The Wrack

It happens to everyone. We discover something's missing once we get home. If this happens to you after a visit to the Wells Reserve, please get in touch. We are happy when lost items get returned to their owners.

Whether its your local watershed or the federal budget, every little drip counts

Yesterday I went to the North Dam Mill in Biddeford for Making Sustainability Work, an interactive event organized by Sustain Southern Maine. Those old mill hallways are long, long, long!

Many thanks to all the volunteers, trustees, and staff who made the 11th annual Punkinfiddle Family Festival and National Estuaries Day Celebration here on Saturday "one for the books." (I know, I used that for the Crafts Festival, but this was a really good "other big festival" too.)

"They came not only from Wells, but from many surrounding communities and nearby New Hampshire. They were average citizens and prominent government officials; they were lawyers, scientists, senior citizens, and high school students. There were more than 100 of them in the Wells High School auditorium, but they came with only one purpose in mind: to support the proposed Laudholm Farm Estuary Sanctuary."

York County Coast Star, 1981

And they came together again Thursday night, in the Barn, the Auditorium, and across our eight breakout sessions, to talk about the past, present, and future of the Wells Reserve at Laudholm (which is still referred to by most as Laudholm Farm, even 27 years since becoming a Reserve, ha!).

We held our annual meeting, volunteer recognition, and holiday party together this year, packing Mather Auditorium with good stories, tasty treats, and merriment on December 5. Here are just a few of the highlights and people who took part…

Truthfully, I'm more of a Thanksgiving person than a Christmas person. I prefer rich food to rich presents; giving thanks to getting gifts (though I never say no).

I'm thankful that the United States Postal Service is still solvent (as of this writing). Because they are, and because of our great partners at local printer Edison Press, Laudholm members should shortly receive in their mailboxes our latest gift and thank-you: the fall issue of our Watermark newsletter and one-of-a-kind greeting card.

T'is the season, so in the Watermark package we're also asking our friends and members to send a contribution to our Annual Fund before December 31st. Even if you've never given to us before, you can start by signing up as a member on Giving Tuesday (November 27) or any time this holiday season.

Watermark went to press before we could put in a mention of something else we're recently thankful for: some great new friends at the Corning plant in Kennebunk.

Alison Doucette, a teacher at Nashoba Regional High School in Bolton, Massachusetts, was the first to report on the stewardship project that all TOTE participants committed to as part of their involvement in the 2010 Teachers on the Estuary workshop.

About the Project

The goal of this project is to protect the Saco River estuary so it will continue to provide services and values to surrounding communities. Investigators are seeking to understand the effects of increasing coastal development on the health of the Saco River estuary and to identify ways to mitigate those effects. The project's full title is "Sustaining Quality of Place in the Saco River Estuary through Community Based Ecosystem Management."

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 Reserve’s nonprofit partner.