This Year’s Scarborough Marsh Earth Day Clean-Up Has Special Significance

As happens each year around Earth Day, a corps of volunteers will be gathering on Saturday, April 21 at 9am at Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center to help clean up and prepare us for another epic summer season. Maine Audubon hosts this annual event in conjunction with Friends of Scarborough Marsh and the Town of Scarborough.

As always, it promises to be rewarding work cleaning up the Marsh — and a lot of fun. Refreshments and coffee provided by Panera and Starbucks will fuel us through the morning. We’re also partnering with Project G.R.A.C.E. to collect nonperishable food and gift cards, so please feel free to bring a donation along with you to the event.

This year is special. For one thing, it is the 45th anniversary of the Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center. We will be celebrating this milestone throughout the summer with a series of great events, starting with our opening weekend extravaganza (and Snowy Egret 5k road race) in late May.

Additionally, this year is important because the Center endured some pretty serious damage during the storms we experienced this winter. Flooding has required work and replacement of floors and walls, among other things. Here are some photos to give you an idea:

The Scarborough Leader also described the damage and the recovery work we have underway in a recent article:

We’ll be working hard to get everything in tip-top shape for the formal opening next month. We’d love to have you join us. If you complete this form it will give us a sense of who will be there — but you can also just show up!

Even if you can’t make it on April 21, there are lots of ways you can help the Marsh. Be in touch with me (smac@maineaudubon.org) about these, including a range of great volunteer opportunities we have available.

Thank you — and I’ll see you at the Marsh!