The Wrack

Over the past three years, it has been the practice of the Wells Reserve at Laudholm to publish a bit of make-believe each April Fools Day. We have posted hoax articles to draw attention to real issues like staff changes, invasive species, and the health of local rivers. Unfortunately, this year the truth-blurring antics of President Trump and his staff have convinced us that adding fake news to the local scene, even if only in jest, would be counter-productive and irresponsible.

Here are two petitions to sign, one to express your support of the Wells Reserve and another to extend that support to the National Estuarine Research Reserve System.

An open letter to all lovers of nature, science, beauty, and Maines coast.

The President's budget eliminates funding for the National Estuarine Research Reserve System in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2018. The complete budget process includes Congress, however, which is demonstrating it has its own spending priorities.

Last update: March 22, 2018

Say it with us! Join the 2017 #iheartestuaries campaign on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and IRL on February 12, 13, and 14. Raise your voice on behalf of estuaries. Call out to Congress with a simple message: "I care about estuaries and this is why…"

Using drones in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System.

This course, launched in 2013, provides guidance in collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing qualitative data and using the results to improve the quality of meetings, foster effective project management, and facilitate collaborative research projects.

Learning how the reserve system works as a whole, how neighboring reserves strive to work together, and how staff members collaborate on ideas.

The first week of March is customarily when reserve managers visit Congressional offices in DC to explain why the estuarine reserves are such a healthy bargain.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 9/21/2014.

With a too-short summer and the back-to-school fracas, anyone would be pardoned for missing the official Congressional resolution naming this coming week National Estuaries Week, the annual celebration of the places where rivers meet the sea.

Before you get too excited, please understand that the resolution is merely pending, and that estuaries dont get the whole month. According to Congress, the entire 30 days of September have, in recent years, been reserved for Gospel Music Heritage, Bourbon Heritage, Prostate Cancer Awareness, Childhood Obesity, Honey, and even Self-Awareness. (And you thought our legislators didnt do anything  shame on you.)

Resolved or not, 1/52nd of a year certainly seems like a worthy amount of time to devote to estuaries, those humble places of mud and marsh that do so much.