June 26, 2025
Nature Bummin’ with MCHT Steward Kirk Gentalen I’ll say it again—like a broken record—in my experience, all nature observation is a form of tracking. The Trouble with “Tracking” When most folks hear “tracking,” they picture big, bold footprints in snow, mud, or dirt—likely left by some majestic megafauna. And there’s no shame in that! Snowy […]
April 15, 2025
As Maine awakens from its long winter slumber, early signals of spring are popping up all around us—but they won’t be here long! These native wildflowers, called spring ephemerals, are the first to bloom and take advantage of the sunlight before trees begin to leaf out. In this short growing window, they produce leaves, flower, […]
March 19, 2025
By MCHT Land Steward Kirk Gentalen Every winter is different, but some winters are a little more different than others. For the last four to five years, the chatter around Midcoast Maine has been, “This wasn’t a real winter.” The consensus usually came from a lack of snow, cold days, and—let’s be honest—a big lack […]
December 10, 2024
A career conservationist on why he decided to make a legacy gift to Maine Coast Heritage Trust What are some of your first experiences of Maine? One of my earliest memories is from a trip I took with my family out to Whitehead Island in Muscle Ridge. That was the first time I smelled the […]
December 10, 2024
Each year as summer winds down I make a pilgrimage to see semi-palmated sandpipers. They’re easy to miss if you don’t know them and magical once you do: tiny brown-and-white shorebirds who gather in mud flats at low tide, running frantically along the contours of each incoming wave, feeding on the invertebrates who will fuel […]
August 21, 2024
By Kat O’Connor American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was once the foundation of many eastern United States forests, shaping the structure and function of the entire ecological community it was a part of. It was among the largest, tallest, and fastest growing trees in forests from the Mississippi River, through the Appalachian Mountains, to the coast […]
March 11, 2024
By MCHT Nature Bum Steward Kirk Gentalen Written January 15, 2024 There is something special about that first snow of the year. For some, that “something special” is also there during the second snow of the year, and the third, and fourth (and even the fifth for that matter). That something special is potential. And […]
December 4, 2023
Hey, fall is here and now almost over as I type. You may have been tipped off by the shortening of daylight and the dropping of temperatures (both Fahrenheit and Celsius!). Or maybe it was the leaves turning and all of those slow drivers on the road—you know, the ones who brake to marvel at […]
