 May 2024
Andy Cutko visiting Popham Beach State Park to see the dune restoration project that uses donated after-season Christmans trees to rebuild and stabilize the dunes.
As I sat down at a neighborhood dinner this spring, a friend who knew of my job said, “I imagine this is a quiet time of year for you folks.” I briefly contemplated the millions of dollars in winter storm damage to state parks and public lands, the frenzied final few weeks of the legislature, urgent budget deliberations, the coming eclipse crowds, a handful of recent media inquiries, and a few dozen other pressing matters. I smiled quietly, imagining that my neighbors perhaps see me as Ron Swanson of NBC’s Parks and Recreation – feet on the desk, twirling pencils, and wisecracking my way through the day. “Well, not exactly,” I replied.
Perhaps there once was a quiet season for those in my profession, but that era is long gone. Across the Bureau, we’re busy with construction contracts, seasonal hiring, land acquisitions, harvest planning, trail restoration, grant applications, and countless other tasks. In reviewing recent weekly reports from our state park managers, I’ve pulled a few snippets below that reflect the variety and unpredictability of our daily work.
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Ferry Beach State Park (Brett Johnson): Most noteworthy were the six guests dressed in wrestler outfits attempting to engage in a ‘beer scavenger hunt’ and labeling routes with spray paint. We caught them in time, told them they could not do that in the park, and cleaned up the spray paint.
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Holbrook Island Sanctuary (Charlie Cannon): We are receiving a visit from the 450’ Norwegian Hurtigruten cruise vessel in September. These vessels are normally plying the waters of the Arctic and Svalbard but will be here for a bioluminescent waters tour. We are working with our Castine Kayak partners on logistics.
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Lamoine State Park (Alyssa Lutz): My other goal for the week was to do as much outreach as possible. I met with John Wedin, of Ellsworth Water Department, whom we work closely with at Branch Lake. I also met with the principal and secretary of the Lamoine School, and introduced myself to our local Game Warden. More next week: our neighbors, town hall, and first responders in the area.
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Mt. Blue State Park: (Casey Smedberg) (For the eclipse): We had about four hundred visitors between the headquarters overlook, Center Hill, and the campground. Thank you to Erin and Kurt for coming up from Two Lights to help with parking. Trying to direct parking for a crowd of largely out-of-state guests unfamiliar with mud season, when most of the parking lot was closed due to the Nor'easter several days earlier, would have been chaotic if I’d been the only staff member present.
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Penobscot River Corridor (Tammy Bishop): This week, Baxter State Park Staff gave me a heads-up about a gentleman who was trying to hike the AT and was headed southbound. He was from another state and didn’t realize that this is not a good time to start the 100 Mile Wilderness, and he did not have the proper gear to be hiking in the snow. I found him camping during the storm with no tent, just a tarp. He assured me he was fine and was ready for the storm. He snuck into Baxter State Park, even though he was told the park was closed and there was no camping. They brought him out of the park and took care of the violation.
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Reid State Park (Haley Parsons): Wednesday at Boothbay Elementary School to read to the 3rd-grade classes about tracking, showed plaster casts of tracks for them to pass around. The moose track was the ‘biggest' hit among the students!.... later in the week - continuation of storm damage cleanup. - See the Reid State Park Volunteer Day article below.
The anecdotes above represent just a few items from our State Parks division. Similar daily stories of success, challenge, and accomplishment exist across all divisions of the Bureau. The bottom line is that we have a creative and dedicated staff who are busy and highly engaged every month of the year!
~ Andy Cutko, Director, Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands
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Nathan Allard painting en plein air. Photo courtesy of Jeshua Soucy.
The Allagash Wilderness Waterway (AWW) proudly announces Somerville, Maine-based artist Nathan Allard as the Visiting Artist for 2024. Renowned for his works in egg tempera and watercolor, Allard brings a unique blend of traditional techniques and contemporary vision to capture the essence of nature.
From a young age, Nathan Allard enjoyed drawing, and it was later in high school that he became more deeply interested in painting. At the time, Nathan, painting in oils, came across Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, a tempera on canvas, and began reading about tempera painting. He was interested in the fast-drying qualities of egg tempera that contrasted with the slow-drying oil paint he was currently using, as well as the quality of the medium for setting the mood, applying fine detail, and painting more as he envisioned. Through continued reading on egg tempera, he came across the works of Andrew Wyeth, felt a connection to his work, and decided to try working with the medium. Shortly after he started painting with egg tempera - a mixture of egg yolk, dried pigments, and water - he began experimenting with making earth pigments for his paintings. A few years later, Nathan was inspired during a visit to the Portland Museum of Art to view a Winslow Homer exhibit. Homer’s art resonated with Nathan immediately – the way Homer worked, his material, and that he had lived and worked in Maine. The exhibit showcased a few of Homer's watercolor paints and brushes - his brushes, typical of the 19th century, were made of sable hair set into a swan quill. Inspired by Homer's work and materials, Nathan started making brushes modeled after those of Homer and began painting in earnest. (Image below: Daybreak by Nathan Allard)
Nathan now works in egg tempera and watercolor, painting in the spirit of the Renaissance painters - doing compositional drawings and color studies from life, then returning to his studio to complete the finished painting in egg tempera. He dedicates time to studying and understanding the qualities of the material he works with. Nathan deeply loves and appreciates the natural world and relies heavily on it to make his paintings. While out in natural settings drawing and painting watercolors, he often collects materials from the area he is painting to turn into paintbrushes or pigments. He makes paintbrushes using turkey feather quills for handles and animal fur that he collects or gets from hunters and trappers. Nathan also makes most of the pigments for his egg tempera paintings by crushing rocks, minerals, and other inorganic materials in a mortar and pestle. He refines the material further by grinding it on a glass plate with a muller.
During Nathan’s two-week stay at the rustic cabin at Lock Dam on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, he will produce sketches and watercolor studies of the landscape and moods of the Allagash and at least one egg tempera painting. Following his residency, Nathan will complete additional paintings in his studio in Somerville, Maine. Digital copies of the paintings and one original painting will be delivered to the AWW/Bureau of Parks and Lands. His creations will serve as a timeless homage to the Allagash's magnetism.
View Nathan’s art at www.nathanallardartist.com
~ Mark Deroche, Superintendent of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway
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Join a great team of seasonal and year-round park professionals who have a deep love and respect for the outdoors and enjoy working every day to ensure park visitors have a great experience whether they are visiting for the first time or the hundredth. We have openings for park rangers, assistant park rangers, and customer representative assistants. Learn more and apply.
If you are interested in being a lifeguard, read the lifeguard brochure, and contact Sean Vaillancourt at (207) 557-2391.
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Join us for two days of birding & nature discovery.
- Saturday, April 27 at Bradbury Mt. State Park.
- Sunday, April 28 at Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park.
A live bird presentation is featured each day, plus the hawk watch at Bradbury Mt. and the osprey watch at Wolfe's Neck State Park. Both days feature bird walks for adults and children, a drawing birds workshop, educational displays, and birding fun & games for children. Additional programs are unique to each park. The popular Cheese the Day food truck will be serving from10:30 AM to 3:00 PM on both days. For all the details, visit www.maine.gov/feathersoverfreeport
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528 Hallowell Road, Pownal, ME 04069 / (207) 688-4712
Granite and Glaciers - Geology of the Bradbury Mountain Area
Saturday, May 18 at 10:00 a.m.
Meet at the stone bench in front of the picnic pavilion.
On this less than 2-mile walk, Ranger Jeff Pengel will point out and explain the geology we encounter of the past 450 million years - magma chambers, erratics, mineral mining, rouche mountonnees, Bradbury island, and more.
History of Bradbury Mountain - 400 Years of Human History
Saturday, May 25 at 10:00 a.m.
Meet at the stone bench in front of the picnic pavilion.
This walk with Ranger Jeff Pengel explores the human history of the Bradbury Mountain State Park area. We will view the historical artifacts of the Park from about 400 years ago to the present including farming methods, mining, creature marks, fence viewers, stone walls - and a revolution!
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Join Maine forager and author Tom Seymour as he leads a walk along groomed trails in search of early wild edibles. Tom will identify common forest, meadow, and seaside plants that have medicinal or nutritional value.
Water is provided. The walking session will last approximately 1-1/2 to 2 hours and cover a total distance of 3/4-mile. Bring sturdy footwear and be prepared for changing weather conditions. The program may be canceled due to continuous precipitation or lightning in the area. The park address is 172 Indian Bar Road, Brooksville.
Meet at the Backshore Trailhead parking area along Indian Bar Road on Cape Rosier in Brooksville (Three Miles Off Route 176). Programs and entry are always free at Holbrook Island Sanctuary State Park. View the online calendar write-up and download the flyer.
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Let the summer camping season begin! Maine State Park Campgrounds open on May 20. Take a look at the campground maps then book your site online at www.CampWithME.com
Note that there are a few campsites at each campground that may not be reserved. They are first come, first served for visitors who stop in spur-of-the-moment to camp.
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Sketch showing locations of placed trees. Approximately 460 trees were placed spanning 1,560 linear feet.
Christmas trees donated to the park in January and February have been recently repurposed to help rebuild the dunes at Popham Beach. Approximately 460 trees, each 5-7 feet in length, were placed spanning 1,560 linear feet. The green dashed lines in the drawing above show where the trees were placed. Below are photos of the tree placements. Each photo number corresponds to the same number on the map. Photos #1-5 are courtesy of Peter Slovinsky, Marine Geologist with the Maine Geological Survey, DACF.
Photo #1. Looking east from the horse path. Note the two lines of trees on the dunes and the left-most line of trees placed along the eroded bank to capture sediment.
Photo #2. Looking west from termination of second row (seward-most) of trees between west path and horse path in the distance.
Photo #3. Looking east from west path along the three rows of trees installed. We chose not to install a fourth row at
this time due to proximity of river and upcoming king tides.
Photo #4. Looking west from termination of third (seaward-most) row of trees. Bath house in distance.
Photo #5. Looking east from where third (seaward-most) row of trees ends. Center path in distance.
The crew working hard digging 1.5’x2’ (approximately) trenches by hand in preparation for tree placement.
Trench digging.
Dropping trees off in rounds with two UTVs, with about 6-10 trees on each UTV per run.
The Monday Christmas Tree Dune Restoration Crew posing or a group photo after a day of hard work. Good job everyone!
Thank you to the Monday, March 25th crew: volunteer Michael Brillant, folks from the Department of Marine Resources Maine Coastal Planning, including Melissa Britsch, Devon Domeyer, and Rachael Hamilton, and Marine Geologist Peter Slovinsky and Nick Whiteman.
After this month’s king tides we will be placing more rows of trees in the weeks to come. We are happy to see that dune grass is already growing quite well between the rows after a few warm days, and I look forward to seeing how well the area recovers this Summer.
~ Sean Vaillancourt, Manager, Popham Beach State Park
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Volunteers at Reid State Park cleaning up storm damage.
The community gathered on a drizzly day in April to work on cleaning and clearing storm damage that had occurred at Reid over the winter months. We had 31 volunteers plus staff members from Reid, Bradbury Mountain, and Eagle Island that day. Within four hours, we were able to clean the shelter lawn, using natural debris as a barrier where dune loss had occurred, move several tractor-bucket loads of sand back to the beach, and make great progress on cleaning and clearing the Griffith Head roadway.
Volunteers and staff working to clear the debre left by storms near the picnic pavilion at Reid State Park.
Natural debris used as barrier where dune loss occurred.
I am often asked what my favorite parts of this job are; getting the community together in a spot that means as much to them as it does to me must be one of my top answers. I can’t thank the folks enough who spent their time at Reid to work on this. There was very little time where I didn’t see folks smiling and asking when the next volunteer day was, this speaks loudly of the love and support folks have for our Parks. We accomplished a tremendous amount of work to restore Reid. I look forward to continuing these efforts in future months. Thank you all so much!
~ Haylee Parsons, Manager, Reid State Park
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The April 8, 2024 Solar Eclipse. Eclipse image taken in Stowe, VT by Caliegh Cross. Top two photos and right middle are of Bald Mountain, Oquossoc taken by Kristin Anderson. All others are at Mount Blue State Park across from the headquarters on Center Hill Road and were taken by Kurt Shoener.
Celebrate Smokey's 80th birthday by joining the Smokey Bear Reading Challenge. Join Smokey in learning about wildfires and the environment. Read books, take action, and have fun! And remember: only you can prevent wildfires.
The challenge is open through November 28, 2024 and is geared for ages 4 to 10, but all ages are welcome. Check out Smokey's reading list.
Ask you local or school librarian how to get started or find out more at smokeybear.com.
Smokey Bear and Kent Nelson of the Maine Forest Service visited the Green ME Up Festival sponsored by the Girl Scouts of Maine at L.L. Bean on Saturday, April 20 to teach forest fire safety to the over 400 festival visitors.
Photos of the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands booth at the start of the Green ME Up Festival. After the rain stopped we had constant visitors. And Smokey Bear paid us a visit too!
If you missed the free Green ME Up Festival coordinated by the Girl Scouts of Maine and held at L.L. Bean, mark your calendars for next year. Even with some morning drizzle, the event was incredibly fun and attracted hundreds of visitors. The Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands booth featured a Moose Master quiz, a hands-on tracking display, and games that introduced visitors to the invasive Emerald Ash Borer, how it kills ash trees, why ash trees are culturally important to the Wabanaki, and how to help keep invasive bugs from spreading by leaving firewood at home and buying it where they burn it.
We hope to see you at the Green ME Up Festival next year!
~ Jocelyn Hubbell, Interpretive Specialist
A retrospective exhibition of the art of renowned Passamaquoddy basket maker Jeremy Frey will open at the Portland Museum of Art on May 24 and be shown through September 15. "Featuring more than 50 baskets, made from natural materials like black ash and sweetgrass, Woven presents a comprehensive collection that spans a career of more than two decades. These works are intricate, mesmerizing, and expressive, emphasizing Frey’s prodigious skill and prolific creative output that honors and transforms one of the oldest art forms in the northeast." Read more and watch a video about the art of basketry at the Portland Museum of Art website.
~ Courtesy posting by Jocelyn Hubbell, Interpretive Specialist
Send article suggestions or newsletter comments to Jocelyn Hubbell, Interpretive Specialist, webmaster, and newsletter editor for the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands.
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