Friends From the Field

A Lifelong Relationship with Sweetgrass

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2020 AT 4 PM EDT – 5 PM EDT

Join us to listen to, Carol Dana, from the Penobscot Nation, tell stories about her lifelong relationship with sweetgrass. She works at the Cultural and Historic Preservation Department for the Penobscot Nation on Indian Island and is their Penobscot Language Master.
This is the 22nd in our webinar Series co-hosted by BHHT and Island Heritage Trust, featuring local naturalists, professionals from environmentally focused organizations, and outdoor learning experts to share their knowledge, virtually, during a time when we can’t all be out in the field together.
The webinars take place LIVE every Thursday from 4-5 pm! We will record the webinar so that if you wish to view it but can’t participate at that time, the presentation will be available to you on our websites and social media.
Click the link below to REGISTER for this webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/reg…/WN_mjVAgn39TDScyNeGU53xPQ

Autumn Road Side Clean Up 2020

Friday, October 23rd – Sunday, October 25th

Trashbags available at Deer Isle Town Hall, The Galley, and Burnt Cove Market

For more information email: jmccarty@islandheritagetrust.org

Or to sign up for a section of road email: deerislemanager@gmail.com

IHT announces new Executive Director

We are excited to announce that IHT’s Board of Trustees has appointed Julia Zell as its new Executive Director.  Julia was appointed IHT’s Development Director in April 2019 and has also been serving as Interim Executive Director since the departure of Paul Miller in July 2020.  Julia is a 2014 graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and has been an Island resident since 2017.

We conducted a nationwide search for a new Executive Director and received applications from many impressive candidates.  In the end, however, we recognized that we already knew the right person for the position.  Julia has brought enormous passion and energy to her work at IHT.  She has quickly built strong relationships with donors, volunteers, staff, Board, and our Island neighbors.  We are very excited to have her to help guide the organization through the many challenges ahead.

Julia stated: “I am honored to have the opportunity to help lead IHT through these unprecedented times. We have been reminded of how connected we are, how challenges affect us all. Being able to take a walk outside and find some quiet comfort in this rugged and beautiful landscape, having the opportunity to learn and grow in this place, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for this privilege. Thank you to IHT’s staff and Board for all their support and hard work!”

Please join me in extending her our congratulations.
Sincerely,

Bill Wiegmann
Board Chair

Friends From the Field

Mushrooms in Maine: Good, Bad, and Beautiful

Co-Hosted by Blue Hill Heritage Trust and Island Heritage Trust

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 AT 4 PM – 5 PM

David Porter, retired from the Univ of Georgia, moved to Brooklin 14 years ago. He enjoys sharing his fascination with the natural history of mushroom fungi, and before the pandemic has led forays and offered classes with BHHT, IHT, CoA, and Eagle Hill.
In recent years mushroom fungi have garnered increased recognition of their beneficial role in forest ecology. Mushrooms may be decomposers while others cooperate with trees for mutual benefit and communication. Interest in gathering wild foods has popularized foraging for edible mushrooms as well as the importance of recognizing those that may be poisonous. Natural history and edibility aside, mushrooms are organisms of remarkable beauty that are often underappreciated. We will share personal observations and scientific information in this illustrated talk to stimulate your curiosity and lower your gaze during your walk in the woods.
This is the 19th in our webinar series co-hosted by BHHT and Island Heritage Trust, featuring local naturalists, professionals from environmentally focused organizations, and outdoor learning experts to share their knowledge, virtually, during a time when we can’t all be out in the field together.
The webinars take place LIVE every Thursday from 4-5 pm! We will record the webinar so that if you wish to view it but can’t participate at that time, the presentation will be available to you on our websites and social media.
Click the link below to REGISTER for this webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MsCdt_zdTMipDrkzwS1ZXg

Friends From The Field Webinars

Art and Environmentalism from an Indigenous Perspective

Co-hosted Webinar Series with Blue Hill Heritage Trust

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2020 AT 4 PM – 5 PM

 

Ranco’s talk will focus on how her ancestral connectivity to the Penobscot Bay region has influenced her artwork and passion for environmentalism. She will discuss the collective responsibility of Land Trusts to not only ensure this homeland will be protected but to give voice and access to the Indigenous people who still cherish this land.
Ann Pollard Ranco has been a professional artist since the age of 13. She began her career as a jeweler, collecting discarded pieces of pottery and glass from the banks of the Penobscot River and watershed, and turning them into wearable pieces of jewelry. Last year, she began painting and has found that through a mixed media approach, art offers a vehicle to discuss broader topics that are not often bridged. Her work is represented in the Abbe Museum, and at various art shows throughout the state.
This is the 18th in the webinar Series co-hosted by BHHT and Island Heritage Trust, featuring local naturalists, professionals from environmentally focused organizations, and outdoor learning experts to share their knowledge, virtually, during a time when we can’t all be out in the field together.
The webinars take place LIVE every Thursday from 4-5pm! We will record the webinar so that if you wish to view it but can’t participate at that time, the presentation will be available to you on our websites and social media.
Click the link below to REGISTER for this webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xAnF3ypITz60V2Ja2vDLPA

Friends From The Field Webinars

Nightlife: How Animals Adapt their Senses for Success in the Dark

Co-hosted Webinar Series with Blue Hill Heritage Trust

Thursday, August 27th, 4:00-5:00 pm 

 

More than half the animals that live on this planet are nocturnal and have adapted their senses to succeed living in a world with limited vision.
This presentation will look at some of those remarkable adaptations. It will also consider how we can explore our senses of taste, touch, hearing, and smell and prepare ourselves to better appreciate them in both the day and the night world. Spoiler: night sounds will be played!
Karen O. Zimmermann is a Maine Master Naturalist and author of “Nightwalk, Using All Your Senses To Explore the Natural World.”
This is the 17th in our webinar series co-hosted by BHHT and Island Heritage Trust, featuring local naturalists, professionals from environmentally focused organizations, and outdoor learning experts to share their knowledge, virtually, during a time when we can’t all be out in the field together.
The webinars take place LIVE every Thursday from 4-5pm! We will record the webinar so that if you wish to view it but can’t participate at that time, the presentation will be available to you on our websites and social media.
Click the link below to REGISTER for this webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cc6CWUfUTMe7XFjKEpNdIA

Friends From The Field Webinars

The Secret Lives of Beavers

Co-hosted Webinar Series with Blue Hill Heritage Trust

Thursday, August 20th, 4:00-5:00 pm 

 

Beavers are incredibly social creatures who are second only to humans in their ability to manipulate and construct their environment to suit their needs. In this presentation, we will talk a little bit about the history of beavers in North America, as well as take a small peek into their natural history and their “personal lives” within their lodges. Join us to learn a little more about these amazing and endearing animals!
Sandra Mitchell is a wildlife rehabilitator and Maine Master Naturalist who holds a special place in her heart for these little construction experts and enjoys sharing a small window into their lives.
This is the 16th in our webinar series co-hosted by BHHT and Island Heritage Trust, featuring local naturalists, professionals from environmentally focused organizations, and outdoor learning experts to share their knowledge, virtually, during a time when we can’t all be out in the field together.
The webinars take place LIVE every Thursday from 4-5pm! We will record the webinar so that if you wish to view it but can’t participate at that time, the presentation will be available to you on our websites and social media.
Click the link below to REGISTER for this webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_V_3le4-5RbSyggbgiRBZ7Q

Friends From The Field Webinars

Upwest & Downeast: Meandering the Maine Coast by Sea Kayak

Co-hosted Webinar Series with Blue Hill Heritage Trust

Thursday, August 13th, 4:00-5:00 pm 

 

In the summer of 2017, Michael & Rebecca Daugherty took the summer off from their jobs as sea kayak guides to live out of their kayaks along the coast of Maine for nearly two months, starting from Deer Isle and twice paddling the stretch of coast between Portland and Canada. Their experience is documented in a new book, a travel narrative written by Michael, and illustrated with relief prints by Rebecca. They will share excerpts and images from the book and Rebecca will talk about her process of painting and drawing on islands and turning those ideas into prints. For the Q&A they’re happy to answer everything you ever wanted to know about kayaking but were afraid to ask.
This is the 15th in our webinar series co-hosted by BHHT and Island Heritage Trust, featuring local naturalists, professionals from environmentally focused organizations, and outdoor learning experts to share their knowledge, virtually, during a time when we can’t all be out in the field together.
The webinars take place LIVE every Thursday from 4-5 pm! We will record the webinar so that if you wish to view it but can’t participate at that time, the presentation will be available to you on our websites and social media.
Click the link below to REGISTER for this webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lsqpBOMTSzKyw82KKQ3W9A

Friends From The Field Webinars

Co-hosted Webinar Series with Blue Hill Heritage Trust

Updated Schedule and Registration for the Summer

 

July 2nd: Stone Walls of Maine: Stone walls are windows through which we can learn about human history and natural history. Maine Master Naturalist Cheryl Laz will help us understand why there are so many stones and stone walls in Maine, as well as what the walls and surrounding terrain can tell us about the human settlement and land use. We will also examine the role of stone walls in the natural landscape as a habitat for animals and plants.

 

Stone-Wall-References.pdf

Recording of Webinar

 

July 9th: Old Maps, GPS and GIS Ways to Visualize, Navigate and Document – Join Deer Isle resident, Dr. Norbert (Bert) E. Yankielun, P.E. former researcher for the U.S Army Cold Regions Laboratory who specialized in sub-surface instrumentation research for a webinar presentation. This is a non-technical, and hopefully, enlightening and entertaining presentation that examines use of readily available, open-source, digital historical maps and imagery of Deer Isle to better visualize the terrain, environment, and cultural transformations that have historically occurred in our community from 1776 to present. After this presentation, you’ll never look at your local surroundings in the same
way!

Registration

July 16th: Integrating Science into Art – Join Barbara Putnam for a Friends from the Field Webinar and learn why this artist/teacher chose to integrate science into her art and how she challenges her students to do the same. Barbara will share her presentation from an International Conference in Spain, including the work of students at St. Mark’s School. She will touch base on what problems Marine mammals face in the Mediterranean and problems faced by the scientists who study them.

Registration

July 23rd: Secrets of Snake Sex –Snakes are enigmatic vertebrates whose secret lives have fascinated biologists for centuries. The common garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis, is a Rosetta stone of sorts that has allowed researchers to decipher the ins and outs of all-things-snake-sex. In this talk, Dr. M. Rockwell Parker will focus on the world-famous breeding aggregations of garter snakes that we study in Manitoba, Canada. He will also describe how their research at James Madison University is illuminating the rules by which sexual odors (pheromones) are turned up, down, on, and off in these fascinating and terribly underappreciated snakes.
This is the 12th in our webinar series co-hosted by BHHT and Island Heritage Trust, featuring local naturalists, professionals from environmentally focused organizations, and outdoor learning experts to share their knowledge, virtually, during a time when we can’t all be out in the field together.
The webinars take place LIVE every Thursday from 4-5 pm! We will record the webinar so that if you wish to view it but can’t participate at that time, the presentation will be available to you on our websites and social media.
Click the link below to REGISTER for this webinar:

Registration 

July 30th: Why Use Native Plants in the Garden? – Native Gardens of Blue Hill cofounders, Cathy Rees and Avy Claire, will discuss their motivations for creating a garden of plants native to Maine. The talk will outline the challenges and potential of the site and how to find the right plant for the right place. It will provide strategies that listeners can use to incorporate natives into their home gardens.

Registration

 

MORE TO COME FOR AUGUST!

DON’T LEAVE THE LIGHT ON!

The caterpillars of the invasive browntail moths have irritating hairs which can cause rashes and breathing problems for sensitive people.
 
From Maine.gov:
• There is a possibility of adult moths picking up the toxic hairs from the caterpillar stage as the moths emerge from their cocoons; however, the brown hairs on the abdomen are not the toxic hairs.
• The caterpillars, pupal cocoons, and shed skins have the toxic hairs that can cause a skin rash.
• The hairs on the adult moths are not toxic and do not cause a skin rash.
 
Most moth species are valuable pollinators and food for our spring nesting songbirds. So how do you know if you have the invasive browntail moths? See the brown tuft at the rear?
 
For the next week or so don’t leave lights on overnight to attract the adults to your neighborhood.
Next winter you will want to be vigilant about removing the winter nests.
 
A big “Thank You” to Marnie Reed Crowell for her efforts to educate our community about this invasive species.