April 23, 2025 | 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Location: Riverfront Woods Preserve, Yarmouth

Curriculum: Spring might be taking longer to arrive this year, but you’ve probably noticed the unmistakable chorus of spring peepers signaling that days and nights are finally warming. Vernal pools are coming alive with the return of wood frogs, spotted salamanders, and fairy shrimp. We will get a close-up look at egg masses and other evidence of amphibians in three temporary and isolated wetlands. The walk will be about two miles in total over relatively flat terrain.

Naturalist: Beth Sturtevant & Karen Massey

These Get Out! Nature Walks are volunteer-led regular trips with trained master naturalists. Join us for a well-planned, no-cost, guided adventure. Monthly on the fourth Wednesday; always free; rain, snow, or shine. Jointly offered by both RRCT and the Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust, the walks take place at preserves in the towns of Chebeague Island, Cumberland, Yarmouth, North Yarmouth, Pownal, New Gloucester, and Durham. Our curriculum is targeted at adults and engaged youth. Because the purpose is nature observation, we ask that dogs do not join us. Email CCLT with any questions.

*Photography and Filming Note: Your attendance at RRCT events may be photographed or filmed and your attendance indicates consent to have any images or footage featuring you at the event to be used for RRCT-related materials and outreach. Should images or footage appear in marketing materials that you don’t wish to be featured in, you must notify RRCT at Info@RRCT.org and RRCT will cease to further use your image or footage for any new materials going forward.

Saturday, April 26th, 2025 | 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Location: Libby Hill Forest Trails, Gray. Meet at the parking lot kiosk across from the Gray-New Gloucester Middle School.

Join Master Naturalist Marie Camillo for a vernal pool exploration! We will hike to a vernal pool at Libby Hill Forest Trails and look for egg masses, macroinvertebrates and fairy shrimp. This vernal pool outing is offered as part of the Falmouth Maine Master Naturalist class, but is open for all to attend!

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Royal River Conservation Trust is partnering with Wild Seed Project, Presumpscot Regional Land Trust, and Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik (APCAW) to offer a four part series of educational walks called the Ash Tree Stewardship & Education Program. The walks are designed to raise public awareness and encourage stewardship of ash trees, which the invasive Emerald Ash Borer beetle critically threatens. This program aims to protect Maine’s forest ecosystems and support the cultural traditions of the Wabanaki people, who have long relied on Brown Ash for basket making. 

Each walk in the series will equip participants with practical skills they can apply in their own forests and communities to help protect and preserve ash in Maine. 

During this Ash Identification walk, you’ll learn how to identify ash trees by their bark, branch/bud arrangement, and leaves. We’ll also discuss the threats posed by the invasive Emerald Ash Borer and the steps we can take to protect these vital trees. 

Participants should wear waterproof boots and be prepared to hike off-trail! 

📅 Date & Time: Thursday, May 1st, 4:00 - 5:30 pm

📍 Location: Intervale Preserve (Lower Village) in New Gloucester. The primary legal point of access is from the Foxcroft Multi-Use Trail, which leads downhill from the intersection of Church Rd and Gloucester Hill Rd. Park at the church parking lot at 19 Gloucester Hill Rd, New Gloucester, where we will meet and walk to the preserve together.

🎟 Register here!