The Wrack

The U.S. Congress has passed a consolidated appropriations bill that included the highest numbers yet for the National Estuarine Research Reserve System's operations, while also funding a new program for the system: the NERRS Science Collaborative. The total amount appropriated is $23.5 million. The bill (H3288) now awaits the President's signature.…

The Wells Reserve has produced or assisted with every key conservation planning document prepared for southern Maine watersheds over the past decade. The most recent issue of the Watermark newsletter includes a chart to show which plans cover each town and watershed. You can download the watershed conservation chart below (it's a small PDF).

This is a public service announcement.

Those who've studied Laudholm history know that the current barns were built in the first decade of the twentieth century, after a 1902 fire burned the old barns to the ground. Some may recall that the fire "was started by burning, wind-blown shingles from a fire at the Goodwin farm a quarter mile away." *

A couple of years ago, Charles Lord became curious about where the Goodwin farm stood, so he asked his father's sister what she remembered. She pointed him "just up the road."

The Punkinfiddle 5K Run started at 9 am on Saturday, September 26. Thirty-nine runners competed in this inaugural event. Here are the results:

We had the pleasure of hosting a wonderful series of performances at Punkinfiddle and once again thank all the artists who have appeared on the stage. We list them here.

It's apparently a first: Yesterday the U.S. Senate agreed to a resolution designating September 26, 2009 as National Estuaries Day. We're pleased to see Senator Susan Collins as a cosponsor, along with her colleagues Sen. Gregg and Sen. Shaheen from neighboring New Hampshire. Here's the text of the resolution (also available as a PDF):

We were at the site last Sunday and enjoyed the trails... Both my husband and I are hikers and have proper gear however my husband was bitten all over exposed areas... by groups of small flies (or type of mosquito) I am not sure. They did not bite me but did land on my head gear and blouse. Can you tell me what type of inconvenient bugs these are? Southern Maine has no shortage of…

The Coastal Training Program team has been hard at work helping the Town of Sanford to outline goals and strategies for achieving open space and resource protection in the town's natural areas and working landscapes.

In 2008, the Coastal Training Program assisted the town with a series of workshops designed to bring community stakeholders together, to share their visions for the future of Sanford, and to craft a plan for realizing those visions.

May 21 and 22 were fish sampling days on the Mousam River estuary. Wells Reserve research staff were joined by volunteers from Maine Rivers and AmeriCorps to form a team that set fyke nets and fished on two tides, one by night and another by day. Steve Bodnar from the York County Coast Star tagged along and his article is in today's paper. You can read it at seacoastonline.com.