Category Archives: Events

Off Campus Event: Volunteer for the Dempsey Challenge Green Team (Oct 6-9)

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Green Team for the Dempsey Center’s Dempsey Challenge
The Green Team of the Dempsey Challenge is looking for folks interested in participating in the Green Team’s initiative early October (Oct 6-9) in Lewiston, ME.

If you would like to learn more about the Dempsey Center, click here: https://www.dempseycenter.org/

During the walk/run/bike portion of the Dempsey Challenge, there is an area in the middle of Lewiston set up with food vendors, a kid’s area, and bands. The Green Team takes care of the compost, trash, and recycling in the areas not tended by the vendors themselves. Essentially, your team would be wheeling bins of compost/trash/returnables from one area of the park to a central location. Patrick Dempsey is there, and there will be food and music. You’re not tied to any one location for long periods of time, but would be responsible for rolling full bins away and replacing with an empty bin on occasion.

This is the link for signing up: https://www.kintera.org/faf/volunteerRegNew/volunteerSelection.asp?ievent=1174113

These are the time slots (they’re roughly 3-hour slots, so your group would not have to commit to an entire day):

Fri., Oct. 6, 1:00 Pm – 4:00 PM
Sat., Oct. 7, 7:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Sat., Oct. 7, 10:00 AM – 1:30 AM
Sat., Oct. 7, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Sun., Oct. 8, 7:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Sun., Oct. 8, 9:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Sun., Oct. 8, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Sun., Oct. 8, 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Mon., Oct. 9, 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Thank you for your consideration, and if you have any further interest and/or questions, please feel free to respond to this email. Also, if you know of any other groups in the area that may be interested in lending this team a hand, please do send this email along, or provide a contact for me!

Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you! :)

Warmest regards,
Taylor

Taylor Burdin | Quality Assurance
L.L. Bean, Inc.® | Brunswick Manufacturing
2nd shift | Ext. 24005

Off Campus Event: Our Changing Coastline- Greater Portland Prepares for Sea Level Rise, June 8 7PM

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Our Changing Coastline: Greater Portland Prepares for Sea Level Rise
June 8 7PM
Gulf of Maine Research Institute, 350 Commercial St., Portland, ME

Join us for the fifth and final session of our Spring 2017 Joan M. Kelly Sea State Lecture Series, “Motion of the Ocean.”

Throughout the series, our speakers will reflect on the many ways water moves — predictably and unpredictably — and how communities respond. Our exploration ends with GMRI Education Program Manager, Gayle Bowness. Join us in June to hear her talk, “Our Changing Coastline: Greater Portland Prepares for Sea Level Rise.”

This is a free event open to the public. Register early; seating is limited. To register, please fill out the form below.
http://www.gmri.org/events/calendar/our-changing-coastline-greater-portland-prepares-sea-level-rise

Doors open at 6:30 pm. Free parking is available.

Questions? Contact Rachel Katyl at [email protected] or 207-228-1699.

Off Campus Event: Maine Summer Adventure Race, Sat. June 24

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Maine Summer Adventure Race
Saturday, June 24 9AM-4:PM
Hidden Valley Nature Center, Jefferson, ME

Midcoast Conservancy and Strong Arm Racing are joining forces again to host the 2nd Maine Summer Adventure Race on June 24th, 2017 at Hidden Valley Nature Center.

This year, like our inaugural year, the race will be at the Hidden Valley Nature Center in Jefferson, Maine. For the premier race, we’ve upped the time cutoff to 10 hours to give racers more time explore all the beautiful places this year’s course will visit. The race will be point-to-point (no circles!) involving trail running (or hiking) and off-trail orienteering through pristine forests, biking on Maine’s bucolic roads (and an optional mountain biking leg), and a sea kayaking route specially designed by our local partner Tidal Transit Kayaks. New for this year, the 10-hour race will be a USARA regional qualifier, with the top four finishing teams qualifying for the USARA National Championship in Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania.

For beginners and families, our 3-hour race – also on Saturday, June 24 – will combine hiking, canoeing and Amazing Race-style challenges. Racers can do as much or as little of the course as they choose and special prizes will be given for the top family team, the best team name and the best costumes.

Just like last year, we’ll be throwing a big party for all racers and their guests, featuring as much local fare as we can get our hands on  – including beer from Oxbow Brewing, just down the road in Newcastle, Maine.

Both races are being designed by the members of Strong Machine Adventure Racing and all proceeds from the race benefit the Midcoast Conservancy.

– See more at: https://www.midcoastconservancy.org/events/maine-summer-adventure-race-71517/#sthash.D4HZU6nH.dpuf

Off Campus Event: Protection of Climate Corridors, Supporting a Diversity of Plants and Wildlife in a Changing Climate (June 29, 2017)

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Protection of Climate Corridors: Supporting a Diversity of Plants and Wildlife in a Changing Climate

June 29, 2017, 9:30am – 4:00pm

Location: Mather Auditorium, Wells Reserve at Laudholm, 342 Laudholm Farm Rd, Wells

Presenter: Abigail Weinberg, Director of Research, Open Space Institute; Maria Whitehead, PhD, Land Project Manager, Open Space Institute; and David Patrick, PhD, Director of Conservation, TNC NH Chapter

Cost: FREE

Plants and animals are shifting their distributions in response to climate change to find suitable microclimates. These shifts require time – generations – and space; yet climate is changing faster than at any time in recorded history, and the landscape is fragmented by roads, dams, development, and other barriers to movement. How do we ensure that Northern New England will continue to support a diversity of plants and animals?

Presented jointly by Land Trust Alliance, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, New Hampshire Extension, New Hampshire Land Trust Coalition, Open Space Institute, and The Nature Conservancy, this workshop is dedicated to understanding not only the sites – or forest cores – that will sustain species in place, but the critical connections between cores that will be necessary for sustaining populations.

The workshop will examine how populations move across the region, where critical connectors are located across the Northern New England landscape, and how they connect to the north and southern parts of the landscape. In addition, attendees will walk away from the workshop with the following information and tools:

  • A refresher on climate resilient sites and identification of resilient characteristics
  • An understanding of the underlying concepts critical to species migration
  • Experience using new datasets to assess cores and corridor options in your service area
  • Knowledge of ongoing initiatives focused on connectivity
  • Case studies detailing the opportunities and challenges to protecting species migration routes

To register:

Contact Donna Bissett by email or phone at 207-729-7366.

This workshop is the first of a two part series on climate change resilience for land trusts and is free and open to land trusts and organizations working closely with land trust organizations to permanently protect land in Northern New England States including Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. The second workshop in this series, Climate Change Communications, will be held Thursday December 7, 2017 at the Hugh Gregg Coastal Conservation Center in Greenland NH. For more information, contact Amanda Stone.

Cam Campus Event: ES Lunch ‘Innovations in Maine’s Food System’, Thursday, May 4 11:30-1:00

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ES Lunch: Innovations in Maine’s Food System
Thursday, May 4 11:30 AM-1:00 PM
North Private Dining Room, Moulton Union

Join Linzee Weld, Slow Money Maine, Lucretia Woodruff, Milkweed Farm, and Anne Hayden, Adjunct professor at Bowdoin, and Program Manager of Sustainable Economies at Manomet for Conservation Sciences for a conversation about Maine’s Food System. Get your lunch and meet us in North Private Dining room. Faculty, staff and student without board are welcome to sign in at the Checker’s station.

On Campus Event: ‘Some Men Passed here’ A documentary film about Climate Change in Morocco, Thursday May 4

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Some Men Passed Here
A Documentary to Create Change
Thursday, May 4 7:00 PM
Druckenmiller Hall, room 20

Water is life and without water, there is no life. The Sahara dessert surrounds the small agrarian town of Jorf, Morocco, so water resources are precious and valuable. LIfe in Munkara, a neighborhood of Jorf, began with access to water, continues because of access to water through handmade qanats (Arabic for channel), but its future is now at risk as water resources and the health of the oasis are threatened.

Members of Smile Association recognized growing threats to their oasis town that nobody was willing to openly address, so they became determined to bring the conversation to light. Together, members of the youth, the President of the Association (Mohamed Danouni), and Evyn Dickinson (Bowdoin Professor Patsy Dickinson’s son) filmed a documentary that recorded local history and some of the issues facing their community in order to start the conversation and eventually create changes.

Evyn Dickinson was a Peace Corps volunteer in Jorf, Morocco from 2015-2017. He worked closely with a local association, Smile Association for Women, Children and Human Development, from its conception.

The primary purpose of this documentary is to begin local conversations about the future of the oasis and water use in Jorf, Morocco. However, it was also created with the intention of international use to learn about life in Morocco and the worldwide impact of climate change: no area is unaffected.
Contact Evyn Dickinson for more information: [email protected]

Film Runtime: 74 minutes
Language: Arabic
Subtitles: English

On Campus Event: Reporting from the Mongolian glacier that holds the secret to climate change, Friday May 5 12-1:30

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Reporting from the Mongolian glacier that holds the secret to climate change
A conversation over lunch with environmental journalist Kevin Stark

Friday, May May 5, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
ES Common Room, Adams Hall

Bring your lunch and meet environmental journalist Kevin Stark to find out what we can learn about climate change from a Mongolian glacier.

Kevin Stark is a journalist with Chicago’s Data Reporting Lab. His focus is environment, science, energy and climate change.  Stark traveled with researchers to the Altai mountains of Western Mongolia and wrote about how climate scientists were dating the demise of last major Ice Age and finding a precise age for Mongolian petroglyphs. He reported on a crisis in Indiana where 1,100 people were living in a toxic public housing complex built on top of a defunct lead smelter. He has produced a data visualization of how sea level rise would hit some of the Bay Area’s hottest new development projects from the Warrior’s arena to Facebook HQ. He broke the story of how an building industry lawsuit convinced the California Supreme court that developers need not consider the effects of climate change on new real estate projects. He’s a current fellow with Northwestern University’s Social Justice News Nexus, and an alumnus of the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources and the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting.  His work has appeared in Pacific Standard Magazine, the Chicago Reporter, the Chicago Reader, the San Francisco Public Press, Earth Island Journal, and other places.

ES will provide gelato and cookies

Off Campus Event: New Meadows Watershed Partnership Spring Public Forum: Wed. May 3

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New Meadows Watershed Partnership Spring Public Forum
May 3, 2017 9:00am-1:00pm
West Bath Seaside Grange

Aquaculture in the New Meadows – What’s happening? Why here? What’s next?

9:00 Registration (Victoria Boundy, CBEP)

9:30-9:45 Welcome, overview of the agenda, summary of community interviews & introductions (Alicia Heyburn, New Meadows Watershed Partnership)

20 minute presentations, followed by 10 min Q&A

9:45-10:15 Aquaculture in Maine – Where is it now, where is it headed, what is happening on the New Meadows? (Dana Morse, Maine Sea Grant)

10:15-10:45 Research – Introduction to Sustainable Ecological Aquaculture Network – SEANET.
(Paul Anderson, Director, Sea Grant & Aquaculture Research Institute)

10:45-11:15 Location & Monitoring Conditions – What makes the New Meadows well suited to aquaculture? How can New Meadows communities benefit from SEANET?  What is the carrying capacity of the NM? What can we learn from the Damariscotta? What proactive planning can be done to ensure that optimal conditions are maintained?
(Damian Brady, Professor of Marine Sciences at Darling Marine Center)

11:15-11:45 Discussion of What’s Next – Opportunities for collaboration and data sharing. How do quahog/other wild harvests and oysters/aquacultre coexist? Vibrio? How do New Meadows Lakes impact downstream water quality? Opportunities for public participation in lease decisions.
(moderated by Jon Lewis, Aquaculture Program Lead, Maine Dept. Marine Resources,)

CONCLUSION of PRESENTATIONS

Working Lunch: Turning Knowledge into Action

12:00-1:00 CHOWDER LUNCH DOWNSTAIRS @ grange for those who have been engaged in the NMWP, or are interested in becoming involved. Tables arranged by topic.

12:00-12:10 Get food, table introductions

12:10 Discussion guidelines (Alicia) Timekeeper (Victoria)

12:15-12:45 Table Discussions

Facilitator guides discussion on objectives from the 2008 NMWP Action Plan and how to prioritize, brainstorming players/partners/next steps for action items. Scribe keeps parking lot lists of new ideas, indicates priorities. Identify a reporter.

12:45-1:00 Reporting 3 min each table
Top two priorities for action & why

1:00 Forum Concludes

TABLE TOPICS

Objective 1: Eliminate pollution, and prevent future water quality issues (OBD, NPS, setbacks)

  • Facilitator – HEATHER TRUE, CCSWCD
  • Scribe – West Bath, Selectman Hennessey

Objective 2: Improve Marine Resource Harvesting (wild harvest, aquaculture, water access)

  • Facilitator – DAN DEVERAUX, Brunswick Marine Patrol
  • Scribe – KELT, Ruth Indrick

Objective 3: Conduct Research and Monitoring

  • Facilitator – Mike Doan, FOCB
  • Scribe – Bowdoin College, Collin Roesler

Objective 4: Expand Climate Resiliency & Habitat Protection

  • Facilitator –  Mary Ann Nahf, Harpswell ConCom
  • Scribe –  BTLT, Margaret Gerber

Objective 5:  Explore Tidal Restriction Restoration (research, impacts, decision making process)

  • Facilitator – MATT CRAIG, CBEP
  • Scribe – tbd

Objective 6: Broaden Municipal Engagement and Community Outreach

  • Facilitator – Julia McLeod, HHLT
  • Scribe – Phippsburg, Lynda Doughty