The Wrack

Last week, the Reserve hosted twelve middle and high school teachers from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and Louisiana for Teachers on the Estuary (TOTE) II, a field-based workshop focused on estuary and watershed education. This is the third TOTE workshop held at the Reserve, but unlike the first two, this year's TOTE was only open to teachers who had already participated in a New England TOTE workshop at either the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), the Waquoit Bay NERR in Massachusetts, or the Narragansett Bay NERR in Rhode Island.

This summer the Wells Reserve's Interpretive Education Associate, Paige Rutherford, revamped and restructured the Guided Tours program for the season. Paige prepared all the docent training materials, organized outlines, templates, scripts, and resources, and held training sessions in late June.

The newly trained volunteers will be leading History of a Saltwater Farm, Life Between the Tides, Secrets of the Salt Marsh, and Nature Walk tours as well as other guided tours throughout the summer!

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.

For years now, we've been handing out Seafood Watch pocket guides so people can make more careful decisions about what fish and shellfish to buy or avoid. The Monterey Bay Aquarium publishes regional guides, so the information is tailored to residents of the northeast, for example.

Now the aquarium has made ocean-friendly seafood recommendations even more convenient for smartphone users with its Seafood Watch app for iPhone or Android. At our house, the printed "pocket guide" often lived under a magnet on the refrigerator or got pierced by a thumbtack on the bulletin board, rarely making the trip to market. Now we will have the critical data in hand, as our mobile devices don't get left behind.

It was standing room only at the first live animal presentation during last Thursday's Winter Wildlife Day. Here's a look around the auditorium, where the Center for Wildlife, York County Audubon, and the Wells Reserve teamed up for a successful event.

We are happy to report that the old exhibit pieces that left the Visitor Center a couple of weeks ago are now displayed at the Mildred L. Day School.

WELLS, MAINE  School field trip programs and public education offerings at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve are getting a boost from a donation made recently by the Corning Incorporated Foundation to Laudholm Trust, the Wells Reserves nonprofit partner.

With a camera and a computer you have everything you need to monitor habitat change over time at the Wells Reserve.

Wood Frog Friend

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Frog Pond Reflections

We're pleased to share the news that Sarah Jolly is the new Education Coordinator for the Wells Reserve. Sarah joined the Reserve in March 2005 as an environmental educator and has been responsible for a range of interpretive education programs. During this time, she worked closely and effectively with her predecessor, Laura Lubelczyk. Sarah has a degree in biology from Earlham College and a master's degree…