Harpswell volunteers who saved Skolfield Shores Preserve from development in 2002 saved a 148 million year legacy. One of Maine’s largest populations of Atlantic horseshoe crabs feed and reproduce on the tidal mudflats of the Preserve, as their close cousins have done in similar settings since the Jurassic. Paleontologists in 2014 discovered new fossils… Read more
One in a series of profiles of people who played a key role in the first 35 years of the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust. Looking back at her time as co-chair of HHLT’s “Special Places Campaign,” which preserved Skolfield Shores and Johnson Field in the early 2000s, Rebecca Stanley recalls lots of teamwork, many long… Read more
Blue Jay (Curt Chipman photo) The term “jaybird” has long been a slang word to describe someone who was a bit crazy, lazy or stupid. But the term is also a nickname for the blue jay, and this bird is definitely not lacking in brains, hustle or common sense. A member of the Corvid family… Read more
Otter Brook in winter (Ed Robinson photo) Unless you spent the holidays in the Southern Hemisphere, you know that we finally are experiencing one of those deep freeze winters that balance out a couple of mild years. There will be no golf in January, your snow plow guy is on speed dial and your partner… Read more
One of a series of articles exploring the natural and human history of Harpswell Heritage Land Trust’s protected land. When we began walking Flossie, our newly adopted dog, on Harpswell Heritage Land Trust’s (HHLT) Curtis Farm Preserve, I wondered who the Curtises were and what they grew. By diving into public records online, I now… Read more
One in a series of profiles of people who played a key role in the first 35 years of the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust. Despite the underlying rocky ledges and the relatively thin layer of topsoil found throughout the town, roots run deep in Harpswell. For example, Harpswell Heritage Land Trust (HHLT) grew out of… Read more
]Eirwin Soltesz photo In an earlier article, I described the lovely Cooper’s hawk. Here we will learn more about the smallest member of the same family, the sharp-shinned hawk. These birds, along with the sparrow hawk and goshawk, are members of the genus Accipiter from the Latin word accipere, meaning “to grasp.” The Accipiters are… Read more
By Monique Coombs, Director of Marine Programs for the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association On November 28, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to extend the moratorium on Northern Shrimp for a fifth year in a continued attempt to allow the stock to rebuild. After receiving a scientific update that showed declines in the health… Read more
For many of us, working at a desk eight hours a day, working outside is a joy and an antidote to looking at a computer screen. For Ron Davis, a retired Navy engineer and current piano tuner, building and maintaining Harpswell Heritage Land Trust (HHLT) trails is a delightful way to enjoy nature and meet… Read more
Look around you at Skolfield Shores Preserve and consider all the history that has occurred at this site over the centuries. For 10,000 years this place has been a stopping place for Native Americans along their travel route from the forest, down the rivers and along the shore to Cape Cod. To travel from inland… Read more