The Wrack

Shaza and I were really excited about our first week long camp!

The campers arrived and moved into their new classroom for the week in the barn.?We started out by determining what a researcher was and talking about the different types of research we would do throughout the week. Each camper got their own research journal to record and draw their data and discoveries throughout the week. Each day started with a weather log and then proceeded into the specific habitat for the day.

The facilities manager and caretaker of the Wells Reserve is also a member of the family that purchased the farm in 1881. Charles Lord is moving to Germany, so I joined his last history program of the season.

Fellow Research Intern Tim Dubay and I have been working with Jeremy Miller this summer to expand the Wells Reserves ongoing larval fish project. We're "Team Larval Fish!"

The Shoreys Brook dam came out in November 2011, and since then the brook has been steadily carving its way through the sediment that has collected for over a century in the impoundment. Vegetation is starting to take hold in places, but it will be a few years before it begins to look like anything but a large mud pit. As old sediment flushes away, older substrates begin to emerge along the stream bottom, showing signs of what the brook once looked like. Gravel, cobble stones, and even boulders can now be seen littering the stream, which is a positive sign for the restoration team. Rainbow smelt are looking for just this type of stream bottom to lay their eggs on in the early spring.

A big congratulations to Stephanie, Suzanne, Sue, and Nancy for passing the Registered Maine Guide Sea Kayak exam. Maine is one of the few states that requires outdoor guides to be licensed to maintain a quality of outdoor recreation for visitors, as well as to protect our natural resources when visiting wild spaces. It is one of the most difficult guide exams to pass. Usually, half of the people taking the test fail on their first try. Not these ladies! They will continue to hone their guide skills this summer during our kayaking programs.

Have you ever wondered what watershed conservation is all about?? Do you often consider where the water in your local river travels, and how its care affects your community and others down the river?? Here at the Wells Reserve we work with watershed conservation on a day-to-day basis.? Watersheds are areas of land which share a common featureall water that flows above or underground drains to the same place.? The Saco River watershed connects diverse areas such as North Conway, NH, and Biddeford, ME.? The lives of the people who live within these areas are affected by the healthconservationof their watershed.

I was out on the salt marsh this morning  the sun-baked, no-shade Little River marsh  to learn a bit about Jenn Dijkstra's research and couldn't help but notice a number of winged creatures. The mosquitoes weren't too bad (they were worse in the woods on the walk down), but as soon as I reached the research transect an early green-headed horse fly sortied to my left shin. The menacing tabanid maneuvered around my counter-strikes, making several quick attacks before succumbing to an overwhelming force. I usually think of greenheads as a July annoyance, so I was unpleasantly surprised to have to battle this one.

Fourteen enthusiastic participants traversed field, forest, and bog to discover late spring wildflowers. 

Goal

Assess occurrence of migratory fish species in Branch Brook to establish a baseline prior to anticipated restoration and improvement of an inoperable fish ladder.

David Word is?an 11th and 12th grade AP biology and environmental science teacher at St. Francis High School in Louisville, Kentucky. Thanks to his participation in Teachers on the Estuary last summer he has been very busy with his students this year, removing invasive species within a 200 square foot area of riparian forest along the Beargrass Creek. Species of invasives within the plot included?Bush Honeysuckle, English Ivy,?and Winter Creeper.

After the removal, the group planted 70 native plants within the same area. Native species planted include:?Great Blue Lobelia, Joe Pye Weed, Mistflower, Thimbleweed, Slender Mountain Mint, Wild Geranium, and Jack in the Pulpit.