The Wrack

This morning, Jeanne Gamage and Nancy Viehmann led the first Preschool Story Hour in the Reserve's new?fall series. It was very popular, attracting?over 40 children, parents, and preschool teachers. Little Tom Turkey, written by Maine author?Frances Bloxam, was the featured?book this month. The children were wide eyed as they listened to Jeanne read the story and show real turkey feathers. …

My six-month stint as the Wells Reserves Maine Conservation Corps/AmeriCorps volunteer is now half over, and what a busy three months these have been! I have spent the majority of my time preparing for and conducting stream habitat assessments in the Merriland River/Branch Brook/Little River (MBLR) watershed.? Thanks to an excellent crew of interns and volunteers, those were finished late August and we hav…

WELLS, Maine, September 2, 2011  The Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve has received a $287,000 federal grant to assist with the permanent protection of a 130-acre parcel with high conservation value along the Merriland River in Wells. The Wells Reserve and the Wells Conservation Commission collaborated in requesting the grant, which was awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program.

So looks as if we got a bit "lucky" and missed the brunt of Hurricane Irene as the storm passed to our west dropping large amounts of rain on western New Hampshire and parts of Massachusetts and Vermont. Here are some totals from our System Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) weather station behind the Coastal Ecology Center.

While monitoring for invasive species this week with the MIMIC program, I came across a species of shrimp I have not seen in my 4 years of monitoring at this site. T…

This morning, a group of 15 mushroom enthusiasts joined Dr. Kevin Smith of the USDA Forest Service for his program, "Mushrooms Drive the Landscape." The recent rains helped to produce a fantastic display in shades of purple, orange, yellow, and red. Below are a?couple of?images from the walking portion of the program. …

Many people came out to help us mark the 25th anniversary of the Wells Reserve yesterday. We had a few special activities planned around mid day and held our annual volunteer recognition event in late afternoon. We were mostly lucky with the weather, but the "behind-the-scenes" tour participants got either wet or very wet going between buildings. Here are a few photos (and a short video) from the day.

I have received a number of congratulatory e-mails from colleagues and friends in light of our 25th anniversary. I thought I would forward one from our colleague in Oregon.

Last week, the Center for Wildlife made their?final visit of the summer to the Wells Reserve. Members of the public (including Talia Kremser, the photographer for this blog entry)?who came to this "Nocturnal Mammals" program were treated to up-close encounters with several non-releasable rescued animal ambassadors. First, Edna the albino porcupine stole the hearts of the audience. She climbed up her crate, …

Here are a few portraits shared by Jeremy Miller from the 2008 ichthyoplankton surveys.