The Wrack

This year's Laudholm Nature Crafts Festival was the kind of community we should all want to live in. More than 160 volunteers worked together as a tireless, friendly, and welcoming team to make 3,500 visitors and 122 participating artisans feel like there was no better place to be.

On July 7, we hosted our annual Volunteer Reception. Normally an August event, we celebrated early this year to honor Nancy Viehmann, who just retired after 16+ years as our volunteer and visitor services coordinator. It was also a good opportunity to introduce her successor, Lynne Benoit-Vachon, to many of our most faithful volunteers.

What a pleasant evening! It's not often that crafts festival volunteers, trail rangers, education docents, receptionists, landscapers, beach monitors, trustees, RMA members, and the staff get to mingle. Everyone looked happy to be visiting.

Capturing personalities at the event was Lucie Lachance, who kindly shared her collection of images. We've selected a few to share. Thanks, Lucie, and to everyone who came out for the social.

Every morning as I make my coffee, I watch the birds at the bird feeder outside my kitchen window. The other day I noticed, perched on the deck railing near the feeder, a brownish-greyish bird throwing a temper tantrum.

All volunteers are honestly appreciated, but some merit special attention for their unusual dedication. Each year, Laudholm Trust and Wells Reserve staff nominate certain volunteers for recognition. Here is our history of selections.

With almost 4,000 attendees over two days, the crafts festival set new attendance and gross receipts records in its 28th year. Proceeds from the event will continue to support and develop science, education, conservation, and preservation.

Stellar interns in spring 2015 helped with camps, events, digitizing records, fish research, and program promotion.

The young people are dressed in distinctive khaki pants and NCCC-labeled tee shirts are members of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. I recently sat with four of them at one of their newly constructed picnic tables.

A tough winter gives way and spring is in the air.

It has been nearly two months since Linda Littlefield Grenfell, the Reserve's Environmental Educator, presented her Lunch 'n Learn entitled, "What Do I Want to Do Next?" It followed our tremendously successful Volunteer Fair, where community members gathered to learn more about the varied year-round volunteer opportunities available at the Reserve.

Linda's presentation was centered around retirement, aimed at providing useful tips for retirees. Two months later, I am still reflecting upon the content of her talk.

Sand beaches are incredibly valuable to Maine. Sea walls and jetties disrupt the natural movement of sand along the coastline, creating areas of erosion that combined with rising sea level and increased frequency and severity of storms have contributed to an overall net loss of sand.