BATH

The second installment of the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust’s Spring Stewardship Series titled A Home for Creatures Great and Small: Building Habitats for Wildlife, will take place this Sunday afternoon at KELT’s Sewall Woods Preserve in Bath.

Cheri Brunault, who serves as the stewardship coordinator for both KELT and the Phippsburg Land Trust, has been hosting and leading participants through informative workshops designed to teach community members about being good stewards of the land.

According to Brunault, the purpose of the program is “getting people out on the properties and trying to present a skill, whether it be knowing more about vernal pools, or wildlife habitats and protecting them on their landscape.”

Last week, the first stewardship session was focused on learning about vernal pools by looking at active pools at the Morris Pond Preserve.

After the training, participants split into teams to locate other vernal pool sites so the organization could check on the status of the pools and design buffers to protect them in case more trails are built this year.

“We didn’t find any new (pools), but it was a useful exercise,” Brunault said.

Sunday’s workshop welcomes residents who are looking for ways to improve their property and make it more friendly and accommodating to Maine wildlife. Participants will be examining a range of habitats, such as wetlands or even decaying trees that can benefit the environment and be used by forest wildlife.

Community members will also be visiting owl boxes, bat boxes and bee boxes installed in the Sewall Woods Preserve.

At the end of the training, participants will work together on building a wildlife brush shelter, a construction of stacked logs covered with branches and sticks that can help protect animals from predation.

Representatives from the Natural Resource Conservation Services of Maine will also be present to speak about NRCS programs and to share some knowledge about wildlife needs, and what homeowners can do to help in their own backyards.

“These events give interested people a chance to look into our practices as an organization,” said Brunault. “It helps to demonstrate some of the things KELT is doing to enhance the ecological value of the land.”

The third and final part of the series will address invasive plants and how they are threatening Maine forests. This event will take place at the Weber Kelly Preserve in Georgetown on May 16.

Sunday’s event is free and open to the public, and registration will run until tomorrow due to limited class size.

Interested community members can sign up by calling (207) 442-8400 or emailing Becky Kolak at [email protected].

The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor
We believe a community must be informed to thrive. bowdoin.edu