Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:13:01 -0500 http://acadiapartners.org/ PostNuke Powered Site en-us http://acadiapartners.org/images/logo.gif http://acadiapartners.org/ bill@acadiapartners.org http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=112 The buildings have stood for decades, the changes have been anticipated for months, and the demolition took a day…well, a day for one building and a couple of days for others.  Schoodic Education and Research Center, once a Navy installation and now a National Park Service Research Learning Center, is undergoing a transformation that will make its facilities more accessible, functional and green. The plan for change is ambitious, but it is moving forward as scheduled, despite the weather and the surprises that construction projects often bring.   Right now, two teams are working on the major projects: Ganneston Construction (Augusta) has begun updating and expanding Schooner Commons (our main dining facility), while Soderberg Co. Inc. (Caribou) is tackling the demolition of fourteen buildings, including the old barracks, pictured at right. The gymnasium was the first major demolition, beginning in mid-January. It was awe-inspiring to watch the excavator appear to "chomp" sections of cinderblock and corrugated steel, tugging and twisting like some mechanized predator shaking morsels free.  We also observed, as the roof came off, that there were no pieces of insulation board or fiberglass batting to be seen.  It was suddenly clear why the building once consumed more than 9,000 gallons of fuel oil a year. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:13:01 -0500 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=111 Dr. Brian Beal, professor of marine ecology at the University of Maine at Machias, has recently won a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant of $600,000 for the Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research on Great Wass Island.  The funding will assist in the construction of a state-of-the-art center at the Institute and in curriculum development for a Downeast coastal studies concentration for UMM students.  What will these projects mean for the coastal communities in Downeast Maine? On Saturday, February 13, Dr. Beal will share a vision for this new facility and its future as he describes “The Downeast Institute: Creating New Educational and Economic Opportunities in Eastern Maine” as part of the “Second Saturday” lectures at Moore Auditorium on the campus of Schoodic Education and Research Center in the Schoodic District of Acadia National Park, Winter Harbor.  The lecture will begin at 7pm, is open to the public and admission is free. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:55:52 -0500 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=110 Acadia Partners is looking for college students interested in a summer internship as roving science reporters covering research and other natural, cultural, and social science activities at parks within the Northeast Region of the National Park Service (NPS). Interns will work with staff from Acadia Partners and the NPS to create reports and summaries of research projects and science programs conducted at Acadia National Park and other parks in the region. This work will involve reading scientific reports, working with researchers and staff (including participating in fieldwork) to clarify details and focus, writing summaries, editing images, creating graphics, and designing layouts for online and print publications. Interns will also be asked to author and maintain a regular weblog about their observations and insights on science and nature in the parks they visit. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:18:29 -0500 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=109 The "Acadia Learning" program is the outreach program at SERC that works with teachers across Maine to engage them and their students in science that is connected to research here at the park and at the Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, our partner organization at the University of Maine. This past weekend we conducted a workshop with teachers from Scarborough, Old Town, Mt. View, and Nokomis high schools to introduce some new thinking we have done in the area of helping students work with graphs.  Graphs are important because they are a way for students to express their understanding of what is going on in the streams, forests, and fields that they study. They are also a tool that teachers can use to see how students use data that they collect to develop that understanding. Over the past three years of looking at students' graphs and poster presentations as part of the Acadia Learning project, we have observed that many students seem confused about how to express their findings on a graph.  The problems go beyond simple graph mechanics -- titles, labels, and the like.  A lot of graphs just don't seem to make sense in ways that we would expect.  So, over the past year we developed the first version of a written diagnostic tool to probe student understanding, and misunderstanding, of how to organize and present their findings.  The workshop this past weekend introduced teachers to the tool and engaged them in a day-long discussion about students, graphs, and data. Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:11:31 -0500 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=108 Just before the holiday season this year Acadia Partners Executive Director Bill Zoellick and Dr. Sarah Nelson, of the University of Maine's Mitchell Center, traveled to the American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco to present a paper describing SERC's Acadia Learning Project, which engages teachers and student researchers in a citizen science program that collects data about the mercury burden in dragonfly larvae and other biota across a region spanning the coast of Maine. The Acadia Learning project is differentiated from other research in its focus on engaging students in authentic research, collecting data of real interest to research scientists, while also providing a high quality education experience.  We have learned that these two goals -- collecting useful data and providing a rich educational experience -- often pull a project's implementation in different directions.  Our project, funded in part by the Maine Department of Education, is both educational research and geochemical research. Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:29:49 -0500 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=107 This past summer, Acadia Partners provided a research fellowship to Dr. Abe Miller-Rushing to support his work at SERC in developing ways to engage volunteers in phenology -- the study of seasonal biological events such as leaf out, migration, and reproduction.  At Acadia, Dr. Miller-Rushing involved a number of different kinds of volunteers in collecting information about both plants and animals in the park. We funded this work as a pilot study.  Our goal was to provide early support for Dr. Miller Rushing and is colleagues at the USA National Phenology Network so that they could develop their ideas and -- hopefully -- seek additional, more substantial funding.  We have just learned that Dr. Miller-Rushing and his colleagues have successfully secured additional support from the US Geological Survey for the next three years.  We congratulate them, and look forward to working with them over the coming summers. Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:25:37 -0500 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=106 Fisherman-scholar Ted Ames, whose innovative fisheries research was recognized with a MacArthur Fellowship known as the “genius” award, and Aaron Dority, Director of the Downeast Groundfish Initiative at Penobscot East Resource Center, will speak at the Schoodic 2nd Saturday Lecture Series on Saturday, January 9th at 7:00 p.m. at the Moore Auditorium on the campus of the Schoodic Education and Research Center. The Penobscot East Resource Center’s mission is to secure a future for the fishing communities of Eastern Maine through programs in leadership development, community-based science and resource management, education, and advocacy. Ames and Dority will speak about the Downeast Groundfish Initiative, a program to rebuild a sustainable groundfishery. A key feature of this is the recent creation of a permit bank which preserves legal access to the cod, haddock and flounder fishery for community fishermen. There are very few federal permits still available to Maine fishermen and without them, community fishermen will be prohibited access to the fishery when it recovers. By banking permits, much the way a land trust conserves land, the rights that attach to them can be made available to local fishermen who would otherwise be excluded from ever fishing again. Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:57:42 -0500 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=105 In its regular board meeting on December 8, 2009, the Acadia Partners Board of Directors accepted Denny O'Brien's resignation as Acadia Partners' Executive Director. Alan Goldstein, Board Chairman, said, "Denny did a great job of launching Acadia Partners and we've been extremely pleased with the job he's done. We wish him all the good luck as he goes forth in his next endeavor. We're going to miss him." The board appointed Bill Zoellick to serve as the organization's new Executive Director. In announcing Mr. Zoellick's appointment, Mr. Goldstein said, "This is a time of change and growth for Acadia Partners and SERC. Over the next two years we will rebuild the campus, and SERC will become the place that we envisioned back when the Navy left Winter Harbor years ago. We are very fortunate to have a person with strong business and program experience--who is already on our staff and familiar with our operations and mission--who can lead the organization through this next chapter." Mr. Zoellick said, "SERC is moving from idea to reality. It is breaking new ground--not only literally, in terms of new construction--but also as a public-private partnership that can create new ways to achieve the mission that the Park Service identified when it created the Research Learning Center network. I feel very fortunate to have the chance to do this kind of important work and am honored to have the Board’s support." Bill Zoellick has prepared a more complete statement about the changes, challenges, and opportunities that Acadia Partners faces; the statement is available on the Acadia Partners website. Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:06:42 -0500 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=104 Naming is a way of knowing something. When fifth and sixth graders come here to the Schoodic Education and Research Center they learn, among other things, how to recognize spruce trees. If you say "Ouch!" when you shake hands with the tree, it's a spruce. Knowing that a tree is a spruce, and that another is a balsam, and yet another is a birch, and a fourth is a maple -- rather than all just being plain old "trees" -- gives a child a way of seeing a forest differently. Naming creates connection. (It is probably one reason that farmers raising pigs for slaughter generally call them "Pig" rather than "Charlie.") Carol Kaesuk Yoon, who has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Cornell and who writes for Science Times for the New York Times, has written a new book about our human impulse to order the world by naming it. It has the title Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science (W.W. Norton, 2009). (Go to the Northeast Park Science Blog for the rest of the story.) Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:45:55 -0500 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=103 Over the next 18 to 24 months the Schoodic Education and Research Center campus will become a different place, with a different "feel" and capable of supporting new kinds of programs. As Acadia Superintendent Sheridan Steele puts it, we will compress ten years of transformation into two. Some buildings will be remodeled and repurposed, other buildings will be removed, roads will be rerouted, and the campus will become greener in all senses of the word. Next summer the entire campus will be buzzing with construction work. Packing this much change into a short period of time has required a great deal of planning, involving everything from overall campus design to the kinds of tables we will have in new laboratory spaces. At 7 PM on Saturday, November 14 Supt. Steele will come to Moore Auditorium to describe these plans and talk about the way that the campus will be transformed. Behind all of these changes, of course, are the programs that we run at SERC -- programs that the new campus is designed to support. To provide an overview of these programs, Supt. Steele will be joined by Kate Petrie ("Ranger Kate") who, who runs the Schoodic Education Adventure program at SERC, and Bill Zoellick of Acadia Partners, who works with park staff to develop programs focused on scientific research and teacher professional development. Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:02:45 -0500 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=102 Dr. Bob Marvinney, Maine State Geologist and Director of the Maine Geological Survey, will speak at 7 PM on Saturday evening, October 10, about the state’s process to identify test locations for offshore, deepwater wind energy technologies. His presentation will be at Moore Auditorium on the Schoodic Education and Research Center campus. With a mandate from the State Legislature, the Department of Conservation and State Planning Office have identified seven possible locations and will pare these down to between one and five finalists based on public input. These sites would be available to wind energy companies and to the University of Maine to test new technologies, including blade design, floating turbine platforms, and anchoring systems. This initiative is part of the state’s efforts to position itself as a leader in research and development for wind energy based on the extensive wind resources of the Gulf of Maine. Dr. Marvinney will talk about program goals and progress. Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:24:51 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=101 Join Acadia Partners and Acadia National Park this Sunday evening, September 27, for a bean supper followed by a viewing of the new Ken Burns documentary, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea." The bean supper and the film viewing will be in the Moore Auditorium at the Schoodic Education and Research Center. Doors will open at 4:30 and we will be serving supper from 5:00 to 6:30. The actual broadcast of Part 1 of the series will begin at 8 PM. Before the broadcast begins there will be opportunities to chat with Park staff and the Acadia Partners staff and Board of Directors, to tour the campus, learn about educational programs, and to view preview clips from the documentary. Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:24:11 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=100 Anthropologists Bunny McBride and Harald E. L. Prins will present a trilogy of lectures and book signings to celebrate the publication of their new book, Indians in Eden: Wabanakis and Rusticators on Maine’s Mt. Desert Island, 1840s – 1920s from Down East Books. The programs are sponsored by The Penobscot Indian Nation, Friends of Acadia, The Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, and the Abbe Museum. The three lectures will take place in Old Town, at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory's Maren Auditorium, and at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor. Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:46:35 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=99 The 2009 Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium is underway at the Schoodic Education and Research Center (SERC). The Symposium is open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. seven days a week and will continue through September 12. This biennial cultural event is open to the public and there is no admission charge. Over the coming weeks a number of sculptors will give presentations on their work at the Moore Auditorium on the SERC campus. The schedule is as follows (names of towns that will be receiving the sculptures are list in parentheses after each sculptor's name): Thursday, August 27. Ahmed Karaly, of Egypt (Gouldsboro), Songul Telek, of Turkey (Bar Harbor), and Mark Herrington, of Maine (Franklin). Thursday, September 3. Roland Mayer, of Germany (Lamoine). Thursday, September 10. Jhon Gogaberishvili, of the Republic of Georgia (Machias). Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:34:18 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=98 Did you know that mushrooms are neither plants nor animals but have their own kingdom (fungi)? Or that some mushrooms glow in the dark? Learn more about mushrooms at a public session of the 2009 Fungi BioBlitz. The BioBlitz will take place at the Schoodic Education and Research Center campus on Sunday, September 13, from 10 AM until Noon. Join mushroom experts for an informative talk followed by a trip outdoors to help collect mushroom specimens for the blitz. Details:Space is limited. To register, contact June Devisfruto at june_devisfruto@nps.gov or 207-288-1316. The event is free and open to the public. This is both an indoor and an outdoor session -- wear closed-toe shoes, long pants, and layered clothing. Meet at the Moore Auditorium, Schoodic Education and Research Center, Acadia National Park, near Winter Harbor, Maine. For driving directions to SERC and to the Moore Auditorium, see the maps on the "Driving Directions" page on the Acadia Partners website. Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:02:50 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=97 At 7 PM on Saturday, September 12, Bill Clark will present a talk titled "Conversations on Acadia's Geology" at the Moore Auditorium on the Schoodic Education and Research Center campus. Bill Clark is a retired park ranger. His career was in natural history and American history park interpretation. He has been a geology instructor for Yavapai College, Arizona, and for Acadia Senior College, and was an Elderhostel instructor on board a Camden windjammer. During the summer he is a narrator on the Sea Princess, a Northeast Harbor tour boat. Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:47:52 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=96 Tad Gloeckler, currently artist-in-residence at Acadia National Park here at the Schoodic Education and Research Center, will present his work in a talk at Moore Auditorium at 7:00 PM on Thursday, August 27. The talk will focus on the engineering of everyday objects and will provide an opportunity to look at Gloeckler's work and to see how he draws inspiration from the natural environment. Mr. Gloeckler is an Associate Professor of Art at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia (Athens) and a Registered Architect. For driving directions to SERC and to the Moore Auditorium, see the maps on the "Driving Directions" page on the Acadia Partners website. Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:45:22 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=95 On Tuesday, August 18, 2009, Dr. Peter Petraitis, Professor of Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, will present his research on dogwhelks at Maren Auditorium at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory at 7:30 p.m. Dr. Petraitis’ talk titled, “Dramatic shifts in shell size of dogwhelks (Nucella lapillus) in Maine over the last century” is part of the Acadia Science Seminar Series, co-sponsored by Acadia National Park, the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, and Friends of Acadia. The talk is free and open to the public. Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:16:49 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=94 A total of 46 people participated in the 7th annual BioBlitz held at Acadia National Park’s Schoodic Education and Research Center. Both professional and amateur entomologists spent 1,308 hours searching for and collecting insects from 16 orders that have relatively few species in Maine. Institutions represented at the event included: Maine Entomological Society, Maine Forest Service, New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, University of Maine, University of New Hampshire, University of Southern Maine, Illinois State University, University of North Alabama, Texas A&M University, Colby College, and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. In addition, a taxonomist from the University of Tennessee has agreed to identify the Collembola species not identified at the BioBlitz. For the full story see the article on the Northeast Park Science blog. Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:53:45 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=92 Eelgrass (photo: NOAA) Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is widely recognized as an important habitat for shallow water ecosystems. Eelgrass beds provide nursery habitat and food for many invertebrate, finfish, shellfish and waterbird species. Growing along coastal shorelines, this habitat also slows water flow, dampens wave energy, and stabilizes sediments. In 2008 Acadia Partners provided a fellowship to Wendy Norden and Doug McNaught, of the University of Maine at Machias, to study the ecosystem services provided by eelgrass in the habitats around Schoodic Point. They will present their findings in a talk at Moore Auditorium at 7 PM on Saturday, August 8. Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:50:50 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=91 On Tuesday evening, August 4, Robert P. Brooks, PhD, Professor of Geography and Ecology, and Director of Riparia at Pennsylvania State University, will present an illustrated talk on Penn State University’s ecological study of the area between Schoodic Point and Schoodic Mountain at the Moore Auditorium on the SERC campus. Dr. Brooks will explain the objectives of this study, describe the methodology being used, and share the results of this year’s mapping and field sampling work. This talk is sponsored by the Frenchman Bay Conservancy and is open to the public. Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:31:25 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=90 Acadia National Park staff and local scientists will present a free public workshop about the biodiversity of insects on Sunday, August 9, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. This session will take place at the Moore Auditorium on the campus of the National Park Service’s Schoodic Education and Research Center in Winter Harbor, Maine. The workshop is being sponsored by the National Park Service and Acadia Partners for Science and Learning. Dr. Cassie Gibbs, retired professor of entomology from the University of Maine, and Marcia Siebenmann, an entomologist specializing in aquatic invertebrates, will lead the workshop and explore the habits, life history, and importance of theses animals. Participants will also go out into the field to collect specimens and come back to the lab to look at what they collected under microscopes. No previous experience is necessary! Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:26:07 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=89 On July 15, 2009 ten people gathered at the Schoodic Education and Research Center to meet with Abraham Miller Rushing, a researcher and Coordinator of the Wildlife Phenology Program for the USA Phenology Network and The Wildlife Society. They were there to learn how to conduct phenology monitoring at Schoodic Point. The process established by the Phenology Network calls for each volunteer to select three sites in either wetland or coastal habitats in the park. At each site they will select and tag one specimen of each of three specific plant species, record their observations once a week, and submit their data to the Network. The volunteers also will look for five animal species at their selected sites and report that data as well. Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:25:14 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=88 Acadia Partners for Science and Learning has received a gift of $1 million in memory of founding Board president, Fitz Eugene Dixon. The gift, made by Mrs. Edith Robb Dixon in honor of her late husband, was announced by Board President Alan J.Goldstein following the board’s July 7 meeting. The gift, a commitment to support the efforts being undertaken at Schoodic Education and Research Center (SERC), will assist in the renovation and adaptive reuse of the beautiful and historic Rockefeller building at the former Navy base. "Fitz was very excited by this important work from the beginning of this undertaking in 2005, and he would be very pleased with the extraordinary strides made in a few short years," said Mrs. Dixon in her remarks to the board. "Downeast Maine, the Winter Harbor community, and this special place have always meant a great deal to him and to his family. It feels very right that this building and campus supports two things he loved – education and Winter Harbor." Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:10:59 -0400 http://acadiapartners.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=87 Our summer interns, Hannah Kreitzer and Sara Delheimer, have put together a video describing the marsh coring work that Dr. Ben Tanner was doing in West Pond a couple of weeks ago. It is available on the Field Notes blog site that Sara and Hannah maintain in cooperation with other people at other parks in the northeast. Dr. Tanner's work is supported by Acadia Partners, using contributions from our donors. The video is a quick, engaging look at Dr. Tanner's field work and does a nice job of explaining how climate change and sea level rise motivates this research, which looks at the role that salt marshes play in sequestering carbon. Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:43:43 -0400