The Wrack

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 8/9/2015.

My car, a Volkswagen Jetta with a diesel engine, generates 140 horsepower. I sometimes imagine what it would be like to ride in a horse-drawn carriage down I-95 to my office at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm, towed by 140 horses. Using eight feet as the average length of a horse, and pairing the horses together, my anachronistic folks wagon would rumble along behind an equine train more than 560 feet long.

I wonder what our top speed would be.

As the warmest part of the summer is upon us here in southern Maine, the movement of fish in Branch Brook has slowed down and researchers here at The Reserve have caught a break from their fishing efforts. We recently removed our fyke net from the river at the Route 9 intersection but are continuing to monitor the trap at the top of the fish ladder at the Kennebunk-Kennebunkport-Wells Water District and are finally having some time to look at our data of what was caught, tagged, and recaptured this year and compared to last. So far, some interesting results!

Sometime between this past Friday evening and Saturday morning, the copper beech tree chrysalis shell was abandoned, and a monarch took to the sky! This monarch will most likely continue the northward path of its parents? monarchs take 3-4 generations to reach their northernmost extent in the summer migration. Perhaps the offspring of this monarch will make the journey, over 2,000 miles, to the same branches of oyamel fir trees of Mexican mountains that their great-great grandparents overwintered on last year.

I'm interested in the relationship between human communities and their environments. That is, how human activities have impacted watershed environments, coastal ecologies, and others and how environmental changes such as climate change and sea level rise are affecting human communities especially in coastal regions.

Flowers and foliage abound in the native plant border that welcomes visitors to the reserve. York County Master Gardener volunteers have nurtured the garden over a decade to form a gorgeous display.

Jeremy Miller embraces the long view. His projects depend on it. As lead technician for our system-wide monitoring program (SWMP), as state coordinator for monitoring marine invasives (MIMIC), and as lead scientist on the reserve's larval fish study, Jeremy adds pieces to puzzles without predefined shape. He knows that patterns begin to emerge only after years of methodical, meticulous data collection.

Yesterday, a foggy morning in Southern Maine made for some interesting perspectives.

This week, July 20-24, Artist-in-Residence David Allen of Stone Point Studio will be creating various works of art throughout the Wells Reserve, as well as giving demonstrations and tutorials on stone balance and arch building.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 7/19/2015.

The Fuligo septica, or dog vomit slime mold, as it is picturesquely known, appeared in our front garden after a particularly humid day last week. The five-inch-wide, bright yellow splatter was impossible to miss on the black mulch. To the touch, it felt like scrambled eggs. My son declared it ick. I was delighted.