After three years of intense effort, the former Friedman Field Station in Edmunds on Cobscook Bay will reopen. The Center for Ecological Teaching and Learning (CETL), the organization that bought the property in 2019, will start this summer to offer what it hopes are many years of programming and educational opportunities for everyone, young and old. Its mission is embodied by a Native American proverb, "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."
      "This center has as its mission to be a place where learners of all ages can experience the wonders of this place while they study ecology, create community and remember themselves as one species in a vast and diverse ecosystem," says CETL Vice President Coleen O'Connell.
      The Robert S. Friedman Field Station has a renowned reputation. As part of Boston's Suffolk University curriculum, the site was used by undergraduate students for their field study. Since 1968 it has supported nature based educational programs for teachers and students and was host to many natural science research projects.
      For O'Connell the place was the epicenter for her own program while on the faculty at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. "I founded the M.S. degree in ecological teaching and learning program in 1999," says O'Connell. "The graduate program was launched each summer with a three-week field immersion program in the Cobscook Bay bioregion. We called the Friedman Field Station in Edmunds our home for 20 years. I worked and taught there every summer for 20 years."
      Named after Suffolk University biology department chair Robert Friedman, who provided the initial funds to purchase the property, the 70 acre property at one time housed a wet laboratory, a dozen cabins, dining hall, acres of trails and access to coastal water for research and recreation. In 2015, the university closed the property. In 2019 a group of alumni from O'Connell's program returned to the field station to reminisce. They sat around the campfire telling stories of what this place meant to each of them and what, perhaps, it could become again.
      Since that meeting around the campfire, much has happened. A group of 15 people purchased the property in 2019, established a board of directors and quickly determined what could and could not be saved. "After 46 years Suffolk University had sold off everything that could be moved -- the kitchen sink, the chairs, the pots and pans, the lab equipment, the cabins," says O'Connell. "When we bought it, it was very much in an unusable condition. We have been busy the last two years prioritizing, raising money, building relationships and partnerships and stewarding this beautiful place." The group closed on the purchase in February 2020 just prior to the pandemic. With life on pause for many, CETL volunteers continued with restoration projects.
      The essence of this place for O'Connell and others is not only its geographic location but its Downeast ecosystem that has been giving back over eons. "The Cobscook Bay ecosystem is a unique ecosystem and the experiences with the natural world here are profound -- whether it is tidepooling, the incredible clarity of the night sky or the drumming of the ruffed grouse in the forest," says O'Connell. "It is all to be savored and learned from."
      What motivates CETL volunteers to see this project through? "Love of the land, love of our mission, commitment to this place as a learning, restorative, deeply spiritual environment," says O'Connell. "The people who support CETL know the value of living and learning in the natural world. They know that it is the key to a future that is viable and sustainable. They know that until you have a deep experience with a place, you will not have the love and motivation to protect it."
      Fundraising is a continuous job, O'Connell admits, but one the group believes is sustainable. "Our funding has come from our vast circle of friends and supporters from across the country via private donations," says O'Connell. "We are planning on signing a conservation easement with Maine Coast Heritage Trust within the next month, and the money from the easement will almost pay off our purchase loans."

The Indigenous way is the way
      A major part of CETL's philosophy is recognition and respect for Indigenous peoples, their beliefs and approach to stewardship of the planet. One group active in supporting CETL is EcoSattvas Downeast. The Pembroke-based environmental group, spearheaded by Diane Fitzgerald and formed in 2017, is inspired by the example of the "bodhisattva" -- someone compassionately dedicated to relieving the suffering of the world. Since last fall, EcoSattvas Downeast has been focusing on the topic of "decolonizing conservation," says Fitzgerald. "The history of conservation has a troubled record of forcing people, especially Indigenous people, off their land. Decolonizing conservation recognizes the rights of local communities, including Indigenous peoples, who have been better stewards of biodiversity. Protecting nature does not mean kicking people out, but rather ensuring that wild areas are used sustainably."
      While lobbying for tribal sovereignty to provide Passamaquoddy tribal members access to clean water and opposition to a potential mining operation in Pembroke, Fitzgerald learned about CETL. "We learned that CETL is committed to acknowledging and honoring the sovereign people of the Wabanaki Confederacy as part of their environmental stewardship of the land they purchased," says Fitzgerald. "As we emerge from the restrictions of the pandemic, we are looking forward to coming together in person, getting our hands dirty, and helping to further CETL's mission to serve the ecological community in which we live."
      "We tell the truth about the taking of Indigenous land by settlers from Europe," says O'Connell. "We are engaging in the deep and complex history of Indigenous and settler relationships with the intention of CETL being a healing ground for Native and non Native communities."
      CETL believes its ecological mission is one of decolonization and decapitalization, that humans are just one species in the vastness of creation rather than at the top, in charge of it all. "Indigenous people have always known this," says O'Connell. "Their spirituality rests on the interconnected truths of living together in a circle of life -- giving and taking." She notes that once the restorative phase is completed, their intent is to create pathways for Native and non Native conversations to occur.
      "During the 20 years I was teaching in the graduate program, I always included experiences with local Passamaquoddy people," says O'Connell. "For the last 10 years, the relationship with the late Fredda Paul was a cherished experience. Fredda, as a traditional Passamaquoddy medicine healer, spent time teaching us the local native plants and their uses for healing." This summer CETL will be launching the Fredda Paul medicine trail. The trail will move through the various ecotones of the property giving attention to the native plants that Paul gathered each year to make medicine.

Summer programs offered
      With its focus firmly rooted in education, arts, research and land preservation, CETL will provide field research opportunities for other organizations and a number of family camp programs slated for July and August. In addition, there is a volunteer work week planned for Friday, May 27, through Sunday, June 5. The center currently includes three rental cabins, tent sites, a large dining hall/group space, a screened house for outdoor gatherings and shared bathrooms.
      "Children and adults in our family camps will come away with a certificate in feral science, a fun way to experience the wild for a week," says O'Connell. "They will find crabs in the tide pools, discover animal tracks in the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, identify constellations in the night sky, witness carnivorous plants in the bogs, observe beaver at work at dusk, and locate birds and their calls as well as engaging in many artistic expressions from poetry to nature printing. Shared stories around a campfire will top off each day."
      For those needing a hammock, good food, silence, rest and meaningful conversations with some great exercise and meditative times, there is a Wellness/Restorative Week from Sunday, August 14, through Friday, August 19. And for shorefront landowners looking to protect rockweed from being illegally harvested, there will be two workshops funded by Downeast Coastal Conservancy. Dates will be announced.
      For additional information on how one might get involved as a volunteer or contributor, summer programming sign up and schedules and other recreational opportunities go to www.cetlmaine.org.