The Outdoor Insider

MAINE OUTDOOR SCHOOL'S QUARTERLY E-NEWSLETTER

ISSUE #28
October 2023

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.

Co-Founders' Note:

From teaching women how to canoe to bringing a nature day camp to children who live out on the Cranberry Isles to guiding a group of people up Katahdin, Maine’s tallest mountain, we had an amazing summer! Now, we are settling into the new routines that the school year brings and are enjoying working with both teachers that are new to our programming and veterans of MOS programming for many years.

Students in PreK-6th grade this fall already have compared leaf types, created their own field guides to the species that live around their schools, identified different groups of mushrooms, and built new connections to themselves, each other, and the natural world. We’re so proud of the ways that MOS has grown and helped more students and teachers alike every year deepen their connection to place. Read on to see what else we’ve been up to and learn about our new Naturalist Educator!

"In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught." (Baba Dioum, 1968.)

~Hazel and Joe

Support MOS

Our deepest condolences go out to our Fish Friends community who lost two amazing mentors in September, Charlie Kelley of Ellsworth and Thomas King of Belfast. Their hard work, dedication, and devotion to Maine children and Atlantic salmon through the Fish Friends program were essential to making Fish Friends what it is today. They have impacted hundreds of students, educators, and community members in the years that they have worked with us and we trust that their legacy will live on through everyone fortunate enough to have learned from them.

Tracks:

We welcomed the newest member of the MOS team, Haley Estabrook! Learn about Haley on our Staff page.
Guided several canoeing and hiking experiences for private groups.
Had another great week of Forest Camp with Downeast Coastal Conservancy.
Continued our Summer Naturalist Series on Mount Desert Island with The Naturalist’s Notebook.
Taught canoeing skills with Women for Healthy Rural Living.
Had a fun week of Wild & Free camp on Great Cranberry Island with YWCA MDI.
Adventured with OWL (Outdoor Women Lead) Outing Club for Women on the Orange River in Whiting and at the Hollingsworth Trail in Steuben.
Concluded Summer School outdoor programming at Trenton Elementary School.
Hiked Katahdin with our 2023 Summit for a Cause participants who raised money for Incredible Edible Milbridge.
Led a hike all about moss with Downeast Coastal Conservancy.
Began school programming at 9 schools so far, with many more programs to come!
Continued monthly Grasshoppers Outdoor School programming for local homeschool families focused on skull ID and animal habitats

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

Community Commendations:

*Photo from Ella Lewis Elementary School, Fall 2022--click on the photo to see the beautiful FBC campaign video!*

This month our Community Commendations go to Frenchman Bay Conservancy in support of “A Watershed Moment for Frenchman Bay: From the Forest to the Sea,” their 3-year comprehensive campaign to seize urgent opportunities to protect land and water in the Union River and Frenchman Bay watersheds east to the Hancock County line.

“There are major threats facing Downeast Maine, from climate change to sprawling development and loss of public shoreline access for harvesters. These changes threaten to fundamentally alter our region’s identity,” says Aaron Dority, FBC Executive Director. “But together, there are still valuable stretches of undeveloped land and unspoiled shorelines that we can protect — landscapes that will return the favor by trapping planet-warming carbon, maintaining our clean water, safeguarding our fisheries, and defending us against the impacts of floods and storms.”

The campaign will raise the funds to protect 10,000 new acres of valuable land, enhance stewardship of our preserves to maximize benefits to nature and people, and expand outdoor education in our local public schools and outdoor opportunities for all.

To learn more and to donate please visit their website.

Biomimicry:

Northern harriers have been spending the summer breeding season across most of northern North America, from Alaska to Nova Scotia. Right now, they’re migrating to their winter haunts as far south as northern South America. As opposed to some migrating birds who migrate in large groups, like broad-winged hawks, harriers migrate alone over a long period of time, hunting along the way.

So the next time you’re outside, you could be especially vigilant in open marshes, meadows, or other treeless places for a low-soaring harrier hunting for food to help fuel its long journey south this fall. Harriers remind us how important open, biodiverse spaces are to help them meet their needs throughout their large range.

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:
“The positive effects of blue spaces on mental health include improved mood, feelings of relaxation, reduced stress and anxiety levels, and increased creativity. Seascapes and the sound of waves crashing against the shoreline have been linked to these impacts.” Learn more in this article.

What's Upstream:

Follow our social media to learn about what our students are doing as we continue to increase our public school programming this year!
Join our upcoming OWL outings to Hidden Ponds focused on foraging and to Backfield Park on Great Wass Island.
Register for the November 5th Inspiration & Insight: A Women’s Nature Retreat now.
Stay tuned as we update our events page with winter outings.