ISSUE #23

The Outdoor Insider

MAINE OUTDOOR SCHOOL'S QUARTERLY E-NEWSLETTER

Issue #23
July 2022

Most people know that getting outside is healthy and fun, but struggle with meaningfully bringing nature’s benefits into their personal lives, classrooms, or organizations. That’s where we come in. Visit our website to learn more.

OWLette campers learning how to use binoculars while staying out of the rain

Summits and Stories with the Milbridge Public Library was a hit on Pigeon Hill

OWL Outing Group harvested rose petals for a special OWL fundraising drink Fogtown Brewing made

a group shot on the last day of OWLette camp

Co-Founders' Note:

As the fireweed blooms, so does MOS! We’ve had a fantastic spring and the summer is off to an even better start. The most exciting news is that we are hiring a full time Outdoor School Naturalist Educator to help us increase our capacity to deliver more public school programs across Downeast Maine starting this fall. Applications were due 7/10 and we're reviewing them now. If you missed the deadline and are still interested, get in touch with us. 

One especially exciting piece of our recent growth is an expanded partnership with Frenchman Bay Conservancy, which has committed to providing outdoor school program series with us in their 10 local schools during the 2022-23 school year. If you work at one of these schools roughly between Steuben, Aurora, and Trenton and you want in, please get in touch with rain@maineoutdoorschool.org.

Meanwhile, the school year went out with a bang with outdoor programs happening right up through the last week of school. During the 2021-22 school year, MOS led custom, standards-aligned outdoor programming at 11 schools, reaching over 700 students, many through program series (with students and their teachers getting outside regularly). Check out the specifics from this past spring in the Tracks section below.

We couldn’t do this without your support! With gratitude for all you MOS cheerleaders out there.
 

~Hazel and Joe

“It was so amazing to have MOS work with my classes this year! It is so amazing to see how quickly and fully Hazel connects with students and engages their curiosity around deep topics. I was amazed by how much students who often have a hard time in the traditional classroom setting thrived when their strengths could be showcased outside, which is truly a testament to MOS' amazing work!” -Meg Charest, Narraguagus Jr/Sr High School 7th/8th grade English Language Arts teacher, June 2022

Want outdoor school programming with us during the 22-23 school year?
Email Rain and let her know what you're looking for.

Tracks:

  • Taught a Fly-tying Workshop at Eastport Arts Center and guided a fly fishing outing

  • Led a Community Science program, showing participants how to use and contribute to community science projects, and another Summits & Stories program with Milbridge Public Library

  • Had several OWL-Outdoor Women Lead outings including starting a nature journal and identifying spring plants, birds, and other wildlife 

  • Facilitated 3 nature-based corporate teambuilding events with Visit.org 

  • Led three days of programming for Outdoors Week at Sedgwick Elementary School (read the Ellsworth American article here)

  • Finished the 2021-22 school year with programs at Lamoine, Hancock, Peninsula (Gouldsboro), Trenton, Milbridge, Harrington, and a field trip for Cornerspring Montessori School (Belfast)

  • Led our second OWLette camp for 12 girls between the ages of 11 and 16 with Women for Healthy Rural Living (WHRL)

  • Celebrated our Outdoor Women Lead (OWL) collaboration with Women for Healthy Rural Living at Fogtown Brewing Company. A portion of the proceeds from this event went to OWL programs.

Check out the “MOS in the News” page on our website to see where else we’ve shown up in the press!

 

Community Commendations:

For the second summer in a row, we managed to land another amazing volunteer to support with OWLette camp! This year, we had Sara Williams join us every day and she was fantastic.

She shared her knowledge about local ecology, and seabirds in particular, and her experience as a wildlife biologist. She had positive and contagious enthusiasm matched with an incredible sense of caring for each camper. Her presence made OWLette camp extra impactful for those girls this year and we are so grateful!

Biomimicry:

Photo courtesy of Dominic Sherony

I was used to seeing nighthawk flocks flying high in the sky making a short, buzzy call reminiscent of a woodcock’s “peent”, but this one was alone and very low and not making that sound. Could this relatively small bird make such a spooky, big noise? Listen to the full 5-minute episode to hear their spooky booming sound.

Nighthawk populations in the US have declined by nearly 50% since the mid-1960s, threatened largely by nesting habitat loss and the use of pesticides that have decreased the availability of their insect food. Nighthawks are a helpful reminder of the food chain—that whatever we may want to do to reduce the biting bugs that may bug us reduces the chances for survival of the other species that rely on those same bugs.

This edition of Biomimicry is an adaptation of an episode of The Nature of Phenology, a radio show that Hazel and Joe produce weekly for WERU-FM. You can read or listen to entire past episodes here.

 

Resilience Tip:

“Children who play freely outdoors on a daily basis for prolonged periods of time have better gross and fine motor skills, core strength, stability and flexibility, endurance, vision, and attention spans.”

Learn more in this article.

 

What's Upstream: 

We have been supporting Downeast Coastal Conservancy with an evaluation project assessing their community's needs and interests in both structure and quantity of environmental education programming. The results will be used by DCC staff to create a long-term strategy to provide responsive, consistent programs that help them meet their mission: “Downeast Coastal Conservancy conserves essential ecological habitats, engages the local community, and fosters an environment where wildlife and people thrive in coastal Washington County, Maine.” You can help by filling out this survey to share your thoughts about outdoor education in coastal Washington County.