Each month, we highlight news stories and opinion pieces related to Maine’s air, land, water, and wildlife. We update News & Noteworthy weekly with the latest news related to the nature of Maine, including the work of staff at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. April 21, 2023 This week, the Senate made its initial Read More
invasive species
Exploring Harrison Elementary School’s Nature Trail
Winters’ hold only loosened for a moment here at our school in the Western Lakes Region of Maine. Since our last blog post, the slow melting of snow, and now the addition of more, has only allowed for us to be out on our trail one day so far. Our school does “Quest” each Friday Read More
Black Bear Nature Trail at Strong Elementary School
We are a group of sixth graders at Strong Elementary School in Strong, Maine. We love getting outdoors and doing activities like hiking, hunting, fishing, snowshoeing, skiing, and snowmobiling. For most of our years in middle school, our science and physical education teachers have been taking classes outside to the trail beside a stream located Read More
A Top Threat to Biodiversity: Invasive Plants
Non-native honeysuckle shrubs dominate this forest understory and have choked out native plants on Ricker Hill in Poland Spring, Maine. You can see this for yourself on Route 26, just across the road from The Lodge at the Poland Spring Resort. The dense green thicket below the trees are all invasive honeysuckle shrubs, native to Read More
Nurturing Future Ambassadors for the Earth: NRCM Middle School Grants
Early this year, NRCM accepted applications from Maine middle school educators across the state interested in incorporating more science learning projects into their classrooms. The goal of these projects is to engage students in the nature of Maine and provide them with opportunities to learn more by interacting with their local environment. NRCM chose eight Read More
Findings from the Alford Lake Survey by Hope Elementary Students
In May, the Hope Elementary School 7th graders conducted the fieldwork portion for their project funded by the Natural Resources Council of Maine. The students were extremely excited to finally get out into the field to survey Alford Lake for their investigation into aquatic invasive species. On this day we had special assistance from several parent Read More
Hope Elementary School’s 7th Grade Invasive Species Project
The 7th grade class from Hope Elementary School (HES) is undertaking a project funded by the Natural Resources Council of Maine to investigate invasive aquatic plant species. With their teacher, Mr. Amundsen, they have proposed to survey and detect the presence of invasive aquatic plant species from a local lake in Hope. Invasive aquatic species Read More
“Intelligent Tinkering”: How to Boost Biodiversity at Home (Leopold’s Wise Words Part 2)
“To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” — Aldo Leopold, 1949 In my last blog post, I wrote about Aldo Leopold (the father of wildlife ecology), carnivore coexistence, and his “thinking like a mountain” quote. This follow-up post springs from another one of his well-known quotes, and explores the importance of Read More
A Great Year of Learning about Maine’s Environment by Middle School Students
Since January, eight middle schools selected for grants that help students engage with Maine’s environment have been working diligently to learn as much as they can about the nature of Maine through projects designed by their teachers. Though school is out for the summer, many of these projects will continue into the fall and beyond. Read More
