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GARDINER — Cobbossee Stream continues to flow, gurgle and pulse through the remnants of its 200 year old economic history in downtown Gardiner, singing its wild and beautiful song as it reclaims its natural territory, notes Upstream, a local non-profit working to restore sea-run fish passage and ecological health to Cobbossee Stream.
As noted on the Maine Rivers website (mainerivers.org/projects/), he juxtaposition of abandoned dams, mills and factories intertwined with ashes, northern red oaks, beeches, beavers, eagles and ospreys are a surprising and hopeful sign of recovery of an often forgotten asset in our community. In keeping with that tradition, Upstream will host several events in the coming weeks.
Saturday April 22, 10 a.m. to noon:
Shout Out to Earth Day and Stream Clean-up
Join volunteers from Upstream on Bridge Street bridge as they make noise and clean-up the stream to celebrate the return of migratory alewives and their potential for restoration. Alewives, a river herring, swim up rivers and streams each May and June to lakes and ponds where they spawn. They are a keystone species and are vital to freshwater and salt water ecosystems. In Gardiner, alewives face impassable dams but there have been successful efforts to restore their populations on Pleasant Pond and in other Maine communities. Rebounding alewife populations bring a resurgence of eagles and ospreys that dine on this fish. The event is free and family friendly.
Friday May 5, 2017 5:30 to 8 p.m.:
Artwalk Gardiner
Please join Gardiner Area High School students at Artwalk Gardiner for a powerful display of their original 3-D birds at Johnson Hall. Come celebrate high school artists and join in a little art making of your own! Children and adults are welcome to paint a wooden fish for inclusion in a new, alewife garden sculptures exhibit. There will be opportunities to learn about and celebrate efforts to bring back migratory fish to Cobbossee Stream. Cheryl Ring and Sue Kistenmacher, Maine Master Naturalists, will present a talk on “Migratory Birds on the Stream” and there will be an interactive exhibit, “Life Along Cobbossee Stream” presented by Maine Master Naturalist Dorcas Miller. 2016’s cheerfully-decorated fish sculptures will also be exhibited along with the short film, “A Year on the Stream.” The event is free and family friendly.
Saturday May 13, 2017 7:00-8:30 AM
Migration Walk — Warblers and Alewives!
Rise and shine and join Cathie Murray and other Maine master naturalists on a one-mile hike to explore migration along Cobbossee Stream’s newest trail, Harrison Avenue Nature Trail. Meet at the parking lot at New Mills Dam on Rte 126/Cobbossee Avenue and bring your binoculars for an exploration of migration! The event is free.
