Vignettes on Returning II.

On family farms in Maine. We encounter the best of what we feel we have brought home. There are collaborative energies, commitments towards betterment for our world. It is not a paradox to us at all that American ideals count on heritage passed from our family, our country, our past.

In Oxford, conservation programs have encouraged habitat for spawning trout and migrating birds, forests are conserved with accessible shared roads and trails, homes are made efficient through local government incentives. Over and over again, we hear stories of neighborhood bartering, of exchanges of services, natural bounty, knowledge and good will.

In Bowdoinham, plans are afoot to encourage pasturing of cattle and sheep. On the river in Eliot, years of monitoring may once again provide viable recreational clamming and shell fishing opportunities not known for generations.

Our country and our world are tuned to the impacts of people. We will continue to write this blog in order to provoke ongoing commitment on how travel can enhance local efforts and manifest larger global change.