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You're Invited to Our Annual Meeting November 1st
We are so very excited to have John Greene as our Annual Meeting presenter this year. By day John is the property manager for Ram Island Farm and the Sprague properties, and throughout his 30-year
tenure there he has honed his skills of managing these lands to improve wildlife habitat. Proof of his success will be shown through images and video that John has collected over the years, documenting the wildlife diversity of Cape Elizabeth. John's presentation, "Wild Cape," promises to be an all-ages spectacular show starring local bobcats, eastern cottontails, moose, snowy owls, coyotes and much, much more!
CELT's annual meeting will also include departing remarks from Chris Franklin as he leaves the organization after a 12-year run as CELT's Executive Director. Chris will certainly be missed; he has chosen to speak about, "Why Local Land Conservation Matters...and Why the Best is Yet to Come."
Attendance at the meeting is free and open to the public (all ages) and cider, coffee and desserts will follow the program. The event will be held at the Pond Cove/Middle School Cafetorium and is generously sponsored by our friends at
Richard Brothers Financial. RSVP's are appreciated so that we may anticipate attendance numbers;
please email,
[email protected] or call 767-6054.
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Another Year of Successful Land Conservation for CELT
CELT's fiscal year came to a close September 30th, marking the successful completion of another great year for your local land trust. Our summer membership drive brought in over 300 new, rejoining and renewing members, and our 'thank you' gift
certificate program supported over $2,000 in purchases from some of our local farm stands.
Community support and involvement sustains our work and we thank you all for helping us reach our goal of an integrated network of trails, habitat preserves, and working agricultural lands that are the fabric of our living landscape here in Cape Elizabeth.
(The beautiful photo at right was taken by Martha Agan, the winner of our recently completed, "Living Landscapes" annual photo contest. Martha's photo was chosen from more than 50 images submitted. We'll share more winning pictures in future newsletters. Thank you to all who participated - and helped us to see anew the incredible beauty of our daily landscape.)
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CELT's Fourth Grade Walks Program Again Underway
 In what has become an annual right of passage for local fourth grade students, CELT's Environmental Education program at Robinson Woods is off on another year's adventure. Providing local students the opportunity to supplement their classroom lesson on nutrient cycling, the water cycle, animal adaptation and migration with real world experience is always a bit hit.
These volunteer-led interactive programs conceived and coordinated by CELT, run for two hours in the fall, one and a half hours in the winter and two hours again in the spring. By the end of the program, students have developed a much greater appreciation for our local environment and for the strategies used by plants and animals to survive in the wild.
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Off-Leash Dog Walking Extended for Daylight Savings
To help keep our canine friends happy and healthy during the short days of winter, CELT will offer  dogs and their walkers an additional hour of off-leash time in Robinson Woods I. From November 1st until March 12th, 2016, off-leash access will begin at 3 p.m., one hour earlier than the current cut-off time of 4 p.m.
Stewardship Chair Suzanne McGinn notes, "Getting through the darkness of shorter winter daylight hours is hard enough without having the additional worry of trying to fit in an off-leash dog walk before sunset." Robinson Woods II off-leash hours and all other property rules remain unchanged, and dog walkers are reminded to clean up after their dogs.
The full list of the rules can be viewed on our website.
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A Warm Welcome to Katye Charette
 CELT is very pleased to welcome our new Membership and Development Manager Katye Charette. Katye comes to us from her previous position as Communications Manager at Efficiency Maine and a prior position as the Executive Director of the U.S. Green Building Council, Maine Chapter. Katye's experience and enthusiasm are both welcome additions to the CELT team and we are looking forward to having her meet more of our supporters - so please stop in to say hello.
As a Cape resident, Katye is already familiar with CELT and many of our properties - she even has a CELT bumper sticker already on her car. Katye's son, Owen, is a third grader at Pond Cove.
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Come See Award Winning Film, "Growing Local", Nov. 4th
The Thomas Memorial Library on November 4th (7 p.m.) will be screening a highly acclaimed and informative film about some of the current challenges facing Maine's agricultural economy.
A collaboration between Maine Farmland Trust and Seedlight Pictures, "Growing Local
 " highlights the passions and the pitfalls of the local food movement, as well as the uncertain fate of our farmers and our precious farmlands.
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The film features three short vignettes: "Seeding A Dream," "Pig Not Pork," and "Changing Hands." Each focuses on a different challenge facing our food producers, and points toward possible solutions. A discussion will follow, featuring three Cape Elizabeth farmers. There is no charge to attend and samples of local produce, courtesy of the Cape Farm Alliance, will be provided. View a trailer of the
film here.
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Here's How to Differentiate Fox Species
Recently someone sent me a photo of a fox asking. "Is this a red or gray fox?" In Cape Elizabeth, we're lucky enough to see both species. The tricky thing is, a gray fox can look kind of reddish, and a red fox can look kind of grayish. So it's actually a bit difficult to tell these two species apart. This chart may help:
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Species
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Red Fox
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Gray Fox
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Scientific name
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Vulpes vulpes
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Urocyon cinereoargenteus
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Size
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Largest fox species in North America. Height: 45 to 90 cm, and the weight can vary from 5-30 lbs. Females are ~20% smaller than males.
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50 to 70 cm, and the bodyweight is about 8-15 lbs. Females only a little smaller than males.
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Body Type
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Slender and elongated
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Compact
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Tail
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Half of body length or more, usually white-tipped. Also look for "black booties" on their feet.
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Long and bushy with black coloration
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Diet
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Omnivorous
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Omnivorous, but mostly plant-based
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Behavior
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Highly social
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Active at night
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Adaptations
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Binocular vision, excellent runners, as well as good swimmers
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Gray foxes often climb trees using their strong claws
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Habitat
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Widespread. They like a mix of habitat, and are comfortable walking out in the open, along edges of fields.
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More restricted in their range. They like hardwood or mixed-wood forest. More territorial.
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Predators
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Coyotes, humans
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Bobcats, coyotes, humans
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Seeing gray foxes used to be a rarity, but their range is expanding northward. Some naturalists hypothesize this is due to climate change.
CELT has recently acquired a new taxidermy mount of a gray fox, which will join the current red fox in residence at the Pond Cove Media Center, so now students will be able to compare both species. If you'd like to learn more about species found in Cape Elizabeth, please join us at our annual meeting on November 1st. John Greene will be sharing photos and videos of rarely seen mammals, including a tree-climbing gray fox! - Erika Rhile, CELT Education Committee Chair
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The Doffie Project, an Innovative Way to Give
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Reflections by Dorothy "Doffie" Arnold
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There are so many great ways to support our work. This week Major Donor Sara Lennon made a donation to CELT through The Doffie Project,
www.doffie.com. The Doffie Project is named for Dorothy "Doffie" Arnold, a prolific and award-winning artist, whose family established the project to further their matriarch's commitment to and enthusiasm for the transformative power of the arts by making a vast selection of her art available for purchase.
All profit from each sale goes to the buyer's choice of organizations doing valuable work for the community.
Thank you, Sara, for your generous gift and for introducing us to the Doffie Project. Are you aware of other innovative ways to give? Please let us know!
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From Our Executive Director...
On a Personal Note
My twelve and a half years at CELT (over 25,000 hours!) have been a most rewarding chapter in my professional life, but alas it is time to move on to other challenges and other opportunities. I will always cherish the memories of the camaraderie and generosity of so many people who have passed through our office, joined us on the trails with tools in hand, and who shared their stories, talents,
 and passion for the local land conservation work we do here at CELT.
In many ways our work is akin to building a house together. The foundation was laid long before my arrival and our 'house' is now in great shape. There are, for sure, additions that still need to be built but I am proud of the work we've done and truly feel that this community and those involved with CELT will continue this great work without missing a beat.
I feel very fortunate to have been welcomed into this community and to have worked alongside some truly wonderful people. Fortunately the properties (and people) will still be here for a long time to come and I look forward to reuniting with both!
All my best,
Chris Franklin
Executive Director
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