The Maine Coastal Observing Alliance (MCOA), a network of nine conservation groups monitoring water quality in midcoast Maine estuaries, is pleased to announce it has received a grant for $142,000 from a fund at the Maine Community Foundation. The grant will be used to grow MCOA’s monitoring network and collect meaningful data for Maine’s coastal communities. (…)
We are thrilled to welcome Land Conservation Manager Katie Beaver to the team! Along with Director of Land Conservation Joan Ray and Executive Director Steven Hufnagel, Katie will work directly with landowners to help them meet their conservation goals.
Katie’s position, fully funded by an anonymous funder for three years, is a reflection of our commitment to conserving an additional 5,000 acres in the Damariscotta-Pemaquid region in five years, from 2021 to 2026. We prioritize properties that connect to existing conserved areas, dovetail with community development plans, and are of particular benefit to wildlife, water quality, cultural heritage, or public access. (…)
Throughout the month of October, groups from local schools have been taking part in the full-day Wabanaki Living Skills and Culture program hosted by Coastal Rivers at Salt Bay Farm in Damariscotta.
The program teaches students about different aspects of Wabanaki culture – both traditional and current – through authentic, hands-on experiences. Activities are always taught in collaboration with Native American educators. For the past two years, Passamaquoddy educator Sandra Bassett has partnered with Coastal Rivers Education Director Sarah Gladu to teach the program. (…)
“Whoa – is that an entire engine block?”
What might pass for a strange pick-up line in another setting is par for the course during the annual Damariscotta River Clean-up. Earlier this month, staff and volunteers from over a dozen local businesses and organizations spent the afternoon picking up trash along the shoreline of the Damariscotta River. (…)
Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust members voted in a slate of four new trustees at our annual membership celebration in July. Jennifer Atkinson, Malcolm Foster, Rod Melanson, and Emily Weiss were all elected, joining continuing trustees Josh Allan, Kelsey Gibbs, Matthew Hanly, Carol Lariviere, Kathy Leeman, Dennis McKenna, Gordon Morrell, Dru Sanford, Lee Schiller, and Ellen Wells.
We are thrilled to announce the conservation of a 93-acre property at the heart of the Half Moon Pond Conservation Area in Bristol. Purchased from Marian Doering, the property includes 25 acres of rich wetland habitat and protects vernal pools, a beaver dam, and marsh frequented by inland wading birds and waterfowl. Its intact woodlands provide deer wintering grounds and habitat for moose, fisher, bobcat and other larger mammals. (…)
We love our interns! In addition to contributing in significant ways to Coastal Rivers’ work in conservation, stewardship, and education, interns bring fresh perspective, lots of enthusiasm, and welcome energy to our team. (…)
Article by Dylan Burmeister in The Lincoln County News, September 7, 2023.
Prior to school kicking off for the year, AOS 93 and Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust partnered to create a new, hands-on opportunity for local students enrolled in summer school. For four Fridays, students took all-day field trips to local parks and trails, where they experienced “a full day of outdoor education and nature programming,” said Sarah Gladu, Coastal Rivers’ director of education and citizen science. (…)
In the photo: Graduates of the 2023 class of Coastal Rivers’ Midcoast Stewards pose for a photo at Round Top Farm along with course instructor Sarah Gladu (fifth from left), who is Director of Education and Community Science at Coastal Rivers. Graduates of Coastal Rivers’ Midcoast Stewards program will soon be directing their interest and enthusiasm for the natural world and conservation to volunteer efforts in the midcoast area. Offered every two years, Midcoast Stewards is a 40-hour course covering coastal ecology, Wabanaki culture, geologic history, sustainable fisheries management, seabird restoration, water quality monitoring, lobster biology, and estuarine studies, among …
Coastal Rivers’ Midcoast Stewards graduates give back to the community Read More »
Coastal Rivers and the Damariscotta Historical Society (DHS) worked together in May to improve access to the House-Day cemetery, a small family plot located in the woods off of Lessner Road near the Damariscotta-Bristol town line. (…)
