Kacey Weber, PCSWCD Education Coordinator, enjoys the sun from the front porch of her cabin during a 2023 Forests of Maine Teachers’ Tour.
By: Kacey Weber, PCSWCD Education Coordinator
I have been with the PCSWCD for 10 years, making me no stranger to the forest industry and forest ecology. When the opportunity to attend the 2023 Maine TREE Teachers’ Tour was offered, I jumped on it, excited, but also feeling that perhaps most of the information gleaned from the experience would be a refresher to me. I saw attending as an opportunity to network, find out what teachers needed for resources in their classrooms, and as a break from the computer for a week.
I signed up for the Downeast Maine Teachers’ Tour, which was held July 25th-28th, 2023. My husband, a local high school teacher, and I attended together. We made our way to Leen’s Lodge in Grand Lake Stream, Maine, noting along the way the differences and similarities between Piscataquis and Washington County communities. Leen’s Lodge was our hosting site for the week, and it was simply beautiful. Around every corner of the main lodge were photos and newspaper articles noting the lodge’s place in Maine’s outdoor heritage history. The lodge offered fantastic views and beaches along the shores of West Grand Lake – not a bad place to spend the week!
PCSWCD friends and partners at Maine TREE organized and delivered the Maine TREE Teachers’ Tour, and shortly after our arrival, we were greeted by their staff, and the week’s schedule was laid out to us. The reason the program is called the Maine TREE Teachers Tour is because, well, we tour! Maine TREE designed a jam-packed schedule of stops in the region, which included East Grand School, Devils Head Conservation Area, Woodland Pulp LLC, Baskahegan Company land, Downeast Lakes Land Trust, Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, a local tree farmer, and so much more. We enjoyed presentations about land and forest management, conservation efforts, the forest products industry, job paths for students, forest ecology, regional challenges, and everything in between. We watched active harvests, enjoyed an ash-pounding demonstration from a representative of the Passamaquoddy tribe, toured inside Woodland Pulp, walked the beach at Devils Head, learned about individual conservation efforts from local landowners, toured East Grand School seeing first-hand their impressive outdoor education programs and much more. While we toured, we started getting a sense of how impressive and cohesive the land conservation efforts were in the Downeast Lakes Region and how these efforts collectively were protecting Maine’s rich outdoor heritage. Additionally, I learned new ways to approach conservation through management of the forest and through education efforts. It was hugely beneficial to me to be touring a part of Maine that wasn’t Piscataquis County and picking up information that can help Piscataquis County residents better manage their land.
The educational tour component of this program was exceptional. I was wrong, I learned SO MUCH and I met wonderful people doing incredible work in conservation. Additionally, the accommodations at Leen’s Lodge were exceptional. Our meals were fabulous, our beds were comfortable, and the views could not be beat. We even had some time to enjoy a relaxing and refreshing dip in the lake with some fellow educators.
If you are an educator – traditional or not – I highly recommend the Maine TREE Teachers Tour to you all. Attending the tour offers you 30 contact hours and you will leave with ideas on how to incorporate outdoor learning into your curriculums. The tour is affordable, the lodgings are always impressive, and the company is top-notch! You still have time to register if you have not done so already. The link to register is here: Forests of Maine Teachers’ Tours – Maine TREE Foundation
If you are still on the fence on whether or not you should participate, please reach out to me and I should be happy to share more of my experience with you!
Maine TREE would like to thank Kacey and the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District for giving us permission to share this story with our audience.
