in the world are all of these students coming from (literally!)? Here's part of the answer:

We're surprised and delighted by the creativity our brides and grooms unleash to bring their visions to life at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm.

I took a hike on a brisk November morning and was surprised to see a man in camouflage preparing to shoulder his bow beside the Muskie Trail entrance. I learned he was a hunter participating in the reserve's annual deer harvest program.

This program was initiated because of ecological problems caused by an overpopulation of deer. Because the reserve uplands are a designated state wildlife sanctuary, no hunting had been allowed for decades. The deer density in the 1990s was estimated at 100 per square mile, while a healthy "carrying capacity" is closer to 15/mi². Locals report having seen the field along the Muskie Trail full of deer in early mornings and evenings.

Restoring Streams and the Pulse of Tides

Three small projects with outsize impact have been focusing the reserve's attention in this latter half of 2015. Completing these minor feats of engineering will improve the ecology of local watersheds for generations to come. Our science and stewardship team planned for months and years to set up these moments of action on Goff Mill Brook, Branch Brook, and the York River.

In the fall 2015 issue of Watermark: Letting it Flow: Re…

We've processed all the catch from another season of trapping green crabs (Carcinus maenas) and have some preliminary results to report.

Between June and October we caught 6,432 green crabs. This is merely half the number of crabs as last year! In the figure below you can see that the catch was not distributed equally across the three trapping sites. Trends in numbers were similar to those seen last year. Again, the most crabs were caught in the Webhannet River, Wells (3,848) and the least in Broad Cove, Yarmouth (284).

?

In late September, my fellow research assistant, Tim, and I were given the opportunity to take a biplane ride with pilot Dave Trucksess of Atlas Aero. The experience was phenomenal!

As Amelia Earhart once said, You havent seen a tree until youve seen its shadow from the sky and boy does this ring true. Tim and myself grew up in southern Maine, are avid beach goers, and have been visiting the Wells Reserve since we were young students. However up in the airplane it was like seeing this whole area for the first time. The views of the nearby beaches, dense wooded areas, and the estuaries were just beautiful.

In an attempt to pass on just some of this beauty, here are some photographs from the adventure. I would highly recommend a trip with pilot Dave if ever given the chance!

We had lots of cuties here on Tuesday for our monthly public Preschool Story Hour, featuring Brian Lies' Bats on the Beach. After a reading of the story, the group delved into a bat cookie cutter painting activity and then hit the trails for nature exploration and a bat and mosquito scavenger hunt. Did you know that a little brown bat eats up to 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour? Thank you, bats! You are the be…

Want a wedding spot on the southern coast of Maine? The Wells Reserve at Laudholm features beach, dune, forest, and field.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 10/18/2015.

Welcome to Southern Maine and peak foliage. Those blazing reds and oranges along the Turnpike and our back roads are a sight to behold. Of course, Im talking about brake lights.