The Wrack

This is my final week in Maine as a research and coastal training program intern for the summer. I have mainly been studying the detrimental effects of nitrogen runoff. The three-year project that I helped start looks at Branch Brook and the Merriland River in the Little River Watershed. We selected 20 sites to analyze nitrogen runoff and how it affects the fish, the macroinvertebrates, the river habitat, and the water quality itself.

Fifteen middle and high school teachers, hailing from Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Florida, and Kentucky, attended the Teachers on the Estuary (TOTE) workshop July 11-14 at the Wells Reserve. Due to a generous B-WET (Bay-Watershed Education and Training) grant, the workshop was offered free of charge, including hotel accommodations, most meals, and a variety of educational materials and equipment?to use back in the classroom. In addition, each teacher will receive a $100 stipend and $200 to put towards a stewardship project with their students in the fall.

Just one of many projects underway in the research department at the Wells Reserve this summer is the environmental monitoring of the Mousam and Kennebunk Rivers in support of an ongoing initiative, the Mousam & Kennebunk Rivers Alliance (MKRA).

The new issue of Watermark is in the mail to Laudholm Trust members and it's now available online, too. This issue contains information and images about&

I participated in a watershed hike this past Tuesday in the York and Kittery Water Districts. Not only did we see the beauty of the trails around Mount Agamenticus, but concepts about the larger context of the watersheds were discussed. Water district staff and operators attended along with watershed groups, land trusts, and other municipal staff involved with source water protection. After a quick introduciton and history talk on top of Mt. Agamenticus, the group embarked on a 1.5 mile hike through the York and Kittery Watersheds.

At this nationally recognized historic site that serves as a center for our activities, we are a great example of change and adaptation. We reveal so well that as our society changes? our economies, our values? so do the places we inhabit. Thus these 19^th century buildings designed for farming have been adapted to serve our 21^st century mission of coastal science, education, and stewardship.

I have always felt our Reserve, located on the south coast of Maine, is a great example of the meeting of the past and the present? of natural ecosystems and cultural landscapes. They exist side-by-side, but are also interwoven. This place also illustrates for us that landscapes continually change; they are never stagnant. Natural systems and human actions change what we see around us? whether it is our contemporary efforts to keep our fields from reverting to forests through mowing or burning, or the natural forces of rivers and coastal currents that alter the shape and contours of our beaches. Change happens.

Rain didn't dampen spirits during the ceremony for the new exhibits! About 50 people enjoyed locally made refreshments before touring the rooms.

A small envelope in the Laudholm archives holds two postcards dating from the early 20th century. They were passed along to Mort Mather by Ellie Carberry perhaps around 1992.

To celebrate the summer season, natural resource outreach leaders held a meeting atop Mt. Agamenticus on the first day of summer, June 21st. Mt. Agamenticus covers about 30,000 acres in Southern Maine and proved to be the perfect meeting place to discuss the watersheds of the area. Subjects such as riparian buffers, sustainable development, and water health were?discussed?in the learning lodge on top of the small mountain. Ideas were shared and traded such as concept mapping. Concept mapping is starting with an idea, such as healthy water, and then branching?connected?ideas from that main subject. It is a unique activity that shows how others may think. What comes to your mind first when you think of a healthy watershed?

Last Tuesday, June 7, the Reserve's education team made a morning low tide?visit to Laudholm Beach as part of new staff training. They were treated to a most amazing sighting of a bright red, approximately 15 inch long Sea Raven! David Word, a Wells Reserve visitor from Kentucky, was nearby and had his camera. Below are two images of the fish?that?David so?generously emailed today. …