Community Calendar

How do you differentiate one type of forest or wetland from another? What plants, patterns, and features are used to define and categorize them? And how is this information used? Join Maine Ecologist Kristen Puryear as she leads a walk designed to help us understand how to recognize the many different natural communities and ecosystems across Maine’s landscape.

The group will visit at least two different natural communities on the Preserve, and see how they are characterized in Natural Landscapes of Maine, a field guide to Maine’s natural communities and ecosystems. Using the key and descriptions included in the book (photocopies will be made available), Kristen will walk through what to look for as you “read” the landscape around you. “Natural Landscapes of Maine serves as an indispensable tool to recognize, understand, and conserve Maine’s special places.” – maine.gov

Copies of the Natural Landscapes of Maine will be available for sale at the event for $15 (check or cash only).

Kristen Puryear is an Ecologist with the Maine Natural Areas Program – the State’s natural heritage program which resides within the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. She spends a lot of time in the field! For the last 15 years, her primary responsibilities have included landscape analysis and field inventories, ecological monitoring, and working with land managers of private and public lands to identify priority natural areas for conservation and management.

Most recently her work has expanded to include identification and field assessment of potential wetland conservation sites, integration of sea level rise and marsh migration into conservation planning efforts, and implementation of salt-marsh condition assessments and long term monitoring. Kristen lives in Brunswick with her husband, two children, cats and chickens.

This event is FREE and open to CREA Members and the public. Registration is required to attend, click the link below to register.

https://www.creamaine.org/event/interpreting-natural-communities-ecosystems/

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