Even as children across the country are becoming increasingly sedentary, efforts to get the children of coastal Washington County moving and connected with their natural environment are in full swing, thanks in part to Cobscook Shores. Since 2018, the organization has been involved in acquiring land and developing the parcels into outdoor education campuses and public parks, and in that amount of time the number of student visits to the campuses has increased tenfold.
      "It represents a big increase in the program," says Charlie Howe, director of parks for the Butler Conservation Fund, which, under the guidance of global philanthropist Gilbert Butler, oversees Cobscook Shores. Prior to the pandemic, approximately 350 student visits from elementary schools were hosted at the outdoor campuses, with programming resuming slowly in 2022. For 2023 the program is on pace for 3,000 student visits, and next year the number is expected to be even more.
      The Cobscook Shores system is not without its critics, most of whom point to the organization's nonprofit status and its associated lack of tax contributions for the approximately 1,300 acres it now owns around the county. Donations have been made to the tax rolls of some towns, however, including $17,000 to Lubec in 2021, and Howe asserts that the public parks drive tourist dollars to the area.
      The benefit to area students is much harder to quantify, but when it comes to creating meaningful experiences and teaching lasting skills, Cobscook Shores is clearly at the top of its game.
      Students from virtually every school around Cobscook Bay -- including Lubec, Perry, Pembroke, Sipayik, Charlotte, Edmunds, Eastport and six more -- have participated in a Cobscook Shores program of some kind. The youngest students, those in grades K-1, explore the intertidal zone and go on snowshoeing adventures. Older students learn to ski, bike, kayak and canoe.
      "For some kids, it's their first time biking," says Howe, who estimates 20% of students have never biked before coming to the campuses at Cobscook Shores. The number is much higher for snowshoeing, skiing and paddling boats.
      The students are assisted on each outing by fully trained guides and supervisors from the schools, creating a supportive and informative environment. As a result, they learn quickly. "The guides are very professional, the equipment is top quality, and the kids have a great time," Howe says. "That's what's important."
      "The best thing about our outings is that the Cobscook crew is prepared for us and ready to go," says Cathy Morse, a teacher at Lubec Elementary School who has accompanied her students on myriad adventures. "It takes time to gear up for some of these activities." She adds that the students' safety gear is always labeled and ready when they get there.
      Howe explains that the program is designed around the school day for each school in order to keep everything moving smoothly. "Kids get to school, get on the bus, as soon as they get off, it's boots on the ground."
      Incorporating the visits with Cobscook Shores is especially important at Lubec, where the school has not had a physical education teacher for two years. In lieu of a phys ed program, the school works in tandem with Cobscook Shores, taking advantage of the free of charge offerings that cost the nonprofit approximately $93,000 a year to operate.
      Along with the opportunity for physical education and learning the mechanics of movement, students and teachers are able to integrate lessons from the classroom, Morse says. Students might be learning about the chemistry of materials, tides and wetland ecology from their textbooks, but connecting with the concepts in person is a whole different experience.
      It's "way better [than being at school]," said Eli Murray, a fifth grade student at Lubec Elementary, during a visit to Reynold's Brook that saw the group canoeing. Murray saw beaver dams, carnivorous pitcher plants, damselflies and ducks during the hour and a half long excursion.
      Students ski and snowshoe at Hardscrabble River Preserve in Dennysville, bike at Race Point in Trescott and kayak at Reynold's Brook and the Orange River. Older students have the opportunity to try saltwater kayaking at Huckins Beach -- but only "under controlled circumstances," Howe says, noting that chase boats and personal flotation devices are always mandatory.
      Some occasions are particularly special, such as when the students from the Sipayik Elementary School were able to take out and paddle a birchbark canoe made by the late Passamaquoddy culture-bearer David Moses Bridges. "It was a very spiritual experience," says Jared Smith, one of the guides who was able to accompany the students on the trip.
      Cobscook Shores is continuing to grow with a goal of increasing its outdoor education opportunities for area students -- and expanding the offerings to high school students, tentatively starting with Shead in 2024.
      On August 31 the Butler Conservation Fund acquired 25.5 acres at Leighton Point in Pembroke for $420,000, aiming to use it primarily as a biking, snowshoeing and skiing campus. This fall, the group will install warming shelters and amenities to prepare it for usage this winter, making it ready for biking next summer. "It's a quiet, dead end road," Howe says, making it ideal for students to travel safely.
      Aside from its outdoor education campuses for area students, Cobscook Shores has opened waterfront parks around the bay over the past five years. Public parks are now open at Clark Point Preserve, Birch Islands Preserve, Whiting Bay Beach, Black Duck Cove, Brickyard Cove, Mays Brook Cove, South Bay Narrows, Federal Harbor, Morong Cove, Island Coves, Morrison Cove, Denbow Bluffs, Denbow Point, Old Farm Point, Pike Lands Cove and Weir Point.
      Each park created by Cobscook Shores includes a unique informational sign at the start, clueing in visitors to the area and what they can expect to see. Notable area sights -- such as a 200 year-old apple tree at Red Point, one of the oldest in the state -- are also indicated.
      See a map of parks available to the public at www.cobscookshores.org.