“Maine Creatures Great & Small” lecture series is a collaboration between Kennebec Estuary Land Trust and Midcoast Conservancy. The four-part series looks at four organisms important to our state’s aquatic habitats.

In honor of the International Year of the Salmon, the first talk is on Atlantic Salmon, Wednesday, June 12 at 4 p.m. in Whitefield at the Sheepscot General Store. Attendees will learn about the recovery of endangered Atlantic salmon locally and globally with Maranda Nemeth of Midcoast Conservancy and Dr. Stephen Sutton and Andrew Goode of Atlantic Salmon Federation. This talk is sponsored by Inter-Fluve, a river restoration and water resources engineering company.

On Tuesday July 23 at 6:30 p.m. at the Freight Shed in Bath, the topic will be the Great Blue Heron. Attendees will get a glimpse into the interesting lives of great blue herons and the Heron Observation Network of Maine with Danielle D’Auria, wildlife biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Phytoplankton and Red Tide will headline the talk on Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Freight Shed in Bath. Listeners will be introduced the wonders of phytoplankton, including information on their types, impacts, and distribution in the Gulf of Maine and across the globe with Dr. Jelena Godrijan, a scientist at Bigelow Laboratory; and Bryant Lewis, from the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

The final lecture, sponsored by The Waldo Theatre, will focus on the American Eel in September, date yet to be determined, in Waldoboro at Bug Tussle. American eels are a fascinating species that migrates between the freshwater rivers and the sea. Speakers will include Dr. Gail Wippelhauser, from Maine Department of Marine Resources; and Abden Simmons, Commercial Shellfish Harvester and chairman of Waldoboro Shellfish Commission.

For more information visit www.midcoastconservancy.org and www.kennebecestuary.org