It's the Grand Opening of Project Puffin Visitor Center in Rockland!

ROCKLAND, Maine, Summer 2006

Robert Skoglund, “humble Farmer” radio personality, to host puffin-calling contest as part of festivities Saturday, July 1

Audubon’s new Project Puffin Visitor Center will host a grand opening day on Saturday, July 1 featuring a ribbon-cutting ceremony with a human-size puffin and all-day activities that include a puffin-calling contest hosted by Maine radio personality Robert “humble Farmer” Skoglund. It promises to be a memorable day for children, families, and anyone who joins in the fun.

A joint project of the National Audubon Society and Maine Audubon, Project Puffin Visitor Center, located at 311 Main Street in Rockland, offers visitors an easy-access storefront center to learn about Audubon's Project Puffin and other seabird-conservation projects in Maine, and to find out where and how to see Maine birds and other wildlife.

Among the center’s diverse retail products and educational exhibits is a continuous, big-screen Web broadcast of real-time images and sounds of puffins transmitted by a robotic on-island “puffin cam” that visitors can operate remotely from the center.

“We hope our visitors will enjoy themselves at the center and gain a greater appreciation of the birds that live out on the oceans,” said Dr. Stephen Kress, founder and director of 33-year-old Project Puffin. The project restored puffin colonies that had disappeared in Maine—the only place the birds nest in the United States—and continues seabird restoration work on Gulf of Maine islands.

“For Audubon, the center represents the possibilities of a new phase of public support for the conservation of seabirds and other wildlife,” Kress said. “Visitors to the center will leave understanding that these birds are depending on people to take action to ensure seabirds’ survival worldwide.”

In advance of July 1, children and adults are invited to write a poem about puffins and send it to puffpete@clinic.net by June 29. Selected poems will be read aloud and posted at the visitor center as part of grand opening festivities.

A schedule of grand opening day is as follows:

• 9 a.m.-noon, at the pocket park on the corner of Park and Main streets: Bring kids and cameras to meet “Captain Puffin,” Downeast Energy’s super-size puffin.

• 9:30 a.m., at the park: Project Puffin director Dr. Steve Kress and other guests will speak briefly before joining a half-block “puffin parade” to the visitor center.

• 10 a.m., at the visitor center, 311 Main St: Ribbon-cutting with huge scissors.

• 10:30-3 p.m., tour the visitor center: See live puffins on streaming video, climb into the puffin burrow, and meet special guests such as nature photographer Bill Scholtz and award-winning wildlife documentary filmmaker Dan Breton, whose short film Project Puffin you can then watch.

• 11 a.m., at the park: First-ever Maine puffin-calling contest hosted by Maine radio-show host and St. George resident Robert “Humble Farmer” Skoglund.

• 11:30-noon, 12:30 p.m.-1 p.m., 2:30 p.m.-3 p.m., at the park: Fun activities with environmental educators Seabird Sue and Puffin Pete. Make masks, mobiles  and more.

For more information about the day or the center, please call (207) 596-5566.

Packed with interactive exhibits for people of all ages, Project Puffin Visitor Center features:

• Real-time “puffin cam” images and sounds of puffins and other seabirds from remote Matinicus Rock, 22 miles south of Rockland;
• A 15-minute award-winning documentary film, Project Puffin, about exceptional people taking action to bring puffins and other seabirds back to the Maine coast;
• A display of seabird art and photography and a gift shop featuring nature-related books, videos and clothing as well as information about Audubon's work in Maine;
• Schedules and other information about seabird-watching boat tours to Maine islands and One-day Adventures and residential programs for youth and adults at Audubon’s historic Hog Island, where Project Puffin was conceived in midcoast Maine; and
• Interactive maps and exhibits highlighting Audubon's conservation work on Maine seabird islands, and facts about wildlife conservation, seabird adaptations, bird-band reading and birds' life histories.

In addition to support from Audubon, local businesses and private donors, the visitor center has received a grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund. State and local organizations and agencies advising the Project Puffin Visitor Center include: the Farnsworth Art Museum, Friends of Maine Seabird Islands, Island Institute, Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and the Rockland-Thomaston Chamber of Commerce.

AUDUBON is dedicated to protecting birds and other wildlife and the habitat that supports them. Our national network of community-based nature centers and chapters, scientific and educational programs, and advocacy on behalf of areas sustaining important bird populations, engage millions of people of all ages and backgrounds in conservation.

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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PROJECT PUFFIN and to see online images taken by the camera at Matinicus Rock, please visit www.projectpuffin.org.

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