The Wrack

A delegation of directors and managers of protected areas in Chile and Colombia visited the Wells Reserve and Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge on May 25 to gather insights into programs and activities at refuges and research reserves. The nine Chileans and Colombians were from national parks, forests, and sanctuaries.

Staff from the Wells Reserve, Rachel Carson Refuge, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Gulf of Maine Coastal Program led the delegation on a tour of the reserve and the refuge. Delegates learned about research in areas such as climate change impacts on estuarine and coastal ecosystems, salt marsh response to sea level rise, endangered shorebird management and protection, early successional habitat management activities benefiting a range of wildlife species, river restoration, and tracking fish movement between fresh and salt water. They viewed fish being caught and tagged at the newly restored fish ladder on Branch Brook and viewed a 2,000-year-old salt marsh peat sample in the Reserves research laboratory.