The Wrack

The sixth edition of the State of Casco Bay report holds a section on marine invasive species. Get that fact sheet here.

The annual #iheartestuaries campaign calls on everyone to emote. What if you don't feel it?

Join us for a paddling excursion on the Little River Estuary this summer!

The kayaks are nestled all snug in their winter beds, with visions of the 2018 Little River Estuary paddling season dancing in their heads.

Teachers on the Estuary program continues its impact with fifteen educators in attendance this year.

Paddle on calm and quiet waters while observing wildlife and learning about the natural history of estuaries, our treasured habitats.

Paddle on calm and quiet waters while observing wildlife and learning about the natural history of estuaries, our treasured habitats.

2016 is our sixth year offering these popular guided tours led by registered Maine Kayak Guides.

As the first snow of the season fell outside my window yesterday, with our fleet of kayaks safely stored in the barn for the winter, I compiled the evaluation results from our fifth kayak season at the Reserve. Sixteen kayaking programs were held between early July and early October (eighteen were scheduled, but two were cancelled due to high winds/small craft advisories) and 82 people participated. Sixty-one of these paddlers completed evaluations immediately following the program. This is the first year we've conducted a formal evaluation of the program. What valuable information did the evaluations provide? Lots!

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 don’t 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 didn’t 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.

As we rebound from winter’s darkest depths, springs begins to stir in the hormonal systems of other species, particularly those who mate seasonally. Chemically, love is arriving. How did St. Valentine know?