PLAN YOUR visit

Join us for a memorable summer adventure! Our beautiful 70-acre campus includes nine rental cabins, tent sites, a large dining hall/group space, a screen house for outdoor gatherings, and shared bathrooms.

Looking for a new site in Downeast Maine for a place-based learning experience, field course, or scientific research? Educators and their families are invited to join us for a complementary two-night stay at the Center for Ecological Teaching and Learning.

CETL provides the perfect setting for a diverse array of educational programs, including biology field research, creative writing retreats, and team-building adventures. Scientists will be available to help you plan a field course or research.

Lodging

Reserve a cabin, RV pad, or pitch a tent in our field.

food

Bring your own food and use our cooking facilities. Our food prep facilities include an outdoor grill and fire pit and a fully stocked kitchen in the dining hall (refrigerator, microwave, dishes, coffee pot, etc.).

Reach out to team@cetlmaine.org to find out about availability and plan your visit.

What is Family Camp?

Parents, grandparents, children, singles, people of all ages come together for a fun, educational week immersed in the beauty of the shores of Cobscook Bay. We welcome family any way you define it.

What’s included?

Three meals per day, tent site or cabin, and lots of Maine wilderness adventures. Register early to reserve a cabin.

Adventure awaits!

Immerse yourself in the natural environment, learning about the nested systems in which we live. You may find yourself discovering a hermit crab while tidepooling, finding moose tracks on the trail, picking out constellations in the night sky, measuring seaweed growth in the intertidal zone, identifying bird calls, learning to owl call, drawing, printing and nature journaling to document your learning, identifying trees and plants, and telling our stories of encounters with the natural world around a nightly campfire. Join us!

Camp Rates:

Adult (over 18 years): Cabin: $600 per person Tent: $500 per person

Child (3-17 years): Cabin: $350 per person Tent: $300 per person

Child under 3: Free

A $200 nonrefundable deposit per family is required at the time of registration.

Camp scholarships are available. As we work towards equity and inclusion for all, we understand that these rates may not be within all budgets. If needed, fill out the application with a note at the end including the amount that you are able to contribute per person. Your deposit payment will not be due until after your support application has been reviewed.

Get ready for a creative adventure on Maine’s wild and wonderful Bold Coast! Join us for a week-long nature printing workshop inspired by the beauty around you. Leading the week is Coleen O’Connell—International Nature Printing Society member and all-around nature-printing enthusiast.

This isn’t your typical workshop. There are no formal instructors—just a vibrant gathering of artists, experimenting with techniques and learning from each other. Our schedule is intentionally relaxed, balancing studio creativity with coastal adventure. We’ll spend some time printing, then wander off to hike rugged coastal trails, search for marine treasures in tide pools, visit historic lighthouses, or even hop over the border to Canada and explore Roosevelt Campobello International Park.

Early June weather can be unpredictable—cool, beautiful, and yes… full of black flies—so pack accordingly. This is an adults-only program. Please consider family camp for nature printing with kids.

Workshop Fees

$600 per person includes a shared cabin and meals. $50 materials fee for those who need supplies. You may bring your own if you prefer. A $200 nonrefundable deposit is required at the time of registration.

Join us for a week of field recording and camaraderie in and around Cobscook Bay. At the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, Cobscook Bay’s nutrient-rich waters surge over extensive mudflats twice daily with its 20-ft tides. The spruce-fir forests, rocky cliffs, cobble beaches, bogs, and barrens are located where the boreal and temperate zones meet. Cold waters meet land and create frequent fog, a common atmospheric condition here in late spring and early summer. The wide range of habitats at this latitudinal crossroads is home to a diversity of plants and animals, some in their northern-most or southern-most range limits. Combine all this with large undeveloped tracts of land, and you have a region of great natural appeal especially to those interested in listening to and recording natural sounds.

We will take a participant-centered approach to workshops during the gathering – with a special weeklong learning track for new recordists led by seasoned natural sound recordists Laura Sebastianelli and Laura Gooch. Experienced recordists will be asked to consider sharing their expertise on a topic of their choosing (for example recording bird song, ambient soundscapes, processing stereo or binaural recordings, etc.) or giving a brief presentation about their work. We anticipate early mornings to be spent recording, mid-day for a combination of rest, workshops and/or time for processing recordings, evenings will include critical listening sessions and participant presentations.

Equipment

Participants are expected to bring their own recording equipment and batteries. Sharing to experiment with different equipment is encouraged. 

For those new to sound recording and who are taking the beginner’s workshop, there is some recording equipment (digital recorders, shotgun mics, and a parabola) available for loan on a first-come first-served basis. You must indicate this when you register and we will let you know if you can be accommodated).

Early Arrival & Related Activities

The timing of this gathering is designed to follow the annual Downeast Birding Festival, hosted by the Cobscook Institute during Memorial Day weekend. For recordists interested in scouting local bird life, we highly recommend attending this festival both for fun and as a “scouting opportunity”.  If you would like housing at CETL for the festival, the cost is $50 per person, per night. Note: Meals are not provided during this early arrival period, but you are welcome to store and prepare your own food in the dining hall kitchen.

Fees

$600 per person includes attendance, all meals, lodging in a twin bed in shared rustic cabins, and access to the bathhouse and dining hall/meeting spaces. A $200 nonrefundable deposit is required at the time of registration.

We’d love to have you join us to help us get ready for the summer season. You can choose a project that suits you, whether it’s weeding and planting, cleaning and organizing, clearing trails, or painting and carpentry. We so appreciate all the work that our volunteers have done. You all have really made CETL come to life! Work is ongoing, so please join us this year. Come for a day, or stay overnight in a tent or a cabin. Fill out the interest form below, and we’ll get back to you soon.