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Contents

• To Mow or Not to Mow
• Up Front: Does Camp Change Kids’ Minds About Science Careers?, Freshening Up Interpretive Trail Signs, Stinky Squid Discovered on Trail Walk, Blue Crab Found in Little River Estuary, Telling the Laudholm Census Story
• Nik's Notebook: Decisions, Decisions (scroll↓)
• Management Plan & Strategic Plan
• Lobster Research Gets a Boost
• eDNA News
• Volunteers Honored
• Gulf of Maine 2050; The Beaches Conference
• Giving Tuesday

Download Watermark 36(2): Autumn 2019 (6MB)

Nik's Notebook: Decisions, Decisions

Even before we gave it that tagline, I’d thought of the Wells Reserve at Laudholm as “a place to discover.” Every time I go out walking on the trails, down to the beach, or even just into a colleague’s office, I discover something new. Laudholm is an endlessly absorbing place. This issue of Watermark is no different: it explores fascinating findings, intricate issues, and complex decisions.

If I, like you, continue to find so much to learn and love in these 2,250 protected acres, I can only imagine what the larger world can bring. In this introduction to our 2019 year-end newsletter, I’m announcing my intention to temporarily depart my corner office in 2020. A little less than a year from now, starting in September 2020, I am taking a 10-month, unpaid sabbatical from my work here at the Wells Reserve and Laudholm Trust.

There is never a perfect time to make such a commitment, and yet, if I don’t do it now, I fear I never will. So my wife (an elementary school teacher) and I are pulling our boys out of school to travel around the world. Our itinerary is, we think: Southern Europe, South Africa, Southeast Asia. I think we’re trying to travel only through temperate and tropical climates, to save luggage space. 

This century is one of disruption and adaptation. One goal for our trip is to see as many parts of the rapidly changing world as we can, before they become unrecognizable to even their own citizens. I want to see change up close and bring the lessons I learn back to Maine.

The Laudholm Board of Trustees is developing a plan to cover my absence. The new officers of the board have pledged to keep a firm hand on the tiller; the staff here know intimately what this old place, and its current mission, need to thrive. And I’ll be back at my post in the summer of 2021, with new perspective, a fresh beard, and probably a few stories to tell. My favorite part of the trip may well be the 4,000-photo slideshow I’ll force you all to endure. 

But we shall wait and see. Until after the 33rd Laudholm Nature Crafts Festival, you can still find me here, discovering something new every day. 

Mailed to members November 2019