The Wrack

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 10/20/13:

Quick quiz: which of the following have the backing of scientific consensus? Violent video games make kids more violent. Sugar makes them more hyper. Carbs make us fat. Vaccines are linked to autism.

Answer: none of the above. Science says so; look them up.

The bigger question: do we trust science?

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 10/6/13:

School has started again, which means its group visit season at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm. Those schools fortunate enough to have bus rental money are sending classes our way, and our team of educators are taking the kids out on the trails, down to the beach, and through the science and history of this 360-year-old place.

For a long time, I didnt understand what environmental education was. Im a perennial skeptic, particularly when it comes to claims from my own liberal brethren, so, over the past ten years of my environmental career, Ive always taken my colleagues proscriptions with more than a grain of salt. What finally convinced me to start applying their lessons was, of course, that grand old motivator of cynic and sucker alike: money.

Many thanks to all the volunteers, trustees, and staff who made the 11th annual Punkinfiddle Family Festival and National Estuaries Day Celebration here on Saturday "one for the books." (I know, I used that for the Crafts Festival, but this was a really good "other big festival" too.)

"They came not only from Wells, but from many surrounding communities and nearby New Hampshire. They were average citizens and prominent government officials; they were lawyers, scientists, senior citizens, and high school students. There were more than 100 of them in the Wells High School auditorium, but they came with only one purpose in mind: to support the proposed Laudholm Farm Estuary Sanctuary."

York County Coast Star, 1981

And they came together again Thursday night, in the Barn, the Auditorium, and across our eight breakout sessions, to talk about the past, present, and future of the Wells Reserve at Laudholm (which is still referred to by most as Laudholm Farm, even 27 years since becoming a Reserve, ha!).

At the start of 2012, the reserve embarked on a multi-year, ambitious energy conservation and conversion initiative.

Bird bander June Ficker recalls how she got started netting saw-whet owls, shares some details about the birds she has banded, and explains a few precautions taken during the autumn saw-whet season&

Thanks to the aspiring Eagle Scouts of Troop 356, the Wells Reserve now has new real estate options for its nesting avian neighbors! This group of generous and hard-working scouts crafted and installed five new bluebird houses at the Reserve this month, and we have already had at least one bluebird fly in for a closer look. An additional ten birdhouses were donated by the Troop, to be used for a community birdhouse workshop at the Reserve in the spring of 2014. Many thanks to Troop 356 for your kind gift!

Punkinfiddle is our last big event of The Busy Season and it always makes the fourth week of September feel like a the turning point  exit summer, enter fall. Frost threatens, jackets are located, the kids are ensconced once more in school.

We enjoyed a fantastic 26th crafts festival. Take a look at these stats:

• 2nd largest attendance this century (~3,500)
• most crafters ever (109)
• largest gross profit ever (maybe net profit too? we're still counting)
• oodles of member renewals, new members, and rejoining-after-many-years members
• 219 high-fiving volunteers
• 30 businesses donating goods
• 104 raffle items donated, valued at $8,324

We tried something new this year  awarding three People's Choice awards based on the number of raffle tickets entered into each donated piece's box.

Congratulations to these inaugural winners:

Over 85 people filled the Mather Auditorium a couple of weeks ago for "You, Your Food, & the Survival of the Planet" with panelists Mort Mather, John Piotti, and Representative Chellie Pingree. The panelists answered a variety of moderated questions, and then the audience had the opportunity to ask some of their own. Following are some highlights from the notes I took during this most exciting evening!