By Christina Schechtman When Harpswell Heritage Land Trust (HHLT) first began its conservation efforts in 1983, it started the way many burgeoning grassroots organizations do: a crew of dedicated volunteers meeting in the kitchens and living rooms of Trustees, staff members working from home offices, and Board meetings held in a nearby church hall. By… Read more
Schiller Coastal Studies Center (SCSC) is folded into the wooded shoreline on the west side of Orr’s Island. The property – formerly a farm, now a center for interdisciplinary research and education – is comprised of field, forest and marine habitats. Locals may be most familiar with the network of trails that loop the length… Read more
Excited shouts resonate through the thin line of trees that separate my yard from the one next door. Two boys are racing across the lawn, chasing a small dog who ducks under the bushes and pops up beside my apple tree. He tries to escape, but the boys are onto the dog’s tricks. One circles… Read more
This January Katie Neal is leaving HHLT after five and a half years to take over as Recreation Director & Community Services Coordinator for the Town of Harpswell. We are so thrilled to see Katie step into this role and look forward to working with her in her new capacity. When asked to look back… Read more
The Harpswell Heritage Land Trust announced today that Matt Newberg has been hired as Executive Director to fill the position left vacant when Julia McLeod left the Trust in July. For the last five years, Newberg, a Harpswell resident, has been Head of School at the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences in Hinckley. Previously, he… Read more
Not long before her last day as executive director of the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust (HHLT), Julia McLeod sat in her office and smiled warmly when asked what accomplishments pleased her most during her nearly 12-year tour with the organization. “There are really two answers,” said McLeod, who joined the land trust as a part-time… Read more
Harpswell Heritage Land Trust’s mission statement calls for preservation and protection of “Harpswell’s natural resources, cultural heritage, and access to the outdoors now and forever through conservation, stewardship, and education.” Conservation and education are straightforward, but what does stewardship entail? The Judeo-Christian traditional approach to the land is based on Genesis 1:26, where it’s written… Read more
Whether a result of her Quaker upbringing or because she came of age in the cauldron of the 1960s, Wendy Batson has been committed to causes throughout her life and has backed up her beliefs with hard work. That effort has taken Wendy from the front lines of the antiwar movement during the Vietnam conflict,… Read more
You may think you already know Ed Robinson. After all, he is a prolific writer, whose prose on the natural world appears in books, newspapers and frequently in Harpswell Heritage Land Trust newsletters like this one. (Scroll down just a bit, if you doubt me!) But did you know that Ed started his working life… Read more
This year Harpswell Heritage Land Trust celebrates its 40th anniversary, a time to reflect on how much has been accomplished and to embrace the challenges ahead. Reed Coles is a central figure in the story. Looking back, it seems inevitable that Reed Coles would find his way to the land trust. He first arrived in… Read more