Upcoming Events
Upcoming scheduled events
Royal River Conservation Trust (RRCT) sponsors numerous events throughout the year from four annual cornerstone events like the Pisgah Hill Preserve Full Moon Trek to regular Get Out! Nature Walks and special one-time opportunities. Please join us.
This Ash Inventory Walk is the second of a four-part series, The Ash Tree Stewardship & Education Program, educational walks designed to raise public awareness and encourage stewardship of ash trees, which the invasive Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) beetle critically threatens. The 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.
During this inventory walk, participants will learn how to identify ash trees, recognize signs of EAB infestation, and locate seed-bearing trees. We'll begin with a brief demonstration of the inventory process, then split into three groups to survey different sections of the forest.
Participants can expect hands-on training in ash tree identification and inventory methods, along with moderate hiking that includes some off-trail terrain. Binoculars are recommended to help spot seed-bearing trees, and waterproof boots are encouraged, as the ground may be wet and uneven.
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. This series is co-hosted by the Wild Seed Project, Royal River Conservation Trust, and Presumpscot Regional Land Trust. These programs are part of the larger statewide efforts of the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik (APCAW).
📅 Date & Time: Thursday, June 5th, 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
📍 Location: Mill Brook Preserve in Westbrook, a PRLT property.
🎟 Register for the event here.
Wednesday, June 25, 2025 | 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Location: Littlejohn Island Preserve, Yarmouth
SPECIAL PARKING: For this event only, drive to the very end of Pemasong Lane in Yarmouth. The service gate will be open. Go through the gate and park on the right in the grass. RRCT staff will be there to direct you.
Curriculum: We’ll walk through the pine-oak forest to the shore of this stunning 23-acre preserve on Casco Bay. We’ll investigate the tidal mudflats and sandy beaches along the coastline while keeping an eye out for common eiders, black guillemots, ospreys, and bald eagles.
Naturalists: 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.
Wednesday, July 16, 2025 | 8:30 - 9:45 am
Location: Indian Point, Chebeague Island
Curriculum: Join us and Maine Audubon’s Laura Zitske at Indian Point on Chebeague Island to learn about the shorebirds and the shoreland restoration project on this preserve. We may even have a chance to see the piping plovers who have been nesting in this area for the past two years! Please bring binoculars if you have them.
Transportation: If you are interested in joining us from the mainland and need transportation from the CTC ferry that leaves from Cousin’s Island, you will need to take the 8:00 am boat that arrives on the island at 8:15 am. We can give you a ride down to Indian Point and give you a ride back to get on the 10:00 ferry back to the mainland. If you have a bike you can bring over, that is an easy way to get to the Point independently (about a three-mile ride). If you would like a ride from the ferry please email info@ccltmaine.org with “Request for Island Transportation on 7/16” in the subject line.
Guide: Laura Zitske, Wildlife Ecologist, Coastal Birds Project Director
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.
Sunday, July 20, 2025 | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Join the AMC Maine Chapter and Royal River Conservation Trust (RRCT) for an interpretive hike at Thayer Brook Preserve in Gray, Maine. This 3.4-mile guided trek will be led by Trail Steward and long-serving RRCT volunteer Steve McPike whose thorough knowledge of the preserve, its migrating heron colony, beaver population and the adjoining Libby Hill trail network will add significant depth to the experience.
Registration is required via AMC's Outdoor Connector page. Spots are limited!
Plan for a three-hour visit to one of Cumberland County's most remote and intriguing places. Meet at the trailhead parking lot at 92 Ramsdell Road in Gray, ME. Wear sturdy boots, and bring binoculars, water, bug spray and sunscreen.
Established in 2022, the 147-acre Thayer Brook Preserve is a component of the 2,600-acre Libby Hill unfragmented habitat block – among the largest in Greater Portland – and is dominated by a large beaver marsh formed by more than six beaver dams which are home to enormous beaver lodges. Large populations of birds also co-habitate around this marsh, most notably, blue herons. Beyond the marsh, most of the preserve’s acreage is dominated by glacial erratics left behind as the region’s glacial ice receded more than 10,000 years ago. The challenging rocky terrain is one reason the preserve has seen relatively little farming and no residential development over recent centuries.
Wednesday, August 27, 2025 | 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Location: Skyline Farm, North Yarmouth
Curriculum: Join us in the expansive fields of this beautiful preserve that is home to milkweed and other native wildflowers that will be in full bloom at summer’s end.
Naturalist: Karen Bruder Howe
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.
2026 is the year of our 14th Annual Pisgah Hill Full Moon Trek! Join us at the summit from 4 pm to 7 pm on Sunday, February 1st for brief remarks at sunset (5:09 p.m.) followed by a spectacular moonrise over Bradbury Mountain.
The Pisgah Hill Preserve (South) trailhead is at 74 Dougherty Road in New Gloucester. (In Pownal, Dougherty Road is known as Chadsey Road.) Parking for this event is on the road shoulders of Dougherty Road, one side of the road only.
It only takes a half hour to hike 0.6 miles from the trailhead to the summit and campfire. We’ll build a warm fire and provide s’mores at the summit. We’ll light the way up and back with lanterns but it will largely be dark, especially during your descent. The entire loop trail (return trip) is 1.2 miles.
Registration and more details to come!