For more than a decade, Midcoast Stewards Program alumni have been contributing time, energy, ideas and enthusiasm to conservation organizations throughout Midcoast Maine. ,

“I am a good example of the impact of Midcoast Stewards on one person,” Peggy Drake, a Midcoast Stewards program alumna said. “I took the class a year after we moved here ... and now I'm the president of PWA. That program had a huge effect on me.”

Midcoast Stewards Program alumni have provided more than 4,000 hours of volunteer service to a variety of conservation projects throughout Midcoast Maine over the past nine years. The program, coordinated by the Damariscotta River Association and co-sponsored by the Maine Coastal Program, provides participants with the knowledge they need to work towards protecting and conserving their coastal environment. It also creates a network of educated and committed volunteers working together to protect the natural and cultural resources of Midcoast Maine.

“The Midcoast Stewards Program was an amazing experience, opening up to me the deep culture and history of the area, as well as the plants and animals that thrive in the Damariscotta estuary and beyond,” DRA board member and an alum of the 2013 Midcoast Stewards Program Bob Barkalow of Newcastle said. “The ‘classroom’ for most of the course was outdoors, from Damariscotta Lake to a Jefferson gravel pit to Monhegan Island. This program is a tremendous bargain that truly deepened my understanding and appreciation for the Midcoast environment.”

Midcoast Stewards Program participants learn directly from professionals in a variety of organizations during the course, including local land trust leaders and scientists from the Darling Marine Center, the Maine Department of Marine Resources, and the Maine Geological Survey. Class format includes lectures and discussions as well as many field trips and hands-on experiences. After completing the course, participants commit to “giving back” a minimum of 40 hours of volunteer service to the protection of Midcoast Maine's natural and cultural resources over the next year with a conservation organization of their choice. Volunteer projects have included helping with events, serving on boards and committees, building trails, monitoring horseshoe crabs and a wide variety of other types of service.

The 40-hour curriculum includes coastal ecology, Wabanaki material culture, geologic history, sustainable fisheries management, birds, water quality monitoring, estuarine studies and much more. This year, the Midcoast Stewards Program will meet April 14 through May 26 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 to 8 p.m., as well as a few Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The program application deadline is April 3. The materials fee for the 40-hour course is $100 payable to the Damariscotta River Association. Limited scholarships are available. Applications and the program brochure can be obtained by contacting the DRA.

For more information call 207-563-1393, email dra@damariscottariver.org, or view its website at www.damariscottariver.org.