Northern Blazing Star Discovered at Wells Reserve
Sue Bickford ~ 2007-11-14
While marking fields for mowing on the newly acquired Lord Parcel this past August, Reserve Manager Paul Dest was thrilled to discover two stems of the showy yet threatened native plant, the Northern Blazing Star. Paul made sure the lonely stalks were well marked to avoid being mowed over.
Monarch on Northern Blazing Star at Wells Reserve
The Northern Blazing Star ( Liatris scaiosa ) is a member of the aster family. It likes dry open grassy habitat and thrives in sandy barrens. It is at its northern most limit in Southern Maine and is found as far south as New Jersey. The largest population anywhere is located quite close by in the Kennebunk Plains. It truly lives up to its name in late July and early August, when the vibrant flowers turn the Plains ablaze in purple.
It may be numerous on the Kennebunk Plains, but actually the Northern Blazing Star is imperiled. This beautiful plant is listed as Threatened in Maine, Endangered in New Hampshire and Rhode Island, and of Special Concern in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
One factor is that it prefers early successional open space and particularly likes habitat subjected to periodic fires. Since natural _fires have been widely suppressed and most open habitat is left to grow into mature forest, this special need of the Northern Blazing star requires special management practices. The Kennebunk Plains is actively managed for the Northern Blazing Star by the Nature Conservancy who regularly schedules controlled burns.
Burned Area at Kennebunk Plains and Fire Technicians at Work
This year, while working on a controlled burn in a different field, the fire technicians stopped by the two Liatris stalks and burned an area around each plant to help make it feel at home and hopefully entice them to grow neighbors. This might enable the fields to return to a more native habitat rather than being primarily comprised of introduced agricultural species like it is now.
The Wells Reserve manages open space habitat for a variety of plants and animals. Now we can add the Northern Blazing Star to our list. Who knows, maybe someday soon we will be able to stand at the Webhannet Overlook and see our field ablaze in purple flowers as the late summer sun sets behind the hills.
Late Summer Bloom at Kennebunk Plains
Skinner Mill bridge reopens!
Scott Richardson ~ 2007-10-17
Seventeen months ago people lost a key route of access to the Wells Reserve, when the Mother’s Day flood of 2006 left a huge gash in the Skinner Mill bridge. Today the “road closed” signs are gone. The new bridge is carrying cars and bikes. And people coming to the Wells Reserve via Kennebunkport and Kennebunk Lower Village no longer need to get up to speed with Route 1 traffic.
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Welcome Autumn
Scott Richardson ~ 2007-09-20
The equinox arrives this weekend and the leaves are just beginning to show their colors. Come enjoy the views in the next few weeks.
Busy as a Beaver
Sue Bickford ~ 2007-08-20
On a recent kayak trip down a narrow winding river, a beaver and I passed closely by, I was on a leisurely paddle and it was on a mission. I think leisure is a foreign concept to this creature. Thus the adage: Busy as a beaver.
We as humans seem to have developed a love/hate relationship with this industrious large rodent. It is very much like us in the fact that it is skillful at manipulating its environment to suit its own needs. The Native Americans thought the similarity was so great that they named the beaver “the little people”. Food and security are what it works long hours to achieve.
Being vegetarians, beaver (Castor Canadensis) prefer a large flat area where there are plenty of desirable woody plants that when flooded would be readily available by water. This reduces their exposure to predators. They are incredible engineers usually preferring to build a dam where there is already a constriction in the flow of water such as a narrowing of a stream or a culvert. This gets the maximum effect for the least amount of effort.
Their lodges are built either free standing if the pond is large enough or built into the side of a bank. These have at least two underwater entrances, a ventilated roof and mud insulated walls. All very cozy even in the deepest of winter and all very secure.
These large brown bulldozers (some reaching 100 pounds) are built to work. Their large webbed hind feet paddle them effortlessly through the water, the small front feet are very nimble. The chisel-like incisors continue to grow and self sharpen through out the beaver’s life. Their pelts have short hairs for warmth and long silky hairs for waterproofing, a coat so fine and desirable that they were almost hunted to extinction because of it.
Beaver Hat Image from www.collectionscanada.ca
Although a bit near sighted, this is made up for by having a highly developed sense of hearing and smell. They warn other beaver of danger by slapping their wide flat tail on the surface of the water and diving. This tail is also used as a rudder when swimming, to support them when standing and to store fat for use in the winter. Contrary to popular belief though, they do not use their tail to carry mud or slap it in place.
Beaver have a close knit family structure. Adult pairs mate for life and offspring stay with the family for two years, helping to raise the current year’s kits. A colony usually contains six or seven beaver. After two years, the young beaver leave to establish their own colony. This is quite difficult at times. Non-family beaver are not tolerated at another beaver’s pond and the travel over land and across roads is very dangerous.
Our contention with these wonderful creatures comes about when their manipulation of the natural environment starts to conflict with our own manipulation of the environment. Flooded backyards, blocked culverts, flooded roads, eroded banks, costly and continuous repairs results. Thus the struggle continues. But beaver ponds support a vast array of other species and are critical habitat for almost half our endangered species. So it is in best interest of both us and our “little people” neighbors to find solutions around this dilemma. For more information on beaver and non-lethal ways to reduce beaver impacts visit Beaver Solutions.
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Painterly Day succeeds despite weather
Scott Richardson ~ 2007-07-15
Sunday afternoon’s thunderclaps and downpours sent artists scurrying for cover in the Laudholm barn during the seventh annual Painterly Day and Fresh Paint Auction on Sunday. In the convivial spirit that marks the event, painters continued working and socializing and gazing in awe at the deluge.
By auction time most of the wild weather had passed and bidders made it another fine fundraiser for the Trust. Thanks to the artists, sponsors, volunteers, buyers, and browsers for another fun event.
Maine's Dragonfly and Butterfly Surveys
Sue Bickford ~ 2007-06-26
The Wells Reserve couldn’t run without its army of volunteers. They help with every aspect of activity here. One task that I never have problem getting volunteers to help with is going out into the field with insect nets and catching dragonflies and butterflies.
In 1999 the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife start a state-wide survey of dragonflies. That survey concluded in 2004. This year starts the first year of a survey for Maine’s butterflies. MDIF&W relies on citizen scientists to go out and collect specimens in as many different places in state as possible. To increase our knowledge of what kinds of insects we have at the Wells Reserve, we established several sites to sample here as part of those two programs.
According to the Maine Butterfly Survey website one of the goals of the survey is “Acquiring a solid baseline of the distribution and abundance of Maine butterflies.”
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
“Because of their short generation times, sensitivity to environmental insults and often narrow habitat requirements, insects can be effective sentinels of environmental change. As the specter of global warming looms, wildlife biologists and ecologists need to be able to monitor the direction and rate of changes in plant and animal populations. The use of any group of organisms to monitor population changes requires a firm baseline of information against which changes can be judged.
With over 115 species native to Maine, butterflies contribute a colorful and conspicuous component to our state’s biological diversity. Butterflies play an important role in terrestrial and wetland ecosystems by serving both as pollinators of many wildflowers and prey (both caterpillars and adults) to larger species ranging from dragonflies to birds.”
Monarch Caterpillar
For more information on both these programs, visit the Maine Damselfly and Dragonfly Survey site and the Maine Butterfly Survey site.