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The Audubon “cause”

September 11, 1999 | Posted by Jay Collier

By Art Borror

Over 45 years ago, when I was a student assistant at the Audubon Camp in Maine, the staff included Carl W. Buchheister, Bart and Joe Cadbury, Farida Wiley, , Allan Cruickshank, and my father, Donald J. Borror. They focused their teaching skills on presenting the “Audubon cause”: the dependency and links between natural history, ecology, public awareness, and conservation action. It became clear to me that education in field natural history was absolutely crucial to the ultimate preservation of our natural resources. Those experiences at the Audubon Camp in Maine shaped my career directions as a teacher.

The “Audubon cause” is the dependency and links between natural history, ecology, public awareness, and conservation action.

In those same days in the early 1950s, I often listened as quoted from her knowledge of the poetry of Emily Dickinson. The particular line that meant the most to me was, “Be careful, young man, what you dream, for dreams oft times come true.” Those lines have echoed back to me many times, as I joined the teaching staff at the Audubon Camp in the 1960s, and more recently as I have become involved in helping the camp’s reach into the next millenium.

The next decade will undoubtedly continue to involve curricular changes and revised management strategies at the Audubon Camp, reflecting developing needs in a changing world. However, the Audubon Camp on Hog Island still can provide the sort of exciting field experience that has made nature come alive for campers for the past 65 years. Contact with dedicated, knowledgable staff and opportunities in natural history can allow all of us to realize our role in directing the public’s attention toward wise use of resources and the interrelatedness of our natural world. I hope that as “Friends of Hog Island,” we all can lend the support necessary to achieve the Audubon Camp’s goals. I look forward with great optimism to next summer’s activities on the island.

In: 1940s-50s, Spotlights | ,
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Hog Island Camp Transferred to Maine Audubon

September 11, 1999 | Posted by Jay Collier

By Seth Benz

A new chapter in the history of the Audubon Camp in Maine on Hog Island began in September, 1999, when National conferred responsibility for operating the camp to the Maine .

The camp program has been partly responsible for the grooming of some of the nation’s finest ornithological, natural history, and environmental educators and leaders.

The state Audubon’s staff and resources will now be available to assist in planning, budgeting, marketing, registering, accounting, and fund raising for the popular educational summer camp.

As a first step, Maine Audubon hired Seth Benz, the camp’s director last summer, to begin work immediately coordinating plans for the summer 2000 season.

Maine Audubon also invited Dick Chamberlain, a consultant on camp operations nationwide, to provide an assessment of the facilities and program at Hog Island. A study is currently underway to determine the feasibility of a capital campaign that could help assure the camp’s financial viability for many years to come.

The transfer of responsibility for the camp from National Audubon to Maine Audubon is part of a larger mandate set out in ’s strategic plan that calls for the creation of a nationwide system of state Audubon Society offices. To date, offices in some 23 states have been established. Maine may soon become an integral part of that plan.

Although the broader details of the affiliation between NAS and MAS are still being worked out, the two Audubons are well matched to combine efforts. Nearly a century ago, at a time when the National Audubon Society was itself in its formative years, the seeds of Maine Audubon Society were sown by the merger of the well-established Portland Society of Natural History and the younger Maine Ornithological and Cumberland County Audubon societies.

The protection of “all non-game birds, nests, and eggs” was very much the focus of NAS, and Maine was a perfect case study of the problem. Colonies of gulls, terns, and other seabirds were being decimated by plume hunters for the millinery trade.

Maine Audubon, in like spirit, stated that “the goals of (its) organization were both to discourage the destruction of birds and to encourage an interest in birds and the study of natural history.” Its founders set forth a dual emphasis on advocacy and education that still characterizes Maine Audubon to this day.

Steeped in the storied history of Hog Island is the well-proven similarity of purpose that makes the camp a good fit with Maine Audubon. The camp program at Hog Island has been partly responsible for the grooming of some of the nation’s finest ornithological, natural history, and environmental educators and leaders. It has provided inspiration and ongoing support that has led to the return of the Atlantic Puffin, as well as the restoration of critical island habitat for terns and other seabirds. Thousands of eager campers have deepened their connection with nature and their understanding of conservation through their participation in the camp’s excellent programs.

Maine Audubon is excited to have the Audubon Camp in Maine on Hog Island to help forward its mission in protection, conservation, and enhancement of Maine’s ecosystems. In addition to pledging operational support and guidance to continue to deliver excellent educational programming, Maine Audubon is also investigating an expanded role for the camp in which it would be affiliated with a center dedicated to seabird research, a project spearheaded by .

Seth Benz is Director of the Audubon Camp in Maine.

In: Maine Audubon news | ,
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Leaving Hog Island

June 11, 1999 | Posted by Jay Collier

By

Cathy Belisle visited Hog Island not once, but twice in 1999. She first came in June for an ornithology session and then returned with her daughters for a family camp in August.

I woke to the heavy sound of footsteps in the hallway and on the stairs, busily preparing for the journey home. These sounds intermittently masked the waking sounds of the dawn chorus. The gentle sound of waves tapping the shore in the morning calm was similarly over-shadowed. Only the noisy motors of the lobster boats driving past the buoys, setting their traps, could be heard over everything else.

The rising rays of sunlight streamed through my window where the blinds had been raised to let in the cool dampness of the night air. With the breeze came the scent of damp charcoal from last night’s fire on the beach mixed with the salty smell of the sea. It was different than on previous mornings and somehow signaled a change. All the activities were done and the corn and lobster cooked and eaten. Only the spent coals, the memories, and a feeling of completion remained.

Now, sitting outside in a cozy chair on the lawn between these beautiful old buildings on Hog Island, I am overcome by a sadness that is hard to put into words. I don’t want to forget a single sensation of this week. I struggle to clearly remember the breezes on the boat as we traveled to the islands, the call of the Broad-winged Hawk, the breathtaking views from , the blueberries stretching out over the hillside into the horizon, and the sounds of birds calling over the marsh. I also want to clearly remember the view of the water and the coast from this island, but my heart knows that no matter how long I sit out on the lawn and stare at the rocks and the water, the memory will fade once I’m gone.

I don’t want to forget a single sensation of this week. I will take a small piece of Hog Island with me when I go.

The peacefulness and tranquility, though, of these days here is something I can remember. I will remember the calm meditations that I have experienced here, along with the brief but meaningful connections I have made with the other people who came here and shared this experience with me.

I am also energized by having had the opportunity to share in the collective knowledge and work of a staff that is exceptional on both a professional and personal level. I know that my perspective will be just a little different as I move forward, because the experience and the learning have changed me. I will take a small piece of Hog Island with me when I go.

In: 1980s-90s | ,
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The camp that changes people’s lives

May 11, 1999 | Posted by Jay Collier

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When I arrived on Hog Island in June of 1980 to begin my first summer teaching adults about weather, geology, and environmental issues, I was an inexperienced environmental educator, fresh out of graduate school. Teaching those classes for the first time was a huge challenge, but with help from , , Grace Bommarito and others, I slowly climbed aboard. Despite my struggle and focus on preparing for my responsibilities, the legendary “magic” of Hog Island worked its way into my intermost cells and soon I was completely hooked. Getting me off that island would become as difficult as coaxing a hermit crab out of its shell.

Twenty years and thousands of people later, I believe as strongly as ever that an experience at camp changes people’s lives.

During the early 1980′s, each ecology camp session lasted for two weeks. I could see, day by day, the wondrous effect upon campers living on that forested and tide-washed bit of heaven, seemingly miles away from the noisy civilization they left behind. People loosened up, got some color in their cheeks, and took time too smell the salt air and watch the antics of a feisty red squirrel or the slothlike behavior of a porcupine munching apples. A deep sense of appreciation and often times reverence grew with each day spent in the out-of-doors, in the company of kindred spirits.

I especially remember one young couple I met my first summer, who later wrote to say they had quit their professional jobs and had gone back to school for environmental studies. Twenty years and thousands of people later, I believe as strongly as ever that an experience at camp changes people’s lives. Stories like the couple changing careers, I eventually came to see, were commonly repeated. It’s painfully obvious that our world dearly needs these kind, committed, and environmentally-conscious human beings.

Friends of Hog Island has the kind of passionate and inspired alumni to draw upon that most organizations could only dream about. Let us rally together now to finally create a well-fashioned, long-lasting, and financially-vigorous structure for the enhancement and continuation of a camp that changes people’s lives.

Isn’t this the mission of Audubon?

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The future: Hog Island needs you

May 11, 1999 | Posted by Jay Collier

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Over the years the program at Hog Island has undergone changes and modifications, but the essential goal has always been to awaken campers to the richness of habitats and their complex interrelationships.

A field trip may visit a fresh water pond and explore the wealth of plant and animal life to be found there. Another group might be visiting a seabird colony to determine the factors which make it possible for it to succeed or attempt to understand why it may not and whether its success or failure should be considered in relation to man’s presence or absence.

It was from such studies that the (sometimes referred to as the “Puffin Project”) began under the leadership of Dr. Stephen Kress. This program, which has had great success under his direction, was an outgrowth of field trips which he led to Eastern Egg Rock in Muscongus Bay while he was Camp Director in the 1970s. It is only by understanding the total ecosystem, including physical and biological influences, that the interaction within habitats can be interpreted.

The cost of operating the camp has never been covered by the fees charged. This has been accepted in the interest of making it possible for the greatest number of campers to attend. As a result, the camp property and equipment have been allowed to deteriorate. Although some of the tuition gap has been filled by scholarships provided by interested groups including Audubon chapters, there is a large back log of deferred maintenance which needs attention.

We ask you to examine our needs and your hearts and pledge your support for the future of the Audubon Camp on Hog Island.

To address these needs, a small group of former and current staff, campers, and student assistants assembled at the camp in July 1998. We knew that there was a large body of loyal alumni and friends, so we set about the creation of a support group. We decided to call it the “Friends of Hog Island” and in subsequent meetings hammered out the organization that brings you news of the Camp in FOHI’s Across the Narrows newsletter.

We identified three major areas where our efforts might help bridge the gap between cost of operation and tuition income. The first was for a second boat to provide transportation for students in the field as well accessibility between the island and the mainland. Second was the need for additional scholarship funding to supplement tuition shortfall. Finally, we recognized the continuing need for restoration of deteriorating buildings and equipment.

We ask you to examine our needs and your hearts and pledge your support for the future of the Audubon Camp on Hog Island.

Bart Cadbury was director of the Audubon Camp in Maine director from 1958-68.

In: 1980s-90s | ,