Stories from the Land
James Carruthers: Making Moves to Live More Sustainably
May 2020
Kittery residents James Carruthers and his wife, Erika North, began hashing out a plan to reduce their fossil fuel consumption several years ago. As an environmental scientist working for a consulting firm, James wanted to align his family’s values with their lifestyle. So he and Erika decided to purchase an electric car and install solar panels to charge it. After considering their options, they ended up installing a 30-panel array that can both charge their vehicle and cover much of the energy needs of their 1,900 square-foot home as well — which they heat with an energy efficient heat pump system.
“I would love to get off-grid completely,” James says, acknowledging that he and Erika are approaching this goal in a stepwise fashion to overcome some of the immediate financial burdens of switching over entirely. But even with these immediate investments, the longterm financial gains of making the switch are already becoming apparent, he says.
The couple is taking other measures to increase the sustainability of their home and daily lives as well: Last fall, they redid their home insulation and buttoned up other areas of their house to reduce unnecessary energy loss, and they’re also working to reduce the amount of plastic they consume on a daily basis.
When they’re not plotting their next sustainability project, they enjoy hiking around the MtA2C region with their dog, including at Highland Farm Preserve. With his background in environmental science, James says he’s glad to see habitat diversity preserved on these properties, and loves exploring them, “just to get out in nature and get some exercise.”
Fueling up on renewable energy and time outdoors in the MtA2C region sounds pretty sustainable to us.
Laura Creagan Fosters Love of Outdoors One Ski Race at a Time
December 2019
For Laura Creagan, introducing youth to cross-country skiing is a way to support the environment — it gets kids outside and engaged with the land around their home, while also having fun and forming a sense of community.
Those are some of the many reasons she takes on the role of head coach and president of the Agamenticus Ski Club, a nonprofit that has been offering York area students in grades 1 – 12 access to after-school practices and competitions across the state since 2011.
It’s the southernmost nordic ski club in all of Maine, which challenges their proximity to other teams to compete with and access to ample snowpack. But Creagan has worked hard to generate local interest in the sport and, over the last nine years, has seen the participants grow in number and skill level. Skiers in the club’s programs now regularly place within the top 10 in competitions across the state, she says.
With a season that runs from November through March, it’s the only organized outdoor sport offered in York during winter months. Creagan sees this not only as a great way for youth to stay active and foster a love for the Maine winter, but also as a healthy alternative to the temptations of indoor screen time during the cold months. “We have so many great kids getting outside and disconnecting from their computers after school,” Creagan says.
For the second year in a row, the club is returning to conduct practices on York Land Trust’s Highland Farm Preserve and providing a small groomed loop in the meadow nearby the preserve’s parking lot. This partnership offers the athletes a safe surface to learn the basics of skate skiing and cultivate the skills required to compete elsewhere. And, since many of the athletes live in the York area, it’s also “a great way to introduce them to the local trails and nature,” Creagan says.
And that experience on the land could, ultimately, inspire a whole new generation of land stewards.
Learn more about how to get involved with she Agamenticus Ski Club at https://agamenticusski.org/.
Anne Masury Shares Love of Birds with Kittery Students
December 2018
When it comes to engaging young students in nature, Anne Masury has a trick up her sleeve: bird watching.
“Little kids really enjoy it,” she says. “They love using binoculars — they just like being outside.”
Anne is the librarian at Horace Mitchell Primary School in Kittery Point where she runs a bird watching program for all students in grades K- 3. For the past eight years, she has established a birdwatching station in the library that now includes a live webcam of birds at Cornell University, along with a set of ID sheets to help students learn to recognize them. “The live bird cam is tremendously entertaining,” she says, noting that students often gravitate to it during their free time at the library.
Masury teaches even the youngest students how to use binoculars and how to identify common birds in the area, like chickadees and blue jays. For older students, she has organized a bird observation drawing assignment to hone their attention to the types of details that help experienced birders distinguish between species. These illustrations often turn out quite detailed and “they get what makes the birds distinctive,” Masury says.
She also takes students outside to go bird watching at least twice each year. During these excursions on the school grounds, she plays birdsongs from her phone, drums up natural calls and gets responses from nearby birds. Students quickly learn the songs of these common species. “Most of them have a pretty good knowledge of the basic birds we have in this area by the time they are in 3rd grade,” Masury says.
Her efforts to engage the students in birds appears to have paid off: Based on her database of most popular books checked-out at the library, she has watched the Audubon ID books steadily rise in popularity to the top 10, amongst the ranks of such popular titles as the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney.
An avid birder herself, Masury enjoys birding throughout the region, including at Fort Foster in Kittery and Wells Reserve at Laudholm. For her, spreading the joy of birding doesn’t entirely feel like work. “I love doing this,” she says.
To Support Native Birds, Gary Mitchell Cultivates Native Plants
November 2018
When Gary Mitchell moved from southern New Hampshire to Kittery about 20 years ago, he eagerly strapped on his binoculars to look for birds around his new home. But, to his surprise, he wasn’t able to spot as many of the native songbirds as he had anticipated.
After exploring local forests and preserves, he discovered what he thought could be the source of his birding struggles: invasive plants. “If you want native birds, you have to have native plants,” Mitchell say, “because native plants often produce higher quality food for wildlife than invasive plants.” For example, native bayberry and viburnum produce fruit with higher fat content than many invasive plants, he explains. Songbirds need this extra fat to feed their young and fuel up for migrations. Eating less nutritious invasive plants is like “eating junk food,” he adds.
Since retiring from his job as a shift supervisor at a wastewater treatment plant in Manchester, New Hampshire back in 2015, Mitchell has become fully committed to removing invasive plants in and around Kittery. These days, he volunteers his time out on the land almost every day of the week. “I’m in it for the birds,” he laughs.
With more than eight years of volunteer stewardship work behind him, Mitchell says he has recently started to notice plant distributions changing for the better. Native plants on Kittery Land Trust’s Remick Preserve (located between routes 238 and 103), for example, have started flowering and producing fruit for the first time in years, with new vigor thanks to Mitchell’s efforts to remove overshadowing invasives in that forest.
To supplement his invasive removal work, Mitchell and his wife have begun collecting seeds from native plants in the region to cultivate and generate additional plants for local distribution. They plan to work with Rebel Hill Farm, a native plant nursery located in Liberty, and Eldredge Lumber & Hardware in York to make native plants more available to the public.
Mitchell says he’s also willing to meet with local landowners and anyone else interested in learning more about effective ways to remove invasive plants and integrate more native species into the landscape.
“The more people encouraging native species, the more birds we’ll have,” he says. “And the happier I’ll be,” he adds with more laughs.
Forest Therapy With Jeff Brogan in the MtA2C Region
August 2018
Spending time outdoors has always been the best medicine for Jeff Brogan. He grew up exploring the rivers and forests around Ogunquit during summer visits with his grandparents, and moved to Maine full-time from New York State after graduating high school.
Now Brogan lives in Wells and works as a licensed Maine Guide. In the past two years, he has expanded his repertoire to include running Forest Therapy sessions — a practice that taps into the spiritual benefits of spending time in nature without the speed and athleticism of activities like hiking and biking. “You are not moving from point A to point B,” he explains. “The destination is within yourself and your connection to the natural world around you.”
Participants may only travel several hundred yards within 20 minutes of a session. By slowing down, participants begin to notice the wonders of the natural world that we often miss as we go about our busy lives. Sessions can last up to three hours, and involve long periods of resting and taking note of sights, sounds, smells, and other senses. Each session ends with a wild crafted tea ceremony.
“The whole concept is to slow people down, both mind and body, because we are just constantly going at such a fast pace,” Brogan says.
He held a series of Forest Therapy sessions with York Hospital cancer patients last spring, and plans to resume the sessions this fall. He has also offered sessions to families, couples, and other private groups in locations around the MtA2C region.
Holding classes in this area holds sentimental value, since this is where Brogan spent his formative years exploring nature. “As
a child it was my playground — the woods and hills and rivers and ocean,” he says. “It was just the most incredible playground for a kid.”
As an adult, he still loves spending time outdoors in the region and feels all its benefits, both physically and spiritually.
“If we lose the natural environment, there’s nothing that can replace that,” he says. And that’s why he’s so supportive of MtA2C’s efforts. “I really can’t think of more important work to be done.”
Amie Reagan Takes Her Yoga Practice to the Top of Mt. A
July 2018
For Amie Reagan, co-owner of Yoga on York, there’s no better place to practice yoga than outdoors where she can hear birds chirping and feel the warm sun on her skin. That’s why, for the second summer in a row, she is offering bi-monthly classes on top of Mt. Agamenticus.
“We are just there to enjoy the serenity that is Mt. A,” Reagan says, adding that she arranges the class so that they can see the ocean. “It’s just a beautiful atmosphere up there.”
She offers participants the option to take a 15-minute hike up the Blueberry Bluff Trail together at 7am, or drive up to the top of the mountain for the hour-long session that starts at 7:30am. Between 10 to 25 people generally participate, including locals, tourists, and families with children. She keeps the class simple and playful so that it’s accessible to all experience levels.
“It’s a lot of fun, people tend to really like it,” Reagan says.
During the class, she encourages participants to take note of their senses — the beautiful surroundings, the cool breeze, and the sounds of animals moving around. She wants them to notice how practicing outside differs from being inside a studio.
“There is a different feeling that comes from standing on the earth and not on the studio floor,” Reagan says. “It definitely gets you into more of a meditative state.”
In addition to these classes on Mt. A, Reagan also offers outdoor classes at York Harbor Beach and Bell Farms throughout the summer. A portion of the proceeds from these outdoor classes goes back to York Parks and Recreation to help keep up Mt. A and York Harbor Beach — so it’s a win-win for all parties, Reagan says. In the future, she hopes to expand her offerings to sunset classes on the mountain. Reagan says MtA2C’s efforts to conserve the Mt A to the Sea landscape are truly beneficial to our health, even off the yoga mat. She experienced these benefits first-hand when she moved to York from Jersey City, New Jersey four years ago and noticed that her skin felt healthier and she found herself having an easier time breathing in her new hometown. “It’s such a beautiful place and it needs to be protected,” she says.
Michael Landgarten’s Long-term Commitment to Delicious Food and a Healthy Environment
December 2017
For Michael Landgarten, owning restaurants in Maine is not just a business venture — it’s an opportunity to support local farms, maintain clean waterways, and build environmentally friendly infrastructure that serves as a model for businesses elsewhere.
Landgarten owns Kittery’s historic Bob’s Clam Hut and Lil’s Cafe, and previously owned Robert’s Grill. His list of environmental pursuits includes converting Bob’s Clam Hut to run on 100 percent solar power, and building a drainage system in the Robert’s parking lot that protects the abutting Spruce Creek. He did this by partnering with the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center to develop an innovative rainwater drainage system, and was thrilled with its outcome.
“It worked really well, and became sort of a model for how to develop shoreland,” says Landgarten. “Tour buses from New Jersey even came to see what they had done.”
Landgarten has also developed a strong relationship with nearby Greenlaw Gardens at Rustlewood Farm — a farm conserved by the Kittery Land Trust — and regularly buys tomatoes, kale, and other produce from them when those products are in season. He knows that sourcing fresh, nutrient-rich local produce not only supports the farmers, but provides his customers with the quality of food they deserve.
Outside of his restaurant work, Landgarten has been a strong advocate for preserving land in the MtA2C region. When a developer had proposed to turn what is now Kittery Land Trust’s Brave Boat Headwaters preserve into a subdivision, Landgarten went to city hall to speak out in favor of preserving the property for conservation. He applauds KLT’s 2013 success in preserving that property.
“I thought what the land trust did was downright heroic,” Landgarten says. “They are a very creative and determined bunch of folks.”
Landgarten enjoys trail running, and simply having the opportunity to experience the peacefulness of open space. He is especially supportive of the long-term goal MtA2C is working toward to preserve 19,000 acres of land from the Tatnic Hills and around Mt. Agamenticus to the shores of Kittery.
“That kind of big tract of land is so precious,” he says. “It’s so important to maintain it for future generations.”
The Best of Both Worlds: Julia Clough Reflects on Selling Her Property to York Land Trust
October 2017
When now-retired real estate agent Julia Clough bought 90 acres of land on Cider Hill Road in York in the early 1980s, the property was a dream come true for her. It included an old farmhouse built in the 1700s, 90 acres of fields and woods, and access to the Smelt Brook — though the property listing never advertised this river access, Clough notes.
“They didn’t even mention the river,” says Clough, explaining that it wasn’t viewed as an asset back then the way it would be today. “Nobody had any interest in coming out here in the boondocks. It was fantastic, nobody lived out here.”
Once she moved into the farmhouse, she worked with a friend to build a trail down to the river that she would walk every day. The sprawling open land gave her solace, as well as space to breed and train corgis, which she continues to do today at 80-years-old.
“When I had my real estate business and life was hectic, I used to walk down to the river and back with the dogs every day. You can’t see anything but the river and the woods and it’s just so calming to be with nature in that way,” Clough says. “It just reminds you that, as humans, we are nature. We need to have these areas protected so that we can feel part of it.”
Over the years, more people started discovering and appreciating the beauty of the area. This eventually drove property taxes higher, so Clough had to come up with a new way to afford her property.
Pulling from her experience in real estate, she decided to subdivide her property into lots that she could sell. She ultimately sold about 70 acres to York Land Trust to become incorporated into their Smelt Brook Preserve, in what Clough describes as “the most ideal situation possible.”
“The land trust came along and they wanted to keep it the way it was, and what could be a better dream?” Clough says. “I just have the best of both worlds — I have my original land and it’s just as wild as it was before.”
In December 2016, Clough sold an additional 5 acres of her property along with a cape-style replica house to York Land Trust that is now serving as their headquarters. The presence of the land trust makes the property more accessible to the community, particularly with their new Near Point Trail that has two lookouts on Smelt Brook.
“I just can’t imagine any place better in the world,” Clough says.
Remembering the Start of a Land Trust, 30 Years Later
August 2017
When David McDermott and his wife, Nora, moved to South Berwick 42 years ago, they were pulled in by the beauty of the open space around them.
“We took a walk behind the house and it was this beautiful, wild feeling area,” McDermott remembers. “I said to Nora, ‘if this stays like this, I could live here forever.’”
At the time, there were only four houses on their 2.5-mile-long road. But over the years, McDermott noticed developers increasingly eyeing the land and buying up parcels. “That was the real impetus for a group of us to get together and talk about forming a land trust,” McDermott says.
He and a group of friends banded together as the founding board members of Great Works Regional Land Trust (GWRLT) in 1986. One of MtA2C’s 10 partners today, GWRLT has since conserved more than 6,000 acres spanning 122 projects across six towns (Eliot, South Berwick, Berwick, North Berwick, Wells and Ogunquit). But 30 years ago, McDermott and the other founders started from scratch, without much experience in land conservation.
“You have to picture a bunch of young people at that time, in their 30s and 40s. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing,” McDermott laughs.
Their work paid off. They partnered with the state, towns, other conservation groups, land trusts and water districts to get their project going. “It’s been an incredible success,” he says. “If we hadn’t stepped forward 30 years ago, I think a lot of this could have been lost.”
Soon after GWRLT formed, McDermott left his position as a board member to work on South Berwick’s Town Council and later in social services. Now retired, he has rejoined the GWRLT board and continues to hike, ski, and snowshoe the land around his South Berwick home, particularly on the land surrounding Mt. Agamenticus.
“It’s remarkable and it’s wonderful that that land has been preserved,” he says. “I can’t imagine living without access to wildlife, trees and fresh air.”
Food Writer Kathy Gunst Celebrates Local Food in MtA2C Region
July 2017
For Kathy Gunst, the best part of summer in Maine is the abundance of delicious food available at local farmers markets and in her own garden.
Tomatoes, leeks, shallots, scallions, raspberries, pickling cucumbers. These are just some of the treats Gunst has growing right now. Anything she doesn’t grow herself, she seeks out at farmers markets near her South Berwick home.
“There is nothing like the taste of a warm tomato fresh off the vine or a fresh picked berry,” says Gunst, author of 15 cookbooks and resident chef on NPR’s Here & Now. “I am a big proponent of that in my own life, in trying to get people to understand if you want flavor and you want to eat simply, you have to buy good, fresh food that has not been shipped across the country.”
Gunst’s writing and radio appearances on eating local food may reach audiences nationwide, but her passion for fresh food circles back to supporting farms right here in Maine and in the MtA2C region.
“I am such a huge supporter of any effort to keep Maine looking like Maine,” says Gunst. “The beauty of living here is that open land and the farms and the access to the food that people grow here that is so good.”
When she’s not working in her garden, Gunst also hikes and walks her dog in a number of preserves in the MtA2C region. She remembers with particular joy the first time she explored York Land Trust’s Highland Farm and Smelt Brook Preserves.
“We were walking along the path by the river and I had that kind of moment of ‘wow, I live here and this is so special and this is 15 minutes from my house,’” Gunst recalls. She describes that feeling of waking up in your own neighborhood being full of gratitude to live in such close proximity to so much open space.
“That definitely happened there in a big way,” Gunst says.
Between efforts like MtA2C’s to protect land for farming and recreation, and the growing interest in farming in Maine, Gunst feels optimistic for the future of local food across the state.
“The fact that there is still farmland and there is a whole new generation that is really interested in farming,” Gunst says. “That gives me such hope.”
To learn more about efforts to protect farmland in the MtA2C region, visit Great Works Regional Land Trust’s website.
Childhood Friends Work and Play at Brave Boat Headwaters
June 2017
Ian Browne and Ian Goering have been playing in Brave Boat Harbor since they were 14 years old, often venturing off with canoes and surfboards in tow. As adults, they continue to venture to their favorite childhood haunt—for pleasure and for work.
The friends serendipitously both got hired by Tributary Brewing Co. in 2015, where they work on the brew crew. Last winter, they were tasked with collecting 31 gallons of saltwater to produce a German-style beer called a Gose. They knew just the spot to collect the water from.
“Oh man, it was cold,” says Goering, laughing. “We had originally planned on taking the canoe and paddling out, and woke up wicked early to go down there. But Ian and I had assessed that morning that we weren’t going to get in a canoe because it was way too windy and way too cold.”
Kittery Land Trust’s new Brave Boat Headwaters Preserve protects 150 acres of waterfront property lining the harbor. That preservation helps limit runoff and pollution into the harbor.
“Beer and local water sources have always been connected,” says Goering. “The kind of water you have has always dictated the kinds of beers you can make, so being able to use a protected water source like that is really exciting, to be able to carry on that tradition.”
But Ian and Ian discovered the magic of the harbor long before taking up brewing. As teenagers, they would often surf a small wave in the harbor.
“There is a little wave that breaks at the mouth of Brave Boat Harbor,” says Browne. “It’s this picture perfect wave, the kind of wave you would draw in your notebook in fifth grade. It’s beautiful, I have surfed it a bunch of times.”
Browne and Goering are both grateful that the area has been preserved.
“The trails I’ve been hiking since I was 14, I can still go hiking on and they haven’t changed that much,” says Goering. “If they have changed, they have changed for the better.”
Browne agrees.
“Brave Boat Harbor is probably one of my favorite places in the world,” he says. “It’s a really special place.”