NEW: In addition to the listing below, you can view events in a calendar format here.

Events, Field Trips and Lectures: Unless otherwise indicated, events take place at the DRA headquarters, the Great Salt Bay Farm Heritage Center (aka "The Farm"). Dogs are not permitted at events or on field trips, except for guide dogs which are permitted.

Round Top Coffee House Open Mic Night: Join us the first Friday of every month at Round Top Farm at 6:30 pm.
Sign up to perform or sit back with a cup of coffee and listen!

Additional Programs and Events: Many offerings are listed below. Be sure to check out our updated Education section for programs starting this fall: Wild Encounters (Homeschool families and groups), Frogs and Pollywogs (preschool, ages 2-5), Jr. Naturalist After-School Program (grades 2-6)

Monday Meanders (family hikes at different DRA preserves with Naturalists): Guided nature walks. First Monday of each month. Free. Times: 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

• September 6: Salt Bay Heritage Trail (meet in the Lincoln County News parking lot)
• October 4: Mills Overlook (meet at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Newcastle)
• November 1: Baker Forest (meet in the parking lot on River Road, Newcastle)

Fire – Starting with Bow Drills: Saturday, September 25 at the DRA Heritage Farm, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Fee: $40.00/adult, under 15 years $20.00.
    Work with local primitive skills teacher and registered Maine Guide, Joe Tynan, to build your own bow drill and learn to use it to start a fire without matches. Open to adults and youth ages 10-14 accompanied by an adult.

River Link Trail Walk-Through: Satuday October 9 (Rain date Oct 16), 9 am until about 2 pm. Meet at the Dodge Point parking area, 3.5 miles south of Newcastle Village on River Road. We will leave half the cars there and drive 6 miles south to McKay road and leave the other half of the cars; if you bring a car-full of people, bring two cars so we have room for everyone! This will be a 5 or 6 mile hike through rough terrain where some of the trails are poorly marked and you can expect to wade shallow streams. People who wish to do only part of the hike should leave a car at Mckay Road and plan to turn back on their own. Bring good boots, knapsack with lunch, and snack food, water and bug repellent. Free.

Mushroom Workshop with Greg Marley: Saturday and Sunday, October 9 and 10th, Sat. 9:00 am - 4:00 pm and Sun.1:00 pm - 4:00 pm. Fee: $60.00/adult.
    Greg Marley author of “Mushrooms for Health: Medicinal Secrets of Northeastern Fungi” will lead a two-day workshop starting with an introduction to fungi and working towards understanding plant associations and mushroom identification.

Wabanaki Family Ceremony: Saturday October 16, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon. Public celebration of the accomplishments of local school children during the previous two weeks “Wabanaki Living Skills and Culture.” Birch bark artist David Moses Bridges will be showing his baskets and traditionally-made canoe.

Trail Tamers: We’ll be meeting at least once a month on the third Thursday of the month at 9:00AM unless otherwise noted for Trail Taming this year. Most events will be done before noon unless otherwise noted. Please join us!

TICK ALERT. Ticks are out in force this spring. Please remember to tuck in pants, apply appropriate repellent, and above all do a nightly tick check. Please visit Maine CDC for more information and resources.

Top

News (Current Events / Past Events)

Riverside Park Cleanup on Earth Day 2010:

National Trails Day Brings out Strong Showing of Volunteers on River~Link Trail: The Damariscotta River Association held another successful National Trails Day this year! Saturday, June 6^th, twelve volunteers met at Dodge Point to help maintain the new River~Link Trail. The particular focus of this days’ work was the construction of a new bridge along the trail and the widening of the first half-mile.
    National Trails Day is held the first Saturday of June each year. This was one of over 1,000 events held this year, throughout the entire country. All fifty states hold National Trails Day events, which aims to encourage the public to get out and explore some of the country’s 200,000 miles of trails. It also provides an opportunity to thank the organizations and volunteers that help to create and maintain these trails.
    This Trails Day brought out familiar faces to the DRA as well as some new volunteers, including several enthusiastic young kids ranging from ages two to six.
    “Watching the young Trail Tamers at work was perhaps the most exciting aspect of the day,” enthused DRA’s director of lands and stewardship, Steven Hufnagel. “It was great to see them getting involved and they really held their own amongst the other volunteers, demonstrating their skills with loppers and hammers!”
    According to Hufnagel, all the volunteers worked hard from 9 until noon, making great progress on the trail and completing the bridge, an important step forward in River~Link improvements.
    The River~Link project is designed to provide a trail that connects the Damariscotta River with the Sheepscot River and down through Boothbay.
    The project is collaboration between several land trusts, towns, and state agencies.  This trail will also act as a corridor to allow for wildlife to migrate along large stretches of land.

More information about the River~Link Trail is available here or call us at 563-1393. DRA                 headquarters, the Heritage Center at Great Salt Bay Farm, is located at 110 Belvedere Road                 in Damariscotta. Directions are available here.

Volunteers help with the construction of a new bridge on the River~Link Trail.

Some of the young new volunteers lending a hand.

Young Haley learns how to the use the hammer with the guidance of DRA Director of                 Lands and Stewardship, Steven Hufnagel.

Elsie Morse helps on the finishing touches of the new bridge on the River~Link Trail on Nation Trails Day, Saturday June 6^th.

Volunteers at the DRA National Trails Day Event take a break from construction on the River~Link Trail. Top Row (Left to Right): Quinn and Kristine Natale, Lyra and Katlin Puchalski, Louis Natale, Larry Janes. Bottom Row (Left to Right): Steven Hufnagel, Elsie Morse, Zaniah Puchalski, Cole Natale, Haley Puchalski and Joy Vaughan

River ~ Link in the News: DRA Trail Tamers were featured in a recent article in the Portland Press Herald (5/29/09) about River ~ Link, a regional collaboration funded by the Land for Maine’s Future Program to create a trail and wildlife corridor connecting the Damariscotta and Sheepscot Rivers with each other and with other protected lands in Boothbay. Get involved with the Trail Tamers - schedule available here.

Our Fall Newsletter is Out! Read about exciting events in the life of DRA – Words from our new President; Wild Shores Initiative; Support from The First; Wabanaki Ceremony; Volunteer Breakfast -- and more! You can download the newsletter as a pdf file (2 Mb file) to read at your leisure.

Morning Dew Farm Donates Squash from DRA: Agriculture is blossoming at the DRA headquarters on Belvedere Road. The Damariscotta Farmers’ Market that we host continues to expand. The community gardens yielded quite a harvest. The Pinkham Family continues to cut hay on much of the open feld acreage. And last but not least, farmers Brady Hatch and Brendan McQuillen grew vegetables at the Great Salt Bay Farm: a bumper crop of beautiful and varied squashes. In their fourth year of business as Morning Dew Farm, Brady and Brendan run a CSA subscription program, supply produce to Rising Tide Community Market, and sell to local restaurants. They are also very involved in the farms to school movement, which aims to put fresh local food on school menus. Some of the squash may be sold to Great Salt Bay Community School. Additionally, Brady and Brendan plan on making a two bushel squash donation to the Newcastle Food Pantry at Thanksgiving time. Squash grown at DRA will thus make its way to local schoolchildren and will help to feed those in need during the holidays.

North Branch Wild Shores Initiative Sees Major Step Forward: In November, 2008, DRA closed on the purchase of a forever-wild conservation easement protecting 25 acres and 2,300 feet of tidal wetland at the headlands of the North Branch of Johns Bay in South Bristol. We are thrilled to announce this success, ... read more and see photos

Huston Dodge Loans Historical Skiff to DRA: Damariscotta historian Huston Dodge, 91, lent the DRA the skiff he built in 1935 for public display. The boat had been stored on the DRA Heritage Preserve Huston Landing 1740, which Mr. Dodge donated to the River Association in 2006. DRA staff captured several photos of the boat, the preserve, and the ceremonial arrival at the Damariscotta Town Landing on September 25, 2008. The Lincoln County News also featured the story of Huston and his skiff in the following week's paper. We have followed this up with an interview with Huston regarding his boat - listen here to a real voice of history!

DRA Receives Sproul-Stubbs Land Gift: In April, 2008 with a gift of more than 50 acres of land to the Damariscotta River Association (DRA) from Laura Sproul Stubbs, the John and Peg Sproul Preserve came into being. A map is available here in pdf format.

Hochgraf Easement Gift Advances Boyd Pond Conservation: Norman and Gale Hochgraf, who live along Boyd Pond, helped to advance an initiative to protect this water body and its abundant wildlife. Keen to maintain the shoreline in its natural state for the benefit of the pond’s wild residents, the Hochgraf’s made a gift of a conservation easement to the Damariscotta River Association in December, 2007, permanently protecting 15 acres and more than 400 feet of shoreline ... more

DRA River Link Ceremony: On October 25, 2007, Governor Baldacci cut the ribbon unveiling the new River~Link trail ... more

DRA serves Hot Dogs in the Bog at the Grand Opening of Marsh River Bog on 11/10/2007: DRA hosted the third annual Community Conservation Cookout to give our constituents a chance to dis-cover the new boardwalk in the Marsh River Bog. Read more ...

DRA Encourages Energy Conservation: Specific actions that you can take to reduce energy consumption and production of greenhouse gases is contained in "Steps You Can Take to Reduce Energy Use & Cut Carbon Emissions" by Paul Kando. Paul created and assembled these suggestions from a variety of sources as well as personal and general knowledge. We also are working with him and the Midcoast Green Collaborative on making DRA a showcase for incorporating energy efficiency into older existing struc-tures and new buildings.

DRA Puts New Preserves on the Map (LCN 1/24/2007): In 2006, the DRA protected four new properties in the greater Damariscotta River region.

McLaughlin Land Gift Helps Keep The North Branch Wild (LCN 4/11/2007): Bob and Roberta McLaughlin of South Bristol recently donated to the Damariscotta River Association an outstanding 11-acre shorefront tract on the North Branch of John’s Bay.

Top

Past Events (Current Events / News)

Volunteer Thank-You Breakfast October 4, 2008: Each year the DRA hosts a thank-you event for our wonderful volunteers. This year, on October 4, it was a breakfast featuring local foods donated by Rising Tide Community Market and fair trade organic coffee donated by North Cottage Coffee. Music by Greenfields and Julian Howland. Photos of the volunteer breakfast are available on DRA’s Picasa site, and a short video of Mark working the grill (and thanking donors) is worth a look (have your speakers on and volume turned up)!

ANNUAL DRA LOBSTER BAKE: - Thursday, August 21, 2008. A good time was had by all -- this was an excellent opportunity to meet other DRA members, staff and Board members.

MARSH RIVER BOG PLANTS & WILDFLOWERS: - Saturday, July 12th, 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. – Wanda Garland, botanist, will introduce you to woodland plants with a special emphasis on the distinct vegetation associated with a bog or peat land community. All species have strategies for survival. Unlocking these strategies is a fun way to be drawn into the world of plants. From bark characteristics to seed dispersal to flower structures designed to ensure pollination, every plant has a story to tell. Bog plants in particular demonstrate adaptations for a nutrient poor environment and yes, some actually “eat” insects for nitrogen! Meet at the trail head at Marsh River Bog off Route One and opposite Snead Lane, a River Road spur. Call if you need directions.

GREAT SALT BAY CONCERT SERIES WITH INNER VISIONS – REGGAE 2008: Sunday, July 20th, 1:00 – 6:00 p.m. – A family oriented outdoor Reggae concert with an encore performance by Inner Visions.

DRA WABANAKI DAYS EVENT: As part of Wabanaki Days, a collaborative week-long celebration honoring Maine's First People, DRA will host a special event: Campfire Activities – Thursday, July 24th, 4:00-6:00 p.m. — A living history gathering was held on the shores of Great Salt Bay and at the site of DRA's Wabanaki Village. Native American stories were shared with discussions about the history of Native Americans presented, and a variety of crafts demonstrated.

Shipbuilding Presentation: Four of the region’s authorities on local shipbuilding history will share the podium on Thursday, March 27th at the Damariscotta River Association’s Great Salt Bay Farm Heritage Center. Drawing from historical photos, evidence from archaeological investigations, maps, and other historical data, David Andrews, Mark Biscoe, Peter Lindquist, and Tim Dinsmore will describe aspects of the important and evolving shipbuilding industry on the Damari-scotta River during an informal evening of presentations and discussions ... more

Reggae on the Bay 2007: Everyone had a ball - check it out!

Top