The Wrack

Climate Reality Project's Allen Armstrong delivered an info-packed update to An Inconvenient Truth 8 years after its release.

If we look around, we can watch the natural world disappearing right before our eyes. The good news is that those rates of loss have been worse in the past. The bad news is that what we see disappearing isnt the only thing were losing. It turns out, the sounds of the natural world are fading too.

Down in sunny Tuckerton, New Jersey, a contingent of coastal Maine residents and Wells Reserve associates heard firsthand the accounts of locals affected by Hurricane Sandy. The meeting was designed to be an exchange of experiences and suggestions in?regard to storm preparedness and coastal resilience. The discussion was geared toward vulnerable areas in Maine, specifically Drakes Island and the Saco-Biddeford area, both of which sent representatives down to NJ. The trip included dinner at a restaurant damaged by Sandy, a few tours of destroyed coastal communities, and an informative panel discussion with residents and municipal officials involved in the recovery efforts.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 6/15/2014.

When Facilities Manager John Speight watched a pickup truck accidentally drive into what hed thought was a well-protected propane tank at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm last weekend, his first thought was: I hear the hiss, so Im still alive.

His second thought was: lets keep it that way.

Preliminary findings of the National Park Service validated the efforts of the Friends of the York River, which since 2009 has been working toward getting a law passed by the U.S. Congress that will allow a comprehensive study of the river.

A scissor-tailed flycatcher spends a few hours along the Muskie Trail.

The reserve works with Dr. Brian Beal, one of the leading scientists looking at the impacts of green crabs on soft-shell clam populations.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 6/1/2014.

My son and I were simultaneously awakened at 4am this past Sunday by the call of the wild. At first we heard what sounded like a howl, but then as the fog of sleep cleared, the noise resolved into the distinct calls who-cooks-for-you, who-cooks-for-you-all.

Dr. Gordon Hamilton of the University of Maine's?Climate Change Institute presented his "Why the Arctic Matters" lecture on Wednesday evening, providing attendees with a first-hand account of his research findings on Greenland's ice sheets. He first explained that the Arctic is a system, connected to the rest of the world through its oceans. What happens in the Arctic affects life in the Gulf of Maine. His research findings are alarming.

A delegation of directors and managers of protected areas in Chile and Colombia visited the Wells Reserve and Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge on May 25 to gather insights into programs and activities at refuges and research reserves. The nine Chileans and Colombians were from national parks, forests, and sanctuaries.

Staff from the Wells Reserve, Rachel Carson Refuge, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Gulf of Maine Coastal Program led the delegation on a tour of the reserve and the refuge. Delegates learned about research in areas such as climate change impacts on estuarine and coastal ecosystems, salt marsh response to sea level rise, endangered shorebird management and protection, early successional habitat management activities benefiting a range of wildlife species, river restoration, and tracking fish movement between fresh and salt water. They viewed fish being caught and tagged at the newly restored fish ladder on Branch Brook and viewed a 2,000-year-old salt marsh peat sample in the Reserves research laboratory.