Colby College's Environmental Studies Seminar

Shey Conover, Island Institute VP of Operations pointing out the island communities of Casco Bay.

On September 25th, 2014, 15 Colby College seniors and their professor, Philip Nyhus, arrived at our Rockland office eager to learn about Maine islands. They are in the midst of a semester-long group project to fulfill a requirement for their Environmental Studies Senior Seminar. One of the five groups is tackling issues within the theme "the state of Maine islands" and this trip was an opportunity for the students to hear first-hand about the challenges and opportunities that exist on Maine islands. Our first stop was the Island Institute office on Main Street, Rockland, where Shey Conover, the Vice President of Operations, provided an overview of the 15 year-round, unbridged island communities that the Island Institute works to support. Shey discussed economic diversification, transportation, energy, municipal waste, education, health, and wildlife in the context of Maine Islands. The students were engaged and after an hour of peppering Shey with questions, we wrapped up our time at the Institute to head back to Journey's End Marina where we boarded M/V Reliance and traveled across the bay to Hurricane Island.

On Hurricane, Alice led students on a hike around the island pointing out our sustainable infrastructure, and the remnants from Hurricane's quarry era, which helped provide students with a historic perspective of how many Maine island communities operated in the late 1800s. Alice and the students drew similarities between island communities then and now with the potential challenge of economic dependence on a single commodity - in the quarry era, it was granite and today, lobster. In the evening, we discussed the Maine lobster and scallop fisheries to provide in-depth context on how we manage those fisheries at the state level. 

Colby students gather outside the Vinalhaven Co-op to learn more about the operation and the fishery from Mike Mesko. 

On Friday morning, we traveled to Vinalhaven and stopped in at the Vinalhaven Fishermen's Co-op where Mike Mesko, the president, took some time out of his busy day to talk about how the co-op works and the state of the lobster fishery from his perspective. We also had the opportunity to meet with Andy Dorr, Vinalhaven's Interim Town Manager and Kelsey Byrd, Vinalhaven's current island fellow to ask questions about how to town's planning process is carried out and other issues the community faces. 

We ended the excursion with a ferry run back to Rockland. All in all, hosting the Colby students was a wonderful experience and we hope to do so again in the future!

Apprenticeshop Sailing Week

Post by Oakley Jackson, Program Instructor

We set sail aboard the Twins on a four-day orientation voyage with seven apprentices from The Apprenticeshop in Rockland this past week. Departing from Hurricane Island on Monday afternoon (September 22, 2014) we were met with strong gusting winds from the North West. Many of the apprentices had prior sailing experience and we were confident the Twins could handle the 20-knot winds. The Twins proved to be sturdy vessels and we made good time up the Eastern shore of Vinalhaven before reaching the narrows between Leadbetter and Vinalhaven and deciding to tuck our tails and make the down wind run back to the shelter of Lobster Pound Cove on Greens Island.

Sam works with students to determine the course

By the time we sailed away from Greens on Tuesday morning the wind had picked up to a steady Westerly breeze. With the wind behind us we skirted out past the Southern end of Vinalhaven, passing the outer islands of Brimstone, Hay, and Otter. Once around we pointed our bows North and made one long tack along the Western shore of Vinalhaven, past North Haven and all the way to Butter Island, which neighbors Eagle and Great Spruce Head Islands. As we entered the cove we were met by schooling mackerel chasing their prey along the surface. Despite our best efforts we did not get a single bite on our hooks. It was a picture perfect day and we all expressed our immense gratitude to the weather gods for giving us such a fine day of sailing.

Sailing the twins, Castor and Pollux, in tandem

We awoke to a calm sea on Wednesday morning. Manning the oars we began the laborious task of rowing the high-sided Twins. Rowing beneath the lichen covered cliffs of Hardhead Island I felt as though I had been transported to the coast of Ireland or some other far-off land. To our delight the wind stiffened out of the East and we were able to make use of the sails to push us through the Little Thoroughfare into the North Haven Thoroughfare. After picking up two more crew from the ferry we tacked our way out past the stone monument off of Crabtree Point on North Haven and on across the bay to Monroe Island. Our last night was spent ashore on Monroe before making the final passage into Rockland Harbor and returning the Twins to their home birth at the Apprenticeshop. 

Proctor Academy Kicks off Ocean Semester Program

We were joined by a great group of students from Proctor Academy on Hurricane from September 16-22 as they kicked off their Ocean term. After leaving Hurricane, they will be departing on the Schooner Roseway to continue their academics under sail, with a final destination of Puerto Rico.

HIF instructor Oakley explains how lobster traps work, and the culture of the lobster industry

Students spent time on Hurricane learning about Maine's rocky intertidal zone and lobster industry from HIF educators, they were also were in charge of cooking their own meals, learning how to work as a team, and take initiative as leaders in the program. Students enjoyed several rock-climbing sessions on our granite quarry face, and Ocean staff took students out on hikes around the island, students also spent time learning about maritime history and building the leather-bound journals they are going to use for the rest of the trip. We always enjoy having Proctor students out to the island, and we wish them safe travels and fair seas on the second leg of their adventure!

Here is a poem one of the Proctor students wrote while out on Hurricane:

A student shows off a lobster he banded.

A House Beside the Water

Heaven seems a little closer
In a house beside the water.
Where seabirds fly
And foghorns cry
And white sails float and wander.

With waves that splash
And tides that crash
Against the rocks and clutter.
Creating the sound
Of those who have found
Hurricane’s solemn harbor.

They have come to explore,
To love and adore
All that the island can offer.
But did not expect
To gain the respect
Of a lifetime’s work of wonder.

And so I now
Must steer around
To face the other corner.
But I’ll never forget
The time I have spent
At this house beside the water.

Kyle Heller
Proctor Fall 2014

Fall Update: Straw Bale Gardens

Post by Josie Gates, Program Instructor

With growing vegetables comes the task of protecting them from pests of all shapes and sizes. For us on Hurricane our most pesky nuisance is the handful of deer that live on the island. In late August they unfortunately found our straw bale garden (you can read about how we set this garden up here), hopped our fence and ate everything within a night. While it was a bit heartbreaking (every gardener who has experienced this can sympathize) it did get us excited about taking the bales apart and turning them into the plot they sit on in our hopes of making that plot an in-ground garden for vegetables in years to come.

A look at our newly turned in garden

Pulling the straw bales apart

To start that process we first took all of the remaining vegetable plants out of the bales and turned them into our compost pile, which sits in the adjacent granite foundation. Next we cut the strings around the bales and pulled them apart. The bales have been decomposing for the past few months, so they came apart incredibly easily, and what we found in the middle was rich, brown decomposing straw and actual soil! While I knew that this was the goal of the straw bale garden it was very rewarding to see that our summers worth of hard work had really paid off. We grabbed our pitchforks and shovels and turned the straw as best we could into the in ground plot. Next we will cover straw with seaweed and let it sit and continue to decompose all winter. The straw bale garden was a fun and fruitful experiment this year, as well as a great learning tool for our summer programs. I hope to try this gardening method again next year, as well as work on our fencing methods…

Common Ground Fair

We thoroughly enjoyed having an information booth set up at the Common Ground Fair this past weekend. Fair goers found us in the Environmental Concerns tent along with Unity College and the Appalachian Mountain Club. The fair was a great chance to meet representatives from other Maine schools, and make connections with students who are interested in both our programs and college internships. We met many past Outward Bound staff and students who were excited to see that the island has been brought back to life with a guiding mission for science research and education and as well as building a sustainable educational community on Hurricane. We hope to see all those who we met out on the island!  

Islesboro Central School

The Environmental Science class

Students from Islesboro Central School's 9th/10th grade Environmental Science class came out to Hurricane on September 11-13, 2014 to learn about Hurricane Island's phenology monitoring efforts, which are part of the USA National Phenology Network (NPN). Phenology refers to key seasonal changes in plants and animals from year to year—such as flowering, fruiting, falling leaves, and bird migration—especially their timing and relationship with weather and climate.

Hurricane Island has been monitoring three different sites around the island this season, collecting data on a weekly basis that will serve as a local dataset for us to observe the impacts of global climate change on the seasonality, migration, and life history of plants and animals on Hurricane Island. As we develop our phenology sites, we are also hoping to work with more Maine schools to create a small phenology monitoring network where students can start to ask their peers from other schools for their data to address questions about microclimates and seasonal differences across Maine.

While Islesboro students were out on Hurricane, they focused on improving their botanical identification skills and learning the basics of phenology monitoring. Students paired up and were each in charge of finding and presenting on Maine trees that are listed in the NPN, taking time to highlight observations that they made about features that would help their peers be able to positively identify species in the field. We spent part of the last day on a long "plant-off," where students competed to be able to identify the plants they had just learned as they were pointed out during a hike around the island. By the end of their time on Hurricane, students were comfortably able to distinguish between different species of spruce trees, aspen, and speckled alder. Our education staff will go out to Islesboro this spring to help them set up their own phenology monitoring sites! Stay tuned for how this project develops!

Students work on field ID to prepare for phenology monitoring.

Here is a student quote from the trip:

"The following are reasons why our trip to Hurricane Island was awesome: First of all, we got to be outside, which was, literally, a breath of fresh air. I am interested in plants, their uses, and learning how to identify them, and we certainly did quite a bit of that - outside! I enjoyed that part a lot. I learned about the difference between shrubbery and trees, and between different types of pines, as well as how to identify wildflowers and vines...and more! So that was cool. Another thing that I really enjoyed doing during that trip was splitting into groups and taking the plant identification form things, and getting to learn about a specific plant in front of us, and draw conclusions about it.

I [also] hung out with people that I didn't normally hang out with who weren't in my grade level, and laughed a lot, which was fun! I also spent more time than usual with other people in my class that I don't usually hang out with, and realized that they can also be pretty fun to be around. Also, that one moment where all the freshmen decided to lie down on that flat rock, look up at the night sky, and also actually be quiet for a series of minutes was not only the nicest, most peaceful moment ever, but it was also the most connected I feel we have ever been to each other. All in all, I learned a lot and had fun."

North Haven Middle School 2014

To kick off the fall season on Hurricane we hosted the North Haven Middle School 5th and 6th graders for a two-day exploration of wild edible botany. Students started off by learning about the basic names of plant parts and how to identify plants with field guides. They also learned about how plants edibility changes with the seasons, about edible plant habitat and environment, and the differences between domestic edible plants and wild edible plants.

A student spends time drawing a field guide entry for her edible plant: the high-bush cranberry

From there they focused on looking at the top ten edible plants that can be found on Hurricane. Each student was assigned one of those plants and spent time on a hike around the island identifying them and collecting specimens, which they brought back to the lab to do more research. The students then worked on creating their own field guide entry of their foraged edible plant, which included sketches and paintings as well as information. The North Haven Middle School students did a great job at being creative with their field guide entries and will continue to work on them back at school. 

The edible plants that students focused on while they were at Hurricane include: bayberry, cattail, rose hips, sheep and wood sorrel, huckleberry, high-bush cranberry, red clover, orach, sea rocket, beach pea, mustard greens, and raspberries and blackberries.

We finished the first evening with a Hurricane-sourced rosehip applesauce (a great vanilla ice cream topper), and a sweet red clover, sorrel, apple, and rosehip drink. We hope students will be able to pick out tasty trail-side edibles when they are back on North Haven!

Farm-to-Table Harvest Moon Supper

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The menu from the evening

On September 8th, the night of the Harvest Moon, we hosted 45 guests for a dinner catered by Ladleah Dunn, who owns and operates Sailors Rest Farm in Lincolnville, Maine. The theme was island-sourced farm-to-table dining. HIF staff have worked hard this year to grow more of our own food on island, and this supper was a great way to celebrate our own garden efforts. Ladleah did a superb job of sourcing the ingredients for the meal from the mid-coast area.

Guests enjoyed a ride out to Hurricane on the Equinox and the Reliance and were welcomed with an Elderberry Kir Royal. After a walk around the main campus and up to the gardens, guests sat down to a four-course meal. As dinner came to a close Ladleah introduced herself and her staff, and explained her love for Hurricane Island, which started when she was a student on Hurricane 15 years ago. As the Harvest moon rose over Greens Island crème brulee and coffee were served for desert. 

We are very grateful for those who joined us for our Farm to Table dinner this fall, and hope to continue the tradition in years to come as we continue to expand our gardens and grow more of our own food on Hurricane. Thank you to all of the local farms and venders, and especially to Ladleah and her fantastic staff for making it such a memorable night.