Q&A: Laura Sewall on 11 years as Bates–Morse Mountain director – News

Q&A: Laura Sewall on 11 years as Bates–Morse Mountain director

Professor of Geology Beverly Johnson uses a sediment elevation table to measure the height of the Sprague River Salt Marsh, part of the Bates–Morse Mountain Conservation Area..These data are used to measure the response of the marsh to rising sea level and storm activity, Johnson says. Four years ago, she and her Short Term geology students traveled to the Sprague, where they placed rods deep in the marsh as benchmarks to measure future changes.Show with Laura Sewall (in garnet baseball cap), Harward Center for Community Partnerships, Director of Bates Morse Mountain Conservation Area, and Vanessa Paolella '21 of Dingmen's Ferry, Pa., who has been working with Johnson on geology research over the summer.Also present: Clailre Enterline (in green shirt and blue baseball cap), Research Coordinator with the Maine Coastal Program. And (not in selects but wearing a blue baseball cap and blue shirt) Ellen Bartow-Gieelie, Coastal Fellow with the Maine Coastal Program.

Sewall shares takeaways from the conservation area, including the role of “blue carbon,” the toll of climate change, and the value in letting nature take its course.