After taking a break last summer due COVID-19 concerns, we are pleased to announce that the MAI Summer Ecology Lecture Series will be returning and offerred virtually this summer. More information about how to attend will be provided a few weeks before each talk.

7/7/2021  William Livingston – Dr. Livingston hales from the University of Maine, where he has served as Associate Director for Undergraduate Education and Associate Professor of Forest Resources.  He has been to the island before to survey our forest a number of years ago.  At the moment, he plans to return in June to walk the forests and examine what is going on. It is my understanding that he will share what he finds for his talk and possibly link his observations to what he has seen earlier.

7/21/2021-  Nathaniel Wheelwright will talk about being a naturalist in the digital age. He has worked at Bowdoin College as a Professor of Natural Sciences in the Bowdoin Biology department. He is also the author, along with Bernd Heinrich, of The Naturalist’s Notebook

8/4/2021 – Whitney King is a faculty member of Colby College. he has conducted research on Allen Island and will be discussing that work. Allen Island is one of the George’s Islands that you pass on the right on our way down from Port Clyde on the Monhegan boat line.

8/18/2021 – Sarah Redmonds the founder of Springtide Seaweed which is devoted to seaweed aquaculture. Her company grows organic seaweed as well as consults on seaweed farming technology and products.

Tomorrow night professor Barry Logan from Bowdoin College will be giving a talk about the Monhegan Wildlands at the Cathance River Educational Alliance in Topsham, ME. The talk is available free to the public via Zoom, see link provided to register: https://creamaine.org/event/the-wildlands-of-monhegan-island/

VIEW A VIDEO RECORDING OF THE TALK HERE

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM THE MONHEGAN COVID-19 TASK FORCE

Because of the restrictions on gatherings in the state of Maine and on Monhegan because of the Covid-19 Virus, the annual membership meeting of the Monhegan Associates Inc.  will be held as a ZOOM meeting. The meeting will start promptly at 7:00 PM EDST on August 21, 2020, and will last until about 9:00 PM.

If you are in a household with more than one member attending, please attend together to leave room for everyone. 

We will have a number of legal requirements to get through as quickly as possible (committee reports, etc.) But we do want to get time at the end for open discussion of the membership where we will field questions about the Associates and have open discussion. In general we will have everyone muted except those designated to speak and will be taking requests for speaking through the chat window, which we will explain at the meeting when it is time. 

Thanks in advance for your patience as we do this online for the first time ever!

Frederick W. Faller, President MAI

Here’s the Zoom link.

If you are on Monhegan for an extensive stay this season and would like to get involved, consider participating in our “Adopt-a-Trail” program. Weekly trail work by short-term visitors has been put on hold this summer to minimize COVID-19 transmission, but work is still needed to keep trails passable for regular use and for emergencies.

Contact info@monheganassociates.org if interested.

For information on the five nominees for the next class of trustees:

Trustee Nominations 2020

Exciting News!

Monhegan based chocolate makers La Nef Chocolate just came out with a Monhegan Associates Inc. bar. The bar is 70% Cacao Honduran Dark Chocolate with Peanuts and Dried Cherries. A portion of all sales will go to support our efforts to preserve the 350 acres and 9+ miles of trails that make up Monhegan’s wild lands.

The package features the photography of Warner Taylor and can be purchased through La Nef’s website (https://www.lanefchocolate.com/) and here on the island (when once again it is safe again to travel).

Thank you La Nef Chocolate for your support!

FROM THE MONHEGAN COVID-19 TASK FORCE
Effective Immediately, in response to the recent Novel Coronavirus Outbreak:
The Monhegan COVID-19 Task Force asks that all persons planning to travel to Monhegan please be aware that from March 20th through April 1st the Monhegan Boatline is following the recommendation given by Maine State Governor Mills to limit groups to 10 persons or less. Please call the Monhegan Boatline ahead of your arrival date to make a RESERVATION. Tickets will be available on a first come, first serve basis.
• ALL PERSONS ARRIVING ON MONHEGAN ISLAND ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO SELF-QUARANTINE FOR 14 DAYS UPON ARRIVAL.
• PLEASE PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING OF 6 FEET WHILE ON MONHEGAN.
• MANY MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY ARE ALREADY IN SELF-ISOLATION OR SELF-QUARANTINE.
• PLEASE WORK WITH US TO HELP PREVENT COVID-19 FROM BECOMING A COMMUNITY TRANSMITTED ILLNESS.
Monhegan has extremely limited emergency response resources.
• There is NO licensed health care provider or advanced emergency care on the island. There are only a small number of volunteers trained to basic first aid & wilderness first aid levels.
• There is NO stockpile of personal protective equipment, sanitation products, thermometers, hygiene products, or provisions.
• There is NO public water supply until mid-April.
For more information go to Monhegan Plantation website to view “COVID19 Resources”:

Greetings, Monhegan Associates trustees, committee members, and friends:
As many of you know, I’m on the island every fall with a butterfly net discovering more about Monhegan’s biodiversity, and tagging Monarchs in the interest of conservation. This fall, starting in earnest on Friday, a few colleagues and I hope to tag more than 200 Monarchs on the island. It means that you’ll be seeing a few of us netting Monarchs — notably at Lobster Cove, at hotspots on the eastern side, and along roadsides. I’m particularly interested in the fate of late-season Monarchs along the New England coast; this tagging will help us learn.
For the most part, our efforts are welcomed by islanders and visitors. But as I understand it, on a few occasions, a Monarch tagger has been reprimanded in no uncertain terms about catching butterflies on the island. To be sure, none of us have any intention to visit private property for this work without permission. But this activity is perfectly legal in Maine — and most everywhere across the continent. So if you might help spread the word, perhaps we can avoid any awkward confrontations as we go about this wonderful citizen-research over the next couple of weeks.
If anyone has questions, please send them my way. Thanks!
Warm regards,— Bryan Pfeiffer
P.S. An essay and a few other links related to Monhegan Monarchs: https://bryanpfeiffer.com/2018/10/25/butterflies-and-joy/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ www.bryanpfeiffer.com~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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