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. Go past RRCT’s 4-car parking lot on Pemasong Lane, through the stone gates marked “Private Way”, and drive slowly to the very end of the road. At the end of Pemasong Lane, turn right, and the service gate will be open. Go through the gate and park in the grassy area. RRCT staff will be there to direct you. Please respect all speed limits on this private road.

Curriculum: Walk around this shady 1-mile loop trail as we explore the quiet 23-acre Littlejohn Island Preserve. We'll walk through towering red oak trees and with breathtaking ocean-front view of Casco Bay, observing the natural history and beauty that abounds. We'll pause to observe and identify the many varieties of ferns and understory plants. Bring binoculars if you have them because it is highly likely we will see many ducks, and maybe an eagle or osprey!

The tide will be going out, exposing the rocky intertidal zone and sandy beaches. Depending on group interests and abilities, we can choose to explore tide pools and look for crabs, periwinkles, mussles, and other creatures that call the intertidal zone home! It's likely that the temperature will be be ten degrees cooler than on the mainland!

Naturalist: Beth Sturtevant

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.

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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.