The Wrack

For the second time in less than a year, the Town of Wells and the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve have teamed up to protect a key parcel of land in the Merriland River watershed.

The 61-acre Highpine Properties parcel consists of forested wetlands, vernal pools, and the headwater streams of the Merriland River. The undeveloped tract has 100 feet of frontage on the Sanford Road (Route 109) and is nestled into the 700-acre Fenderson Wildlife Commons, a designated town conservation area. Protecting the Highpine parcel adds to one of the largest blocks of unfragmented conservation land in southern Maine.

It seems like every year, every budget cycle, there's another call to action. Each year, the situation is supposedly more dire than ever. "This is the year when the buck may finally stop here," they say. "We could lose everything this time," they say.

Download a PDF of our winter program calendar and you'll have a ready reference from now through April. Some continuing favorites are joined by new offerings& there's something for everyone. Come back to the website for updates and last-minute additions. Sign up for Monthly Updates or follow us on Facebook for timely reminders.…

Would a neat package stuffed with a fresh Watermark, a daringly long President's letter, and a ready-to-write snow globe card inspire more gifts to the annual fund? Or would it have little more impact than a simple request for year-end donations?

Let 2013 be a year marked not by continued division and hot air, but by common ground and cooler heads.

Last week, I drove with Karrie Schwaab (Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge) to Yarmouth, Castine, and Holden to deliver the iPad, digital camera, binoculars, and bookstore gift certificate to the top four prize winners in our Silent Spring essay contest. Honorable mention students were also recognized with copies of Silent Spring, and all of the seventh graders who participated in the contest were awarded certificates of achievement.

On Saturday, the Wells Reserve and New England Wild Flower Society partnered to offer a "Naked Shrubs" workshop with naturalist Boot Boutwell. Participants hailed from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine to learn how to identify 15-20 species of shrubs in winter. Following a slideshow and overview of identification terminology, the group hit the snow-covered trail to observe shrubs up close. …

Here are the top-ranked essays submitted by the winners of the 50th anniversary Silent Spring essay contest. Thank you to these and the other 257 Maine seventh graders who submitted essays.

The Wells Reserve at Laudholm is special. Not a day passes that we dont think of this unique place as a gift to those of us who work here, to the wildlife that abounds here, to the coast of Maine and to the international community of estuaries, and of course to our members and to the public.

Because so much of our operating support comes from our members and donors, we believe it is in the best service to you and your gifts that we operate as efficiently and effectively as possible.

The response to the Silent Spring Essay Contest, offered in partnership with Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, was overwhelmingly positive. A total of 24 schools and 257 seventh grade students across the state participated. The deadline for submission was December 1, and the Reserve's Education Advisory Committee immediately got to work reading and scoring each essay. What quickly became apparent to the 17 reviewers was the widespread writing talent and environmental awareness among seventh grade students in Maine! So much so, that the Committee created an additional prize-winning category of "honorable mention" for students who did not win the top four prizes, but stood out from the larger pool of applicants with their exceptional essays. Following are the contest winners: