News & Events

Merrymeeting Bay is an important ecosystem by any standard.  The bay's unique geological formation is found in just three other places on earth.  Several endangered and protected species are found in its waters and along its shoreline.  It is a region filled with history and engaging stories.  This inspirational and visually stunning 30-minute video explores the ways Merrymeeting Bay has inspired a strong network of preservation.  We explore stewardship of the bay through the work of scientists, artists and ongoing projects of area students.  With the financial support of State Farm Insurance, The Merrymeeting Bay Trust, and CREA members, this film represents a two-year collaboration between film producer Mark Ireland of MI Media and the Cathance River Education Alliance. This film features interviews with Bowdoin College Professor John Lichter and his students, author Franklin Burroughs, photographer Heather Perry, CREA Executive Director Rick Wilson, and CREA’s Environmental Youth Leaders, students and staff; all people whose work and study have focused on and around Merrymeeting Bay and who have in turn been inspired by it. Mark Ireland is a Topsham based broadcast and independent video producer specializing in documentary, feature, non-profit and educational work.  Among his accomplishments, Mark has produced, shot and edited numerous segments of MPBN's highly popular "Made in Maine" series. One of these segments depicting Bryce Muir (an artist who lived and sailed along the bay) won an Emmy Award.  He is also co-creator of the Maine Film & Video Association website.

Thursday Night June 24^th at Frontier Café, Cinema, and Gallery –

Seating and remarks start @ 7:00 PM – Showtime is @ 7:30

Donations at the door benefit CREA’s

Environmental Youth Leadership Program

For information about CREA visit our website at: www.creamaine.org

For more information on this event, call: (207) 798-1913 or

e-mail: cathanced@creamaine.org.

“It would have been easy to produce a two hour film. - maybe even a series - profiling all the people who work hard at protecting Merrymeeting Bay.  The respect and love for the bay that informs their work is an inspiration to me.  I'm honored to have met each of them and to have shared a little slice of their lives.  Through exploring their projects, I hope this film is yet another small contribution toward the ongoing stewardship of Merrymeeting Bay.” – Mark Ireland, Video Producer “This represents a two year effort between CREA and Mark Ireland of MI Media to create a film that strikes a wonderful balance between teaching people about Merrymeeting Bay, capturing the beauty of this dynamic ecosystem, and emphasizing the importance of continued stewardship.  This type of collaboration represents who CREA is and is exactly why we were established ten years ago. We aim to inspire, educate, and connect our community to nature.” – Rick Wilson, CREA Executive Director “The number one thing you can show the environment around you is respect, but also to come out here and enjoy it, you know kayak out here, or motor boat, or water ski, whatever.  Just come out here and see it, because when you see it you realize that it’s something worth protecting and that’s the most important thing you can learn about the bay, is that it is worth protecting! – Drew Trafton, Bowdoin College Student (Quote excerpted from the film.) Photo by Heather Perry

For more information, visit the Adult Programs page or download an info card.

TOPSHAM — For the second consecutive year, Mt. Ararat High School students have helped the town collect data in potential wildlife corridor areas by conducting animal tracking surveys.

Rod Melanson, Topsham's natural resource/assistant planner, worked with biology teacher Glenn Evans and his students this winter to gather the data through field studies.

"We just go over projects that we're doing in the planning realm, and (Evans) is really focused on natural resource stuff with the kids; getting them out and doing things,” Melanson said.

Aerial analysis maps taken over Topsham have identified undeveloped blocks of habitat in town, Melanson said. Throughout February and March the survey groups went to potential wildlife corridors identified on those maps to determine whether animals were in fact moving there.

“This is just a random look at what's out there on any given day,” Melanson said, noting that the work has aided Topsham in its natural areas planning efforts.

“We have an opportunity to go field check something with kids, and they get a benefit from it, so in my mind it's a good win-win,” he said. “(The survey) just tells us how good our data is.”

Melanson said the Cathance River Education Alliance provided the training space for the students, as well as the gear necessary to perform the surveys. Topsham-based Stantec provided technical guidance and training for the students.

“We go over the basics of animal tracking,” Melanson said. “... Winter is great ... Fresh snow happens, and you can see everything.”

Students learn track shapes, gait patterns and other signs of activity. “It's really like a detective's crime scene,” Melanson said. “They can't mess with evidence.”

The students documented the signs with digital photography and made measurements in order to obtain baseline data. Most commonly they saw signs of domestic dogs and red squirrels, but they also came across evidence of fishers, which reflects good ecosystem health, Melanson said: “They need large undeveloped areas to live, versus a skunk, which could live in your backyard or under your house.”

The evidence gathered over the past two winters will go into a report, Melanson said, "but if the kids want to keep doing it just because it's a good lesson for them, I'll leave that up to Glenn.”

Evans said his students' involvement next year will depend on their interest and the town's need.

Alex Lear can be reached at 373-9060 ext. 113 or alear@theforecaster.net.

CREA’s February Vacation Camp was a Huge Success…
With more Fun and Adventure on the way at CREA’s Spring Vacation Camp in April!
CREA’s Ecology Center was buzzing with activity February 16 – 18 with just over a dozen children from grades 3-5 participating in CREA’s fourth annual February Vacation Camp. Each winter, CREA’s three-day camp offers an exciting way for children to get outside and have fun with friends during part of their vacation week.

Participants learned about ways certain animals survive the winter by slowing down their metabolism or even hibernating. However, the children at this year’s camp were just the opposite—their brains and bodies were fully active, snowshoeing through the forest with boundless energy, playing games of “Animal Hop Charades”, imitating the acrobatic movements of weasels, foxes, and showshoe hare during winter, and learning to identify the furs, scats, and skulls of different Maine animals.

Outdoors for much of the day, the 13 campers strapped on snowshoes and hiked through the forest on CREA’s 235-acre nature preserve in Topsham. They took turns using digital cameras to photograph the incredible ice formations along the river, and also brought along field guides to identify tracks and scat found in the snowy forest. Discoveries of fresh tracks and scat resulted in screams of excitement to the rest of the hikers up ahead, followed by careful inspection to figure out which animal had made them. During one special afternoon, as the group was hiking off-trail to follow a set of deer tracks, a blur of white sped past them—a snowshoe hare had suddenly hopped out of nowhere and leapt past the children, allowing enough time for only a lucky few to catch a glimpse of its well-camouflaged white fur before it disappeared back amongst the trees. More screams of delight! With so many exciting options out in the woods—following animal tracks, playing games like “Camouflage”, or hiking to favorite landmarks like “the beaver tree” or “Barnes Leap”, it was sometimes hard to make it back in time for lunch!

Indoors, the Ecology Center provided a warm and cozy spot for snack and lunch, as well as indoor activities that took advantage of CREA’s teaching resources. Campers made life-size animal tracks out of clay to take home, had a chance to assemble a moose skeleton, and inspected the furs and skull replicas of a dozen Maine animals up close. Some campers used their “choice time” in the afternoon to read books from the library and use the microscopes, while others chose to play outdoor active games.

“At the end of the week it was time to shut down the stove at the Ecology Center and head home, but everyone had enjoyed a terrific vacation together. Our energetic team of four CREA educators enjoyed exploring and spending time with the campers. The parents had some excellent feedback for us as they picked up their children on the last day—a few even commented that they wished their children could go to school at CREA! We wish the same!” – Sarah Rodgers, CREA Outreach Coordinator

Missed CREA’s Winter Vacation Camp this year? There’s still time to get it on the fun and adventure with CREA’s April Vacation Camp coming up soon!

Visit the Vacation Camps page to download an application and learn more.

Since 2000, the Cathance River Education Alliance (CREA) has provided state of the art environmental education resources in area schools and at the Cathance River Nature Preserve, in Topsham.  Over the years, as awareness of CREA’s programs grew so has demand for their services.  In 2005, when CREA’s Ecology Center was completed, 300 students visited the Preserve, compared to over 1,700 during the 2008/2009 school year and 1,000 already in the first 2½ months of school year 2009/2010.

CREA has always been adept at accomplishing a lot with a little!  Until last year, all work was sustained through the efforts of dedicated volunteers and only one part-time staff, Rick Wilson, CREA’s Executive Director.  By 2008, expansion was needed to meet the demands of CREA’s growing popularity. Taking a giant leap forward in capacity CREA added two part-time educators and launched its new School Outreach and Outdoor Classroom Programs in local schools.

CREA’s Outreach Coordinator Sara Rodgers began initiating the in-class side of these programs last fall, meeting individually with 24 interested teachers to design and implement interactive environmental education lessons, aligned with classroom curriculum and specifically tailored to each teacher's needs. In its first year, CREA’s Outreach Program met with such success that by the end of the school year, 40 elementary teachers from the MSAD # 75 and Brunswick School Districts were participating.

"With classroom teachers so limited in the amount of time they're allowed to designate to science, this type of program has become even more important for supplementing curriculum. Even though teachers only have a small fraction of their time available for science programming, these intense outdoor learning experiences help pack a lot of learning into a tiny time block.” ~ Sara Rodgers, Outreach Coordinator

Along with interest in classroom programs, demand for outdoor learning at CREA’s Ecology Center and the Cathance River Nature Preserve has also grown.  In response, last fall CREA’s Outdoor Classroom Program was initiated by Cheryl Sleeper, Site Support Coordinator, who was hired to maintain the Ecology Center, along with greeting and working with visiting groups and classes. Cheryl provides elementary school classes visiting the preserve with technical support, supervision, guided hikes, and field study activities, along with educational materials and equipment, from field guides and digital cameras to microscopes, GPS units, and water quality meters.

During the 2008/2009 school year CREA’s Outreach and Outdoor Classroom Programs together worked with classes from Coffin, Longfellow, Jordan Acres, Bowdoin Central, Williams Cone, and Woodside, 1st through 5th grades. Since there creation, CREA’s outdoor and classroom educational experiences have offered elementary teachers lessons complementing their classroom units in Maine Studies, Habitats & Biomes, Pond Studies, Insects, and Energy, to name a few. In addition, CREA’s outdoor classroom is offered throughout the school year, with CREA providing snow shoes so students can get out and experience the ecology of the Preserve even during the winter months!

CREA is also providing educational support at the high school level. CREA staff work with four Mt. Ararat classes, “Field Studies and Aspirations”, Academic Biology, Honors Biology, and Environmental Studies, along with the new Brunswick High School “Ninth Grade Academy”, created to help students struggling with the transition from junior high to high school.  The topics covered in these classes include Vernal Pools, Aquatic Ecosystems, Wildlife and Plant Studies, Water Quality Monitoring, Riparian Habitats, Forest and Stream Ecology, Forest Growth Inventories, Alternative Energy, Sustainability, and a growing number of Independent Studies. (You can visit CREA’s website at wwwcreamaine.org to view the exciting results of some of these projects along with CREA’s other year-round programs and activities for students of all ages.)

CREA is offering custom experiences for individual teachers and students – allowing children in our community the opportunity to explore, and hopefully be inspired to see and protect what lives in their own back yard!”  ~ Cheryl Sleeper, Site Support Coordinator

The impact of CREA’s educational opportunities extends well beyond the classroom and preserve as well. Mt. Ararat teacher Glenn Evan’s class “Field Studies and Aspirations” has students working with younger students as mentors and teaming up with community experts on various environmental service learning projects.  Last winter, these students worked with Rod Melanson, Natural Resource Assistant Planner for the Town of Topsham, assisting him with winter wildlife tracking for the "Topsham Wildlife Corridor Field Surveys", which when completed will be used as part of the town’s overall planning process.

This theme is continued with CREA’s Environmental Youth Leaders (EYLs). EYLs are a select group of thirty high school students chosen each year to receive specialized environmental training and help with mentoring younger students, doing public presentations, and implementing student planned environmental service learning projects throughout the year.

This fall, with demand for all its programs still growing, CREA hired a third part-time outreach educator, Shane Barker. Shane works with Sara and Cheryl to maintain CREA’s outreach programs, assist with outdoor excursions, and expand CREA’s support into even more classrooms and outdoor education projects.

“Since coming to CREA in September I have gotten to jump into classrooms and help teach students of all ages about a wide variety of topics about the outdoors. Having a classroom that is 230 acres allows for endless possibilities to teach kids.” ~ Shane Barker, Outreach Coordinator

CREA’s outreach expansion has been made possible through the generous funding of The Merry Meeting Bay Trust, Davis Conservation Foundation, Horizon Foundation, Eaton Peabody Charitable Foundation, State Farm Insurance, LL Bean and the annual support of many local businesses and individuals.

“They are a great team doing serious work getting students and teachers outside learning.  Throughout the entire school year they help local students learn to be astonished by making the hidden worlds of nature come alive.  Their enthusiasm is contagious and we feel fortunate to have such a dream team moving forward into CREA’s second decade. Together they are providing a first class educational experience for our local schools that cuts across all grades and disciplines.” ~ Rick Wilson, Executive Director

There’s a new addition to the Cathance River Education Alliance’s outdoor learning center, and it’s not another set of solar panels for the roof. For the past year, students from Brunswick High and Mt. Ararat have been working on a mural for the CREA Ecology Center. Every Monday, the eight students participating in this project gathered at the Ecology Center and then at Brunswick High School to plan and design the 4’x8’ mural. The painting depicts a pond scene with various animals - mostly marine invertebrates, amphibians, and birds, highlighted in the particular niche of the ecosystem they inhabit.

CREA commissioned this mural in October and a group of four students, Ari Kohorn from Brunswick High School, along with three of CREA’s Environmental Youth Leaders, Mel Christensen, and Amber Casterlin of Brunswick, and Linda Fogg of Mt. Ararat began directing and coordinating the project. “This was entirely a student directed effort”, said Cathance River Education Alliance Executive Director, Rick Wilson, who supervised the project.

Dory Whynot, Lindsey Gillis, Ari Kohorn, Ellie Kohorn, Hannah Strickland, Naomi Bravo, Isaac Atkins, all from Brunswick High School, and Courtney Torrent-Ellis, from Mt. Ararat, painted the mural from November to June. The students planned, composed, and finally painted the finished design onto a canvas generously donated (along with the paints) by Kat Logan, owner of Maine Street Art. Brunswick Framing handled the framing of the mural. On Thursday, September 3, the group unveiled their mural at the Cathance River Education Alliance where it will remain as a permanent feature.

The CREA Ecology Center is located in the Cathance River Preserve, adjacent to the Highland Green Retirement Community. The Preserve is open to the public every day from dawn to dusk. Please no pets, no hunting, no camping, no fires, no biking, and no motorized vehicles of any kind. During the school year, the CREA Ecology Center is open by appointment only, please call 798-1913. For more information about seasonal hours, programs and activities, please visit the CREA website at – www.creamaine.org

CREA’s Environmental Youth Leadership (EYL) Program was created in 2008 and is based on a successful service-learning project led by four Brunswick High students the previous year. Environmental Youth Leaders (EYLs) are a select group of thirty high school students from three local school districts, Brunswick High School in Brunswick, Mt. Ararat in Topsham, and Morse High School in Bath. EYLs are chosen yearly through an application process to receive specialized training in leadership development and environmental education. In return, EYLs help throughout the year with mentoring younger students and doing environmental presentations for members of the public in a variety of venues. EYLs also plan and carry out a number of environmental service learning projects throughout the year, like the Mural Project featured here. CREA’s EYL Program has been funded for the past two years by State Farm Insurance, Youth Advisory Board grants. The CREA Mural Project was supported by this year’s State Farm YAB funding as well.

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“It is a dynamic representation of the creatures that can be found in and around a vernal pool, such as the one nearby to the Cathance River Ecology Center.” – Mel Christensen, EYL, and student organizer for the mural project

“The challenge was to work as a group to create a composition that reflects the work of a single artist.” – Hannah Strickland, contributing mural artist and Brunswick High School senior

“This mural represents an essential focus of CREA as it combines youth voice, art, science, and the natural world. The painting embodies a wonderful enthusiasm for hidden worlds and is sure to excite folks across all generations when they visit the Ecology Center and stand before it…” – Rick Wilson, Executive Director, Cathance River Education Alliance

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* The attached photo, courtesy of “David Gillis”, depicts the mural unveiling ceremony, with the participating students who were able to attend. (From left to right are Ellie Kohorn, Hannah Strickland, Ari Kohorn, Lindsey Gillis, Mel Christensen, and Naomi Bravo. Not pictured are Amber Casterlin, Linda Fogg, Dory Whynot, Isaac Atkins, and Courtney Torrent-Ellis.)

The Brunswick High School Environmental Club (38 students, grades 9-12) was recently chosen by the Maine Science Teachers Association (MSTA) to receive this year’s Student Green Team Award, Secondary School Division. The club was selected for this honor in recognition of their ground-breaking 2008/2009 “Carbon Footprint” study of Brunswick High School (BHS). The award will be presented at the 2009 MSTA Conference, October 9th at Gardiner High School, where club members will also present their project findings to conference attendees.

This award winning club is only in its first year of operation, re-organized in the fall of 2008 through the collaborative efforts of the Cathance River Education Alliance, an Environmental Education Non-profit based at the Cathance River Preserve in Topsham, and Andrew McCullough, Biology Teacher at Brunswick High School. The club’s first year was funded out of an outreach grant CREA received in 2008 from the State Farm Youth Advisory Board.

The roots of the BHS “Carbon Footprint Study” also go back to the fall of 2008 when Bruce Nicholson, in-house attorney and Risk Management Director with Woodard & Curran, a Portland based engineering and environmental consulting firm, suggested the idea of working with interested students to perform a detailed, high-level, and professional quality Environmental Sustainability Baseline Assessment (SBA) of the school to Rick Wilson, CREA’s Executive Director. Bruce’s volunteer work with the students was part of his "Practicum Project" for the Institute for Civic Leadership's "Leadership Intensive" training program, where he is a member of the 2008/2009 Pi Class.

The BHS Environmental SBA (a "carbon footprint" analysis) objectively quantifies and assesses the school's impact on the environment in terms of direct and indirect emissions into the air, the amount of paper and other materials purchased, resources used, recycled and discarded as waste into landfills or incinerated, energy and fuel burned, waste water used and discharged into the local wastewater treatment plant (and in turn the Androscoggin River), greenhouse gas emissions as a result of students, teachers and staff traveling to and from the high school, and other school-related travel.

Students met with school and district representatives to compile much of their data and also set up surveys for students and staff. At the end of the year the students sent their write-up for each indicator to Woodard and Curran who agreed to print the audit in a professional format for the Club’s presentation this fall, along with their recommendations for areas of improvement, to school officials. The study will also serve as baseline data for any environmental changes made within the school system in coming years and for future studies planned by the club.

In addition to their work on the environmental audit, club members engaged in a vigorous campaign to promote car-pooling to school. Students raised money to have "car-pool only" signs made and put in place in the most desirable faculty and student parking spaces closest to the school and lobbied the school's administration and School Resource Officer to ensure that the spots would be monitored and taken seriously by both faculty and students.

The Environmental Club also participated in several fundraisers throughout the year including the sale of "The Sunrise Guide" a local Maine non-profit that promotes green businesses by selling "green" coupon books. The students actively recruited new members from the incoming freshmen class by participating in the school's "step-up" night and making plans for the fall to work on recycling initiatives with the local elementary schools and Junior High.

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“Overall, this group of students put in a ton of hard work and accomplished an amazing amount for only their first year of existence.” – Andrew McCullough, BHS Biology Teacher and BHS Environmental Club Faculty Advisor

“This is the kind of project CREA exists for, bringing together educators, students and community resources to address the critical environmental issues of the day and preparing the next generation of environmentally responsible citizens and good stewards of the earth in the process.” - Rick Wilson, CREA Executive Director

Taking a ride on the Cathance River Education Alliance's new solar-powered golf cart are, clockwise from left, Ben Wilson, alliance sustainability intern Weston Shepherd, trails intern Eric Berube and Mae Wilson. Ben and Mae Wilson are the children of Rick Wilson, executive director of the alliance.

The Cathance River Education Alliance has a new solar-powered cart. Now all it needs is sunshine.

A rooftop panel weighing only 3.75 pounds is powering the alliance's trail maintenance golf cart. A State Farm Insurance grant to the alliance's sustainability education programs funded the project.

The cutting-edge amorphous silicon panel has three layers, each made to capture a different portion of solar light. It charges the cart's batteries on cloudy days, and sends a constant 1.35-amp charge to the cart's 48-volt battery pack.

Rick Wilson, executive director of the alliance, said the organization needed a cart for a variety of purposes, such as carrying items into its headquarters from its parking lot to conducting trail work. While Highland Green loaned the alliance a gas-powered cart, the ecology education-driven organization purchased a used electric vehicle.

"And the next logical progression was to look at if we can have some type of solar element with the cart," Wilson said.

The panel prolongs the cart's battery power with a longer charge, Wilson said. While the battery from the electric cart can be charged by means other than a solar panel, "the length of time ... is shortened by the augmentation of the solar canopy."

Wilson said the panel cost about $1,300. The chassis of the cart was then given a 6-inch lift and all-terrain tires in order to more easily ride the trails.

The panel is relatively easy to install, Wilson said, mentioning a YouTube video showing a 10-year-old attaching one to a vehicle. "Just roll it out, attach two wires in the right place and you're good to go," he said.

Wilson said the cart, which can carry four passengers, is also being used to transport people with disabilities or who have trouble getting to the Cathance River. The Barnes Leap trail has been improved to facilitate trips by cart to the river. Many residents of the Highlands, Highland Green and members of the public can benefit from those rides.

"It's been a great feature," Wilson said.

Article by Alex Lear

Christabel Frye and Zachary Shaw, who will be juniors at Morse High School this fall, sift through dirt during an archaeological dig on Tuesday at the Head of Tide Park site in Topsham.

An archaeology team began digging into the earth around Head of Tide Park on Monday to see what mysteries of human civilization they can unravel at the historic site on the Cathance River.

Eric Lahti, a licensed Maine guide archaeologist, is working on the project with students from the Cathance River Education Alliance's Environmental Youth Leadership Initiative.

"We're working on what appears to be the footprint of a house, or some kind of a structure," Lahti said, adding that the team had so far found a lot of 19th century glazed ceramics, many bricks and some iron.

Lahti said he hoped to find artifacts dating back to the beginning of European American history on the site, which goes back three centuries, and also evidence of a prior American Indian presence.

"I'm sure, based on my experience, that a location like this, with the falls at the head of tide, that there would have been Native American activity here," said Lahti, who does survey work part time for the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. "But it's been industrialized, bulldozed, rebuilt, rescraped. I think there's very little natural surface left here. If we find it it's going to be in very little small pockets or in soil that's been redeposited."

The project, which includes about 15 students from Morse, Brunswick and Mt. Ararat high schools, is scheduled to conclude next week.

The dig is a service learning initiative being funded through part of a $52,000 State Farm grant. The approximately $5,000 being spent covers the hiring of Lahti and a small stipend for the students, some of whom are also volunteering their time, according to Rick Wilson, executive director of the education alliance.

"It's great," Wilson said. "It's been a really cool experience. The kids are into it."

Aside from finding nothing but a thumbtack – with her thumb – in the first two holes she dug, Brunswick High student Audrey Cross said that she and Haley Postin of Mt. Ararat High were now finding a lot of brick and pottery, as well as iron materials and window glass.

Wilson said the project "brings a larger story of the Head of Tide Park, and tells that story. That's the most powerful thing to me, is here you have this park, that's going to be a park of the public's enjoyment, and it's nice to be able to add to that story ... you can almost shut your eyes and imagine the things that went down at the falls, given that water travel was your primary source of transportation."

The site in previous years was home to a feldspar mill, and before that a lumber mill.

Once the diggings have concluded, the materials will be analyzed and stored, Lahti said. Ideally, he added, the artifacts could become part of an exhibit at the park or at the education alliance's science center.

Photo and article by Alex Lear