Volunteering Is a Family Affair at Great Oaks Wilderness Sanctuary

The Michauds are a family attuned to the wild.

“Wilderness means the textures and smells we experience while out on a hike,” said parents Dan and Teresa and their daughter Emma. “It means the many sounds we hear—from owls and loons to frogs and coyotes—while sitting out on our front porch under the stars at night. I appreciate that we can walk through the woods at any point throughout the year and observe nature the way it was meant to be, knowing that it will be like this forever.”

When the family moved into their new home in southwestern Maine, they began looking for ways to fuse this affinity for the natural world with their penchant for community service. Dan and Teresa thought that volunteering together with their daughter at Northeast Wilderness Trust’s (NEWT) nearby Great Oaks Wilderness Sanctuary would be an ideal way to combine these two interests.

“We recently moved from Connecticut and built a home in Parsonsfield,” they said. “We learned that Northeast Wilderness Trust owns land very close to our property and along the banks of the pond which we enjoy recreationally. We’ve always loved the outdoors, observing nature, and tracking and photographing animals.”

Community Conservation in Action

Great Oaks is one of 18 Maine properties monitored by Becky Clough, NEWT’s Northern New England Stewardship Manager. With a combined total of roughly 57,000 acres across Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire under her watch, she has a lot of ground to cover. So when families like the Michauds offer to lend a hand, she is grateful—and leaps at the opportunity to foster relationships with local communities and spread the word about wilderness conservation.

“The size of NEWT’s Maine preserves can make it difficult for me to get to know our neighbors. Our increasing acreage in the state also means my list of stewardship projects is always getting longer,” Clough said. “That’s why it’s such a pleasure to meet folks like the Michauds, who were not only excited to learn more about NEWT’s wilderness vision, but had the time, tools, and commitment to help make the land a bit wilder as well.”

Person in kayak towing wood from an old shed

For the Michauds, their engagement with Great Oaks took the form of collecting and disposing of debris, or what NEWT’s stewards call “trammel removal.” They carted out waste from an old dock on West Pond and dismantled a dilapidated shed atop one of the property’s hills. Though these might not seem like particularly glamorous tasks, they are a critical part of how NEWT stewards accelerate the rewilding process by removing vestiges of human influence on the land. And for Dan, Teresa, and Emma, trammel removal was a part of their festivities.

Because of the dock’s location, we needed to get there by kayak, which was a fun adventure. West Pond was so peaceful and quiet in springtime. Additionally, while working at the shed on the hill, we enjoyed the always-changing views of Mount Washington. We even created an accent wall in our newly built home using only reclaimed wood from the shed. — Dan, Teresa, and Emma Michaud

Alongside the fun, the time together at the Preserve allowed the Michauds to bond over a shared dedication to conservation values. “As parents we want our children to appreciate the same things we do, and we want our children to follow in our footsteps when it comes to our values,” Dan and Teresa said. “We are fortunate to have the opportunity to protect land that is so close to our family’s home, and to pass those values on to the next generation.”

The Michauds’ experience speaks to the power of wilderness preserves to bolster human bonds while cultivating reverence for wildlands. After all, NEWT’s mission is to “protect forever-wild places for Nature and people” (italics added). Great Oaks and NEWT’s other lands provide nourishment for the nonhuman and human alike, impressing upon local communities the wonders of untrammeled landscapes and the promise of forever-wild conservation.

Photography by Becky Clough, Northern New England Stewardship Manager.