Public events now through spring 2004 will mark the 25th anniversary of Bates College's stewardship of the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area, 600 acres of land that include Maine's last undeveloped barrier beach. 

Joined by partners from the Phippsburg region, where the conservation area is located, and from Maine's environmental community, the college presents field trips, a workshop, a play and other events to celebrate its involvement with this tract comprising dunes and shore, forest, rocky upland and salt marsh. 

Serving as a nursery for juvenile fish, a haven for rare plants and birds including the least tern and piping plover, and a peaceful sanctuary for all, the conservation area is visited by Bates students and faculty, naturalists from all over and the public. People from Bates use the land as a living laboratory for research and documentation, a sort of secondary classroom for science courses and student projects.

In 1978, the St. John family deeded this land to the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area Corporation, with conservation easements held by The Nature Conservancy requiring that it be preserved in its natural condition for all time. Bates holds a 50-year lease on the land in exchange for providing stewardship.

The college is committed to preserving, protecting and gently using the area as a source of learning and inspiration. With European settlement of the land dating back to the mid-17th century, the conservation area's custodians are also working to reverse some impacts of the human presence and return parts of the land, notably the salt marshes, to their pre-Colonial state. 

Although the Bates community overall knows of the conservation area, only a moderately small percentage of students, faculty and staff know the land well. Similarly, many in the Phippsburg area may never have visited the college that lends its name to the conservation area. To more closely connect the campus and its Phippsburg friends, the anniversary series will celebrate accomplishments of the last 25 years and provide opportunities for the two communities to meet. These events will take place on campus and at the conservation area. Except as noted, all events are open to the public at no charge. Here's the schedule:

A poetry walk will include a hike to Morse Mountain and Seawall Beach with readings by writers who have been inspired by the conservation area -- among them poets Gary Lawless, Robert Chute and Robert Farnsworth. Meet at the Morse Mountain parking lot, off Route 216, at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 12.

"Protecting, Conserving, and Preserving Valued Lands" is a three-day workshop, with field trips to the BMMCA, on land-use planning. Participants include nature writer Bob Cummings, Maine Coast Heritage Trust board member Bonnie Lounsbury and Norman Richards, professor emeritus, College of Environmental Studies and Forestry, State University of New York. Dates are Wednesday, Oct. 15, to Friday, Oct. 17; please call 207-786-6078 for a workshop brochure or to register.

For the annual Philip J. Otis Lecture at Bates, nationally acclaimed poet Pattiann Rogers gives a talk titled "Life in an Expanding Universe" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22, Muskie Archives, Campus Avenue. 

Playwright-actress Kaiulani Lee performs her solo play called "A Sense of Wonder," the story of nature writer Rachel Carson's life and work, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, Bates College Chapel, College Street.

"The Impact of a Special Place: The Bates Connection to Morse Mountain" is a wide-ranging presentation and exhibit by Bates students, alumni and faculty with ties to the BMMCA, including Leah McDonald, a member of the class of 2002 who created a self-guiding nature trail, and Barbara St. John Vickery, a member of both the class of 1983 and the family that leased the land to the conservation area corporation.

It starts at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, in Bates' Schaeffer Theatre, College Avenue.

A guided hike at Morse Mountain will lead through the conservation area to Seawall Beach starting at the parking lot at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25. 

Maine Audubon Society co-sponsors a Morse Mountain hike followed by a Thanksgiving Leftover Potluck at the nearby Bates Coastal Center at Shortridge 9 a.m.-noon Sunday, Nov. 30. Fee: $10 Audubon members, $20 non-members, $5 children --please call Maine Audubon at 207-781-2330 to register.

BMMCA Director Judy Marden leads a late-morning New Year's hike or snowshoe at Morse Mountain; meet at the parking lot at 10 a.m. Sunday, January 4. 

The annual spring work-day at the conservation area takes place Saturday, April 24 (times to be announced), with volunteers from The Nature Conservancy, Maine Audubon and other friends of Morse Mountain. This day is dedicated to special projects that include putting up protective fences that help keep endangered plotting plovers safe during their nesting season.

The BMMCA anniversary series is co-sponsored by the Philip J. Otis Fund at Bates. Established by Margaret V.B. and C. Angus Wurtele, the fund commemorates their son, Philip, of the Bates class of 1995, who died attempting to rescue a climber on Mount Rainier in 1995. Otis was concerned about nurturing a sense of responsibility for the natural environment, and the annual lectureship focuses on environmental issues and the spiritual and moral dimensions of ecology.

For more information, call Judy Marden at 207-786-6078.