The 7th and 8th grade students began their hike at Machias River Preserve on a cool damp morning by meeting DCC’s Outreach Director Cathy Lookabaugh. After an introduction about DCC, Cathy gave the group an initial task to hunt for evidence of animals as we started down the trail. Quickly the students found tracks of White-tailed deer amongst the human footprints in the muddy trail and heard sounds of birds calling in the distance. When we reached the river’s edge, we took our first break while DCC Vice President, Robin Pinto, explained to the students the history of the Machias River. Continuing down the trail, we spotted more white-tailed deer evidence with a mysterious pile of white hairs in the middle of trail. Students hypothesized that this area was a deer resting spot, where it hunkered down overnight. Soon we stopped along the Homestead Trail for a vernal pool activity. We searched the forested landscape and along the stream with nets borrowed from the Washington County 4-H Extension and found a Northern Red-backed Salamander, eggs masses belonging to a Spotted Salamander, and several stream invertebrates. Unfortunately, a big frog just escaped the net of student Carlos and despite continual searching for this frog, it was not seen again. However not all was lost! The day concluded with another history lesson studying the old homestead and our 200-year-old Elm tree before enjoying lunch back down by the river.
