In Appreciation of Our Local Maine Master Naturalists

If you’ve attended one of our monthly Get Out! Nature Walks that we’ve held in conjunction with Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust for the past seven years, then you’ve witnessed a Maine Master Naturalist in their element. Without fail, they radiate curiosity and delight in the natural world and are adept at infusing participants with this awe. While they’re quick to deny expertise, their minds are filled with the most interesting facts about everything from ferns to frogs!
 
There’s good reason for this sense of wonder and wealth of knowledge: Maine Master Naturalists go through an intensive 10-month training program whose aim is to create volunteer naturalists who will enrich nature education in the state. They study Maine’s plants, animals, geology, ecological systems, and more. Since its inception in 2012, the Maine Master Naturalist Program has trained 250 volunteers who have provided thousands of hours of nature programming.
 
We’re fortunate to regularly offer walks on our preserves with five of these volunteer naturalists. We’re so grateful to Beth Sturtevant, Marie Camillo Reimensyder, Karen Bruder, Karen Herold, and Karen Massey for sharing their joy and learnings with us. Here are just a few fun tidbits of many we gleaned from them this year:

·      Many amphibian species, including wood frogs and blue-spotted salamanders, return to the vernal pool in which they were born to breed.

·      Milkweed is the ONLY food source for monarch butterfly larva. (If you want monarchs in your yard, plant milkweed—one of the four types native to Maine.)

·      Maine has 19 species of goldenrod and 60 species of ferns!

·      If you see tips of fir, spruce, or pine branches strewn on the forest floor, this is likely the result of a red squirrel clipping them off and discarding them after eating just the bud.

Want to learn more cool things like this about nature in our communities? Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month from 2:00-3:30 PM and on occasional weekend days at a variety of area preserves. More info is on RRCT's and CCLT's event pages. ‍