Those who love history and the great outdoors may enjoy a visit to Swan Island. Located in the Kennebec River dividing Dresden and Richmond, the island is now open to the public…
Outdoors
“Brrrrr! I just returned from the Nequasset fish ladder. Ospreys are flying overhead, circling in anticipation of a good meal, but they are going to have to wait a little longer.…

David Marcus, a 17-year-old Wiscasset High School junior, wants to make trails between Morris Farm, the Sortwell Pines Management Area, and the Community Center more accessible. He…

Boothbay Region Land Trust (BRLT) is pleased to launch its new “Wayfarer Program” this year. Similar to a docent program with continuing education and social events, the program…
Merrymeeting Audubon Society, a chapter of Maine Audubon, is offering scholarships to two Maine environmental education camps for summer 2013. Both are residential and full to half…
Join the New England Forestry Foundation and consulting forester Sherm Small for a tour of our current timber harvest at Sortwell Memorial Forest on March 14…
I returned to my old haunts a few weeks ago to attend an Eastern Ski Writers meeting at Mount Snow in West Dover, Vermont. My wife, Drew, and our family had…
On February 12 and 14 at Boothbay Region Adult Ed, instructors from Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will be conducting a snowmobile safety course. Knowing…

Today, the temperature in our area is 18 F, balmy compared to the below-zero temps that engulfed the region not long ago. For most of us humans, that means less…
If you’re looking for a new adventure close to home, the Mount Washington Valley area of New Hampshire might be just the ticket. My wife and I recently spent a…
The New Year has started off in great shape for winter sports enthusiasts. Two storms combined have already surpassed the total accumulation in Midcoast Maine…

Zak Preserve at Wildcat Creek in Boothbay has something for everyone and is a preserve for all seasons. With its open fields, salt marsh, tidal wetland, freshwater stream, and…

While School House Pond Trail on Barter’s Island is perfect for a short ski on a busy day…
Chewonki announces open enrollment for its upcoming Winter Vacation Camp with great indoor and outdoor activities for kids and families.
Programs will be offered throughout the winter…
Teens To Trails, or “T3,” is pleased to announce this year’s Outing Club grant recipients from 18 high schools across the state, including four brand new teen Outing Club programs.
Grant…

We received an email last week from a young local birder who asked about the idea of doing a Christmas Bird Count in the Boothbay area.
It occurred to us that many area residents might not…
Winter camping can be a fun-filled adventure. The solitude and silence of a moon-lit night on a crisp clear February night can provide beauty and awareness about the outdoors during the season…

We just returned from a vacation on the island of Aruba where, along with the warm weather, we enjoyed seeing many of “our” birds on their winter grounds.
There were lots of the long-legged…
Teens To Trails (T3) is working to engage Maine teens in the outdoors through their promotion of & support for teen Outing Clubs across the State. A new T3 initiative called "…

Many of the “hunters” in Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens’ much-loved tradition, the Frozen Turkey Hunt, will take home frozen turkeys. And someone will win the grand prize of 150…
The Boothbay Region Land Trust is pleased to announce the debut of family hikes, a fun and healthy way to get children and adults outside. Families from the Boothbay region and beyond are invited…

If you celebrate Thanksgiving and you’re not a vegetarian, chances are you will be enjoying a turkey dinner November 22, but not in the way history had the settlers feasting on the…
Wild edible plant walk
Sunday, Nov. 11, 1 to 3 p.m. – Take a walk with Maine Master Naturalist volunteer Jason Chandler as we explore the…

On the way to drop off our son at school the other day, we made the sad discovery that our favorite bald eagle nest had disappeared from its high perch atop a stately old pine tree…
The National Park Service has announced that the Teens To Trails organization was selected to receive assistance from the National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation…
Teens To Trails (T3) is pleased to announce a rare opportunity for Maine High School Outing Club programs to receive funding support through their Grants-to-Clubs program. Since…

Deer hunters took to the woods early Saturday morning, Oct. 27, in clear, mild weather for the first day of firearms deer hunting season. There are mixed reviews as to number of deer in the…

They appear about every two years.
They come in groups, sometimes numbering more than a hundred, and may stay in backyards for weeks. They arrive without invitation and with no advance…

Just the other day we were driving down Route 27 toward Wiscasset admiring the red and gold autumn hillsides when a football-sized bird, its short wings in a blur, came bursting from the roadside…

These two adjacent properties may be a little off the beaten path, but they are well worth tracking down for a visit. Linekin Preserve was created in 1994 when Ann and Walter…

On Saturday, Oct. 20 at 10 a.m., Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association will celebrate the grand opening of a new 1.1-mile trail on its Trout Brook Preserve in Alna.
…
“It’s just a sparrow.”
Bird enthusiasts hear and use that phrase a lot this time of year.
Every October here in Maine, we are inundated with sparrows. Just about every weedy field,…

This colorful array of mums and pumpkins arranged with a portion of a wooden barrel on a leaf-covered lawn is on the corner of Federal and Hooper streets in Wiscasset.

Kathy Frizzell, a member of the Boothbay Register and Wiscasset Newspaper sales team, and Bill Dighton, brought this 808-pound moose home last week. Frizzell, who…

Jane Koopman is the new T3 Outreach Coordinator for Outing Clubs. Koopman is an avid outdoorswoman and has years of experience in leading outdoor programs, shaping the ethics,…

Sometimes the most special places are hidden right in plain sight. This is the case with Boothbay Region Land Trust’s Penny Lake Preserve, which stretches behind the businesses and homes of…

A soft plaintive “puwee” echoed in from out over the water as a small group of swift-winged birds, a tad smaller than robins, came zipping in to land on the shore. With their mud-brown backs and…

For the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden’s Rachel Carson exhibit, there are books signed by the author and naturalist.
There are tattered and dog-eared copies of Carson’s opus “Silent Spring…
Women and the Woods
Women and the Woods is a whole day workshop on October 10, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., which is co-sponsored by MOFGA and Maine Farmland Trust. The…

Not long ago many people referred to them as wild canaries. Maybe some folks still do. We like to call them “potato chip birds.” But the official name given to these little yellow…
The educational programs at Seeds of Knowledge have been well received by families around the Midcoast area. In order to provide learning opportunities to more students, enrichment…

When most people think of the world’s great wildlife migrations they might think of herds of zebras and wildebeest crossing the African plains or the march of the emperor penguins across the…

A whimbrel is a large brown shorebird that's almost as big as a laughing gull, with a distinctive long, down-curved bill and black stripes on the head. Whimbrels nest in the tundra of Canada and…

The Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association has achieved land trust accreditation from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance…
Common nighthawks are fairly large birds, shaped like small falcons with long, sharply pointed wings. Despite their name, they are not closely related to hawks at all. And, sadly, they are also…
Scottish conservationist John Muir would routinely walk with friends in the Sierra, taking more than an hour to cover a mile of linear distance. His fascination with everything natural in his path…

Coming back from a Fisherman’s Island tour last August, we noticed that there were hundreds of laughing gulls fluttering in the air above the spruce trees as our boat passed Spruce Point. We might…
Hidden Valley Nature Center has organized a 7-plus mile nature walk along a half-marathon trail, guided by Director Gary Hayward on August 28 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The walk will…
Friday, August 24, will bring a favorite instructor, Greg Marley, to Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens for a day-long workshop to forage for and learn about Maine’s marvelous mushrooms. The program…
A decision is expected this week on whether river herring will be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
River herring refers to both alewives and blue back herring.
…