Walk Your Mother on Mother’s Day!

You’ll Find Great New Trail Guides at Maine Audubon’s Public Sanctuaries Across the State

FALMOUTH, Maine, May 1, 2009—Walk your mother on Mother’s Day! There’s no better place for her to enjoy getting outside than your nearest Maine Audubon wildlife sanctuary.

After a long winter made drearier by economic news, spring in all its beauty, color, and warmth has come once again, giving moms and families the chance to shake off any blues by getting outside.

To help, Maine Audubon has just released a handsome new set of seven guides to its wildlife sanctuaries across Maine. They’re open to the public from dawn to dusk.

The new guides feature detailed trail maps of the sanctuaries, as well as information on their wildlife habitat, history, educational programs, and facilities. These sanctuaries include Gilsland Farm and Mast Landing in southern Maine, Josephine Newman and Hamilton sanctuaries in the midcoast area, and Fields Pond and Borestone Mountain in central Maine.

"Share the gift of nature with your family--on Mother's Day and throughout the year. Getting outside has always been one of the best ways to unwind and reconnect with each other, and in these stressful times that’s especially true,” said Ted Koffman, Maine Audubon executive director. “We hope these new guides help people connect with some special places that are ‘sanctuaries’ in all senses of the word—for the wildlife living on them and the people exploring them."

Showcasing the dramatic, varied landscapes Maine is known for, Maine Audubon sanctuaries and centers feature miles of easy trails and countless opportunities to see a range of birds, mammals, and plants. Some have visitor centers with educational exhibits and nature-based educational programs offered for all ages, and some have Nature Stores with a wide selection of nature-related products including binoculars, wildlife guides, bird-feeding equipment, and Maine-made gifts.

Funding for the guides, which are printed on FSC-certified paper, came from the Recreational Trails Program, Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund, Norcross Wildlife Foundation, Inc., and L.L. Bean.

Southern Maine
Gilsland Farm Audubon Center, Falmouth: Sited along the Presumpscot River estuary just five minutes from Portland, Maine Audubon’s headquarters features a modern environmental center and a 65-acre sanctuary with more than two miles of trails winding through woods, meadow, pond, orchard, and along the salt marsh and estuary. The varied habitats are ideal for nature study, wildlife-watching, walking, sketching, painting, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. Open year-round, Gilsland Farm’s environmental center offers public programs, plus day camps, a Maine Audubon Nature Store, and a Children’s Discovery Room.

Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center, Scarborough: A great place to start exploring the state’s largest salt marsh, this center provides a variety of guided and self-guided walks and canoe tours as well as wildlife exhibits, a nature trail, canoe rentals, and a Maine Audubon Nature Store. Owned and managed by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the 3,100-acre estuary known as Scarborough Marsh comprises tidal marsh, salt creeks, freshwater marsh, and uplands. One of the best places to see birds in the state, the marsh is particularly important for wildlife as a resting, breeding, and feeding spot.

Mast Landing Audubon Sanctuary, Freeport: Only one mile from the bustling downtown of Freeport, this sanctuary’s 140 acres of diverse habitat is rich in human and natural history. Located along the Harraseeket River estuary, more than three miles of trails wind along a stream and tidal marsh and through orchard, fields, and forest. The sanctuary gets its name from the white pines cut there for ships’ masts in the 1700s, and also features the old stone foundations of sawing and textile operations once powered by Mill Stream.

Central Maine

Fields Pond Audubon Center, Holden: Just seven miles southeast of Bangor, Fields Pond features a modern visitor center, an 85-acre pond, and a 192-acre sanctuary with trails winding through field, wetland, forest, and lakeshore habitats—ideal for wildlife-watching, walking, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. The center offers dozens of year-round public programs plus canoe rentals, a Maine Audubon Nature Store, and day camps for children.

Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary, Elliotsville Plantation: Encompassing more than 1,600 acres in central Maine, Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary offers a spectacular array of natural features, including rare older forest, three crystalline ponds, exposed mountain rocks, and sweeping views. Trails from the sanctuary entrance offer a popular, family-friendly hike to Borestone Mountain’s two highest peaks. The sanctuary is also home to a seasonal visitors center and group rental accommodations in historic Adirondack-style lodges.

Midcoast Maine

Josephine Newman Audubon Sanctuary, Georgetown: Visitors can usually expect a private hike around this rugged, wooded peninsula. Over two and a half miles of trails traverse the meadows, coastline, forest, and rocky ridges of this 119-acre preserve—making for memorable walks past stonewalls of yesteryear, bluffs rising from the ocean, and reversing tidal falls tumbling over ledges.

Hamilton Audubon Sanctuary, West Bath: Encompassing 93 acres, Hamilton Audubon Sanctuary lies on a peninsula in the New Meadows River. Views across an open meadow to Back Cove’s quiet waters offer striking views of rugged shoreline and trail spurs lead to vistas overlooking the cove’s channels, salt marsh, and mud flats. Noted by state and federal agencies as having some of Maine’s most valuable shoreline habitat, here one can observe osprey, blue heron, waterfowl, and a wide variety of migrant shorebirds.

These guides can be picked up individually at the sanctuaries. All are available at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth.

Find more information about Maine Audubon sanctuaries and centers, as well as a schedule of programs and trips, at www.maineaudubon.org.

Year-round Programs:

Falmouth: Gilsland Farm Audubon Center, Maine Audubon headquarters

Holden: Fields Pond Audubon Center

Summer-Fall Programs:

Elliotsville: Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary

Freeport: Mast Landing Audubon Sanctuary

Rockland: Project Puffin Visitor Center

Scarborough: Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center

Open to the Public; Group Programs by Arrangement:

Biddeford Pool: East Point Audubon Sanctuary

Georgetown: Josephine Newman Audubon Sanctuary

West Bath: Hamilton Audubon Sanctuary

************************

MAINE AUDUBON works to protect Maine’s wildlife and wildlife habitat by engaging people of all ages in education, conservation and action.

With more than a 160-year history of connecting people with nature, Maine Audubon is the only organization in Maine working to conserve wildlife in three ways: providing hands-on environmental education for people of all ages, conducting research and wildlife conservation projects statewide, and taking action to help shape effective science-based conservation policy.

Support for Maine Audubon comes from its 11,000 members, donors, and volunteers, including individuals, foundations, and corporations. Maine Audubon is an independently funded and operated affiliate of the National Audubon Society and has local chapters statewide (Downeast, Fundy, Merrymeeting, Midcoast, Penobscot Valley, Western Maine, York County).

Maine Audubon’s programs and trips, two year-round visitor centers, and eight wildlife sanctuaries open to the public offer young children through senior citizens wide-ranging opportunities to explore, learn about, and care for Maine’s wildlife throughout the year.