Category: Nature

It’s Time to Take a Hike

Hikers enjoy a full moon hike at McDougal Orchards on Feb. 24. Photo: Jack McAdam By Jack McAdam Would you like to get out into nature, get some fresh air and exercise and meet some great people? Well, here is your opportunity. Join Strengthen your mind and body hiking group. This Facebook group has been hiking for three years. One of its first hikes was at McDougal Orchards on Feb. 24. The group was started so that no one has…

Opportunities for Tree Planting in Sanford 

Sanford High School students are working with a student-run non-profit group to promote tree planting in Sanford.  Photo: Tree-plenish  By Lee Burnett, Submissions Editor  Potential funds are available to plant trees in Sanford if the city decides to pursue a grant opportunity. Project Canopy is making tree planting grants of up to $200,000 available to communities with distressed demographics. The funding, for which Sanford qualifies, is available without the usual requirement that the host community provides matching funds. According to…

Sanford Trails Safety During Hunting Season

By Lawrence Furbish, Sanford Trails Committee Chair Some people have asked about the safety of walking on the Sanford Trails system during hunting season. Here are a few things to keep in mind: Sanford has a "No Firearm Discharge Zone" where discharging a firearm is prohibited. It runs from the intersection of Routes 4 and 109 in South Sanford to the intersection of 109 with Deering Neighborhood Road in Springvale and it extends for 3/4 of a mile on either…

Plantings Aim to ‘Rewild’ Woods

By Lee Burnett, Submissions editor Some birch trees, beach plum trees and blueberry bushes were planted at Sanford Community Forest this week, a first step towards increasing ecological diversity and the aesthetics of the woods as they recover from heavy logging done by a prior owner. Three Rivers Land Trust volunteers and Great Bay Services clients worked together on the plantings, which were planned and organized by Shawn Jalbert, a Three Rivers Board member and native plant expert. He described…

Out in The Woods With… Oak Galls

Oak apple galls on a browsed oak sapling. By Kevin McKeon, Maine Master Naturalist Often found under oak trees, and growing on oak tree leaves and twigs, oak galls are made by an oak tree, but the Oak Gall Wasp makes the tree do it! This is the story about the Oak Apple Gall, one of over seventy kinds of oak galls. The wasp injects her egg into the oak. The egg contains certain chemicals and hormones that make the…

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