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BTLT In the News: “Brunswick Superintendent’s Notebook: When does learning not feel like learning?”

BY PHIL POTENZIANO, The Coastal Journal

To read the article online, click here. 

Mary Poppins had the right idea. A spoonful of sugar does make the medicine go down, and the Brunswick School Department has found a way to sweeten the learning experience in our science-based programs.

Brunswick schools have been working with the Cathance River Education Alliance to bring kids outdoors to learn in a hands-on environment, something that offers a long list of benefits. And the program is a hit with our students, who tell us it’s so much fun learning outdoors.

CREA, a program of the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, promotes ecological awareness and stewardship through nature-based learning. In addition to the beautiful 235-acre Cathance River Preserve in Topsham – which is also open to the public – the CREA team offers a wealth of expertise in the area of science education.

In recent years, the school department has partnered with CREA as we continue to revise our science programs and strengthen our alignment with the state’s Next Generation Science Standards. A central theme of the program is bringing students outdoors and adding more hands-on investigations into science class, something teachers of all grades have practiced. So, instead of just studying frogs from a book, second-graders search for them near a pond and listen to their different croaking sounds. Fifth-graders, meanwhile, are taking soil samples and learning about ecosystems in the nearby forest.

Why is science so important? The knowledge you acquire goes beyond the ability to identify an amoeba under a microscope or the understanding that the blue whale is a mammal. In the same way that math teaches us how to think logically, the study of science builds essential life skills, including observation, hypothesis, collaboration, inquiry, problem-solving and flexibility.

Our partnership with CREA covers kindergarten through fifth grade. The learning units are consistent across all the grade levels to ensure that every student has access to the same experience based on Next Generation Science Standards.

After elementary school, Brunswick junior high and high school classes continue to offer plenty of hands-on, outdoor learning opportunities through field trips, extended learning opportunities and on-campus activities, including in our BHS garden.

The K-5 grade modules, created by CREA and Brunswick staff, also take a load off teachers, who can now focus on students and instruction without the need to develop their own curriculum. This is particularly beneficial for new teachers and those in the lower grades who teach multiple subjects.

“Feedback has been great,” says Suellyn Santiago, chief academic officer. “Teachers have everything at their fingertips. This gives them the resources they need to focus on the kids and what the students need.”

Students progress as they move through the grades. Second-graders identify turtles and quietly observe robins nesting. Third graders look at larvae under a microscope. Students in fourth grade study more abstract, longer-term processes, such as how the moving water of a river smooths rocks.

An especially exciting outcome we’ve seen comes from students who may lack confidence in the classroom – those who sit in the back and rarely participate. I’ve heard several stories that these quiet students often become some of the most connected and engaged learners in the outdoor education setting.

Certainly, there will always be an emphasis on books, lectures and even hands-on classroom activities. But bringing students outdoors for experiential learning is fun, effective and here to stay. A favorite story came from Sarah Rodgers, school program coordinator at CREA, who was told by a young learner, “This is so awesome – we’re learning so much new stuff, but I don’t even feel like I’m learning.”

Mary Poppins would be proud.

If you want to learn about the Brunswick School Department and CREA, look no further than the October Brunswick Buzz podcast.

To read the article online, click here. 

Supporting Local Schools with Hands-On Science

Have you ever rolled over a log and found salamanders or “roly poly” bugs? Or have you ever noticed the way the sun and shadows change on a favorite tree at different times of day? Or maybe you have stirred a compost pile and been awed by the almost magical transformation of food scraps into rich soil? These types of experiences help us connect with the natural world around us. They can help us feel grounded, or astonished, or curious to learn more. They are activities that we all should have equal opportunity to witness and wonder about, and yet many youth in particular do not spend the time outdoors enough to have these classic outdoor moments.

We are excited to share that all K-5 students in Brunswick will now be having these experiences at school throughout the year, as part of their new science units being piloted in 2023-2024!  

Exploring the wonders of compost together!

As part of a collaboration with the Brunswick School Department, educators from Cathance River Education Alliance (CREA) were invited to partner with two teachers from each grade level K-5 in Brunswick, to help map out new science units that use hands-on activities to align with federal science standards. The teams met multiple times over the course of the past year or so, identifying ways to bring these new science topics to life at each grade level K-5. All of the units are full of hands-on activities and interwoven with “how to be a scientist” skills, and CREA was particularly excited about the chance to support students getting outdoors – exploring, discovering, making observations, collecting data, and connecting with the natural world around them. CREA educators supported K-5 teachers in SAD75 (Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Topsham, and Harpswell) in a similar project in recent years, supporting them in meeting the new federal science requirements in a hands-on way. This month kicks off the first full year of piloting the new science units in Brunswick, and we’re eager to hear from students and teachers!

BTLT School Programs Manager Sarah Rogers showing a slideshow presentation to local teachers about the science kits.

At the Land Trust, we strive to connect people of all ages with the natural world around them. We provide free public opportunities like stargazing nights and solstice lantern celebrations and bird and wildflower walks to encourage community members to look more closely at the world around them. To observe, to ask questions, to be inspired by moments spent in the beautiful forests, fields, and farmlands where we live. By working together with local school teachers, we are supporting them in providing these very same sorts of experiences for all of their hundreds of students, day after day, year after year. To know that all students in our local towns will experience these nature-based explorations during their youngest years is so exciting, and we have been honored to join the teachers doing this great work.

Local teachers outside doing one of the activities they’ll be doing with their students.

During October, all teacher teams K-5 in Brunswick received their new science kits, and teachers are just beginning to pilot these units. As of this blog posting, first graders are tracing their shadows at different times of day to notice patterns of sunlight. Fourth graders are grinding rocks into sand to see weathering and erosion in action. Fifth graders are collecting soil samples and searching for decomposers as they explore nutrient cycles.

The subject line of a teacher’s email this week captured the simple joy of hands-on learning: “We’re having so much fun!!” We can’t wait to hear more feedback as teachers dive into the new units!

Curious to hear BTLT’s School Programs Manager Sarah Rogers talk more about CREA’s work with local schools? Listen to this podcast episode of the Brunswick Buzz! 

CREA Corner: August

Welcome to the CREA Corner! Most of you are aware that Cathance River Education Alliance (CREA) and BTLT merged effective July 1. Woohoo! We’re excited about the opportunities this union will open up and each month we’ll have a special blog post focused on CREA programs and events.

Go Native!

Twenty-five people learned what a spectacular, lawn-free landscape looks like at our garden tour events this summer. We toured the premises of Brunswick resident Sarah Cline who, following construction of her house five years ago, opted to surround it with native flowers and shrubs instead of grass. 

Today, Sarah has towering perennials and shrubs that supply continuous color throughout the warmer months. The plants also provide food and habitat for the all-important insects so essential to the birds and creatures that bring us such joy. Click on the links to learn why native plants are important and how to get started with rewilding a portion of your home, whether it’s a pot on your front steps or a small section of lawn.

The beauty of native plants is that in addition to their great looks and high ecological value, they don’t require improved soil or (once established) watering. The Maine-based Wild Seed Project is a great source of information about getting started with native plants!

Fall Speakers: Owls, Forests, & Biodiversity

We have wonderful speakers coming your way this fall. As big believers in the capacity of the natural world to teach, our ‘speakers’ will include live owls at the Topsham Public Library on the evening of September 26. Their handlers from the Center for Wildlife will help us understand the habits, diets, calls, ecological role, and more. Children are welcome! Registration not required – just show up.

In October, we’ll return to a virtual format with Karin Tilberg, Executive Director of the Forest Society of Maine, speaking about how Maine’s forests play a key role in mitigating climate change. In November, Nancy Olmstead, Conservation Ecologist with the Maine branch of The Nature Conservancy, will help us understand why biodiversity is important and its status in Maine. Registration for virtual speaker events opens 3-4 weeks before the event on our Events page. Links to attend will be emailed prior to the presentation.

CREA Camp: Amphibians, Invertebrates, and Mud, Oh My! 

We had eight very full weeks of camp this summer, providing a week of nature-based fun for 256 campers. CREA camp finished up on August 18th with (you guessed it) a rainy afternoon! Our intrepid campers, counselors, and counselors-in-training (CITs) were undeterred by the moisture this summer. And all that precipitation kept our rain barrels full! 

Campers spent their days building and racing boats, hunting for bugs and salamanders, hiking to Clay Brook for fun with mud, learning about mammals, creating puppet shows, making friends with painted turtles from our pond, playing Beckon and other group games, and much much more. Our new Hammock Haven was a big hit, giving youngsters a place to hang out (literally!) and rejuvenate for the next activity. The pictures tell the story.

“CREA Camp is hands down our favorite summer camp experience in the area. Both of my kids (one of whom was a new camper and pretty nervous) settled in immediately, came home thrilled and exhausted in the best way, and couldn’t wait to go back in the morning. For us, it is the opportunity to experience a really high quality outdoor, place-based program in such a fun way. And JUST the right balance between relaxed and structured- hard to find.” – ‘23 Camp Family

CREA Corner: July

Welcome to the CREA Corner! Most of you are aware that Cathance River Education Alliance (CREA) and BTLT merged effective July 1. Woohoo! We’re excited about the opportunities this union will open up and each month we’ll have a special blog post focused on CREA programs and events.

For over 20 years, CREA has been using the natural world to captivate people of all ages from our base at the Ecology Center, located at Cathance River Nature Preserve in Topsham. We provide hands-on learning experiences for school classes, run a nature immersion summer camp (full to bursting this year), and host speakers, guided nature walks, and community events for the public. 

A favorite speaker of 2022 (based on the 250 people who registered for his talk and 600 people who’ve since watched the recording) was Doug Tallamy, who explained the importance of insects, their key role in supporting other creatures we love — like birds, and the critical need for more native plants to support the charismatic megafauna (e.g.…birds) we want in our landscapes. You can watch that talk or read a summary of it here.

Read below to learn more about CREA’s exciting, and busy, summer happenings!

Inside the Ecology Center

Ecology Center: CREA’s Ecology Center is open to the public on Sundays from 12–2, weather permitting. There, you’ll find Maine mammal and bird mounts, a cool mineral display, scavenger hunts, ideas for outdoor children’s activities you can take home, and more. Walk to the river after your visit and read the Storywalk along the way! 

Firefly Mysteries: On June 27, we learned that the firefly dating scene is fraught with danger and intrigue. If you missed firefly enthusiast and expert Don Salvatore’s virtual presentation, you can read some highlights here and access a recording of his presentation. There is a whole lot more going on in a firefly meadow than you could imagine. If you thought the human dating scene was complicated, check this out!

CREA Explorers undeterred by the rain!

CREA Summer Camp: Our CREA camp is underway! Check out the Instagram page for great pics of what our campers are up to. For eight weeks, youngsters explore and learn about the plants and animals of the Preserve, catch frogs and bugs, make crafts, eat lunch by the river, and generally get dirty having a great time guided by our wonderful team of counselors. Our 14-16 year-old Counselors-in-Training (CIT) get daily leadership training that helps them learn to be confident, positive role models.

It’s Holly’s first time in Maine and she wants to learn everything she can about this wonderful place before she heads back to Montreal this fall.

Summer Intern: We are grateful to have the assistance of our Environmental Education intern, Holly Beato, this summer, sponsored by John Wasileski. Holly is a student at McGill University studying Sustainability, Science, and Society. She is just back from a semester of field study in East Africa!

Holly will be spending her internship working on mapping projects, helping with communications, creating educational aids for programs, researching potential speakers, exploring grant opportunities, crunching data, helping out at the community garden and farmers’ market, and a whole lot more!

What to Know About our New Strategic Plan 2023-2027

Recently the BTLT Board of Directors adopted a new Five-year Strategic Plan that aims to advance the mission of the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust by setting new, vital strategic goals for our programs, enhancing organizational effectiveness and efficiency, and bringing financial sustainability to a new level.  

This plan builds on major accomplishments under our previous Strategic Plan: obtaining valuable feedback from a wide-ranging community survey to help shape future priorities, expanding programs and staff capacity driven by a significant growth in membership and Annual Fund, and strengthening stewardship sustainability by nearly reaching our goal of a two-million dollar endowment fund through Board designations of special donations and bequests. It also reflects our deepened commitment to the inter-related importance of enhancing ecological and community resiliency through conservation and support for local farms, fisheries and sustainable forestry, as well as community engagement and education.  

By their very nature, strategic plans need to be adaptable to changing circumstances. The COVID pandemic was a prime example, requiring reorientation of our core programs for stewardship and community engagement to protect staff and public safety, while encouraging well-managed outdoor activities including our Farmers’ Market, community gardens and access to trails. It also required adroit adjustments in financial management and fundraising. Our success in navigating these challenges and lessons learned have also contributed to shaping the new strategic plan.

Over the past year the BTLT Board and staff held a series of facilitated retreat meetings by Zoom to discuss the challenges and opportunities in our various programs and organizational development. This informed consideration of goals and priorities in all of these areas have been incorporated into the plan.  

The plan also, for the first time, includes statements of core values to guide the work of the Land Trust. These represent an articulation of how the culture of BTLT has evolved in recent years that we felt should be codified going forward. These cover:

  • Collaboration and Cooperation.
  • Effectiveness and Efficiency.
  • Excellence and Integrity.
  • Inclusion and Equity.
  • Financial Responsibility.
  • Innovation.
  • Perseverance.

The plan remains firmly rooted in our core mission of conservation and stewardship and deep commitment to our most established and beloved programs – the Farmers’ Market at Crystal Spring Farm, the Tom Settlemire Community Garden, and of course our trail network. At the same time, we are rising to new challenges and seeking higher levels of engagement with the full range of people in our community through partnerships like the New Mainers Garden, Mowitanij Epijij (Wabanaki garden), trail accessibility initiatives, LGBTQIA+ walks, and more.

The Core Directions that are set forth in the new strategic plan are to: 

  • Energetically pursue new lands conservation projects.
  • Increase stewardship capacity further to support new land conservation and ongoing required stewardship. 
  • Expand youth education through increased integration with the Cathance River Education Alliance (CREA).
  • Integrate climate change mitigation and adaptation more explicitly in our lands, stewardship, agriculture, and educational programs, in line with the Climate Action Plan adopted for Maine.
  • Integrate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices into all our work, building on an explicit commitment we made in April 2021 and on activities already underway.
  • Engage in more sustained advocacy efforts on important issues connected with our mission.
  • Continue to build the financial and administrative capacity to support pursuit of these goals.

In the coming year, we will be giving priority focus on the emerging opportunities for new conservation projects, expanding our youth education integration with CREA, and continuing to evolve initiatives already underway with climate change and DEI. As we move forward in pursuing these priority directions, we will provide more detailed information on initiatives and progress in a series of future blog posts.

BTLT In the News: “Your Land: What you can see (and what you can’t) – Earth Day ‘22”

Your Land: What you can see (and what you can’t) – Earth Day ‘22

By Sandy Stott

A cool spring morning, with rising wind. It is the season — post-snow and pre-spring-growth — where what’s been thrown and blown away is easy to spot, and I’ve come to this part of Brunswick Landing with 30+ others to clear the area of this hand- and wind-scattered trash.

At my back, a one-story building, its long windows opening out toward a field, houses the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust (BTLT) and the Cathance River Education Alliance (CREA). Often working partners, these two conservation organizations help preserve and manage lands, bring people to those lands, and promote the spirit that adheres to and rises from those lands. Close by the building lie the plots of the New Mainers Garden, where sign of that spirit will poke soon above ground. CREA has organized today’s clean-up, and their executive director, Caroline Eliot, has welcomed our mixed lot, including a number of families (thank you, parents), and, with expansive gestures, she’s turned us loose to clean.

Armed with a picker-upper and an empty bag, I begin to work through the grasses and small pines above a crushed rock berm at the base of a thin pond. Snagged among the grasses: 2 paper coffee cups (company name withheld), plastic lid and straw, two linked post-it notes (task completed, I assume), white chunk of shipping foam, wad of paper towel, bottle cap, ah, the companion plastic bottle, a once-upon-a-pencil, bags 1, 2 and 3, (plastic). And on.

I near the water. I look back upfield, and I can see no remaining trash. Soon, I’ll join the others as they fan out into the woods and along nearby roads to fill their bags further. By morning’s end we’ll have tens of bags full. But first I turn back to the pond. I know this water. The eastern branch of the Mere Brook watershed, it too needs (and is slated for) cleansing work.

Named Pond B, the water before me has been put to work. Not far upstream sibling Pond A pools behind its own dam, and just above that the waters emerge from twin culverts that run beneath Brunswick Landing. Ponds A and B, and downstream relatives, Pond Area C and Picnic Pond receive and process 80% of the stormwater that runs off the Landing. It’s all headed finally south for Mere Brook, and then, Harpswell Cove.

Such water from a heavily-peopled, asphalt-rich site carries within the chemical equivalents of the thrown and blown trash we’re all gathering today. A full catalogue of this water’s trouble would burst the seams of this column. But before I head into the woods in pursuit of more visible trash, I want to describe briefly how the Ponds Stormwater System works, and how, over time, its waters may be redeemed.

When it rains heavily, run-off water rushes throughout the Landing. That hurried water picks up whatever’s available — grit, pollutants, bits of trash; it all courses through the system, swelling, rising. When that water reaches the ponds, it does what we all do in quieter water — it slows down. And, as it slows, it lays down some of its burden, the grit and particulates, the pollutants; that load sinks to the bottom, over time layering it. The now partially-cleansed water flows on seaward. A modicum of success.

But time’s accumulations finally make these pond-bottoms toxic, no-touch sediments that should be cleaned. Such a remediation is at hand for the Ponds system. The Navy, which put the system in place in the mid-90s, has contracted for roughly $5 million to have these sediments removed this summer and fall. A layer of clean sand will then be laid in place. The Ponds will then go back to work slowing and sorting the stormwater, which, given the successful repurposing of the former Navy Base as Brunswick Landing, will be substantial work.

Here, beside this working water, I’m thinking about the dilemma of our presence. We slough off so much, visible and invisible; how we manage our slough, how we minimize our trail of discard is an essential challenge on this Earth Day and every day.

It’s an hour later, and I’ve followed the deliberate course of my trash picking into a little draw. A tiny, transparent stream runs along its bottom toward Pond area C; on its banks, my favorite spring harbinger spirals up, maroon surprise. Before it becomes a green fan of leaf, Skunk Cabbage begins as twisting eruption from the newly soft ground; it is sculpture of the highest quality. Nearby, mid-stream, lies the thin manilla fin of a sandbar shaped by the running water. The sand’s surface is stirred and I bend to it; there, in a two-way script, go the paw prints of fellow travelers — raccoon (I’m sure), fox (I think), and the plush pads of a rogue cat(?). Here, in this little draw, slowed by my work of finding trash, I’m finding also the prints and presence of fellow animals. We are all of this earth. I owe them this effort to clean the seen and unseen litter of my life.

Sandy Stott is a Brunswick resident, chair of the town’s Conservation Commission, and a member of Brunswick Topsham Land Trust’s Board of Directors. He writes for a variety of publications. He may be reached at fsandystott@gmail.com

To read the full article online, click here. 

 

Climate Series Session 5 Recap: Subtraction is Action

On February 3, 2022, as part of its climate series, Cathance River Education Alliance and Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust hosted a program on action by ‘subtraction.’ We often think of solving problems by adding something – technology, infrastructure, and so on. This session’s speakers explore how to live more sustainably through subtraction.

For highlights from the session, additional resources on the topic, and how you can take action – CLICK HERE! 

For a full recorded video of the session, CLICK HERE!

Climate Series Session 4 Recap: Do Something!

On Jan. 27, 2022, the Cathance River Education Alliance and Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust hosted a program offering just a few examples of the many ways to take action to address climate change.

For highlights from the session, additional resources on the topic, and how you can take action – CLICK HERE! 

For a full recorded video of the session, CLICK HERE!

Climate Series Session 2 Recap: Maine Won’t Wait

On Jan. 13, 2022, the Cathance River Education Alliance and Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust hosted a program on Maine’s climate plan – Maine Won’t Wait – as part of our Taking Action on Climate series. Below, you can watch the session, read summary highlights of the program, find resources to learn more, and read suggestions on how to get involved.

For highlights from the session, additional resources on the topic, and how you can take action – CLICK HERE! 

For a full recorded video of the session, CLICK HERE!

Climate Series Session 1 Recap: Climate Inaction and Disinformation

On Jan. 6, 2022, the Cathance River Education Alliance and Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust hosted a program on Climate Inaction and Disinformation as part of their Taking Action on Climate series.

This session focused on climate disinformation because of the significant role it has played in delaying meaningful action to address climate change. Our guests were Peter Dugas, a Portland-based citizen activist who co-chairs the Portland chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby – a national nonpartisan advocacy organization working to enact federal policies to address climate change, and Dan Stone, an Associate Professor of Economics at Bowdoin College whose research explores belief formation, political media, and affective polarization.

For highlights from the session, additional resources on the topic, and how you can take action – CLICK HERE! 

For a full recorded video of the session, CLICK HERE!