WRITTEN BY AISLINN SARNACKI
A growing community of nature enthusiasts is spreading throughout Maine, and their goal is simple: to share their knowledge and love of the natural world.
Founded in 2011, the Maine Master Naturalist Program offers a 10-month-long course to adult students (ages 18 and up), with topics ranging from ferns to geology to birds.
And that’s just the beginning. Upon completing the program, graduates are tasked with volunteering as educators in their communities, spreading knowledge and enthusiasm for the natural world even farther.
“It’s about layers,” said Susan Hayward, one of the program’s four founders. “That 10 months and all the layers we feed you is but a beginning. And then, as you take more advanced courses or go out and teach and learn more from other people, more layers will come along.”
Hayward and fellow Maine naturalists Dorcus Miller, Cloe Chunn, and Fred Cichocki designed the program together.
“We sat around the kitchen table and came up with a dream,” Hayward said. “The four of us were so focused on doing what we thought should be done.”
Their mission was to train people to become volunteer naturalists who would enrich nature education throughout the state. In turn, this would help inspire the public to understand, value, and protect Maine’s natural world.
The Course
Since its inception, the program has been held at over a dozen locations throughout Maine. The 2025 courses were held in Falmouth and Farmington. The 2026 courses are currently in Augusta and Millinocket. The 2027 course will be in Wells. (If you’re interested in applying, mark your calendar for Sept. 1.) And, looking ahead, the 2028 course will be in the Belfast area.
Running from January through October, the course includes in-person classes twice a month: one weekday evening and one full day Saturday of class and fieldwork. This amounts to about 100 hours of class time, plus a minimum of 150 hours outside of class completing homework assignments.
“It is a lot of work, but it’s doable,” said Jana Magnuson, a full-time attorney in Portland who graduated from the program in 2022. “I calendared it out. And more important than anything, it’s the kind of work you want to do. If you’re in this program and you aren’t enjoying the homework, then you’re not in the right program. Everyone who does it is crazy enthusiastic about the natural world.”
A typical class has 24 students, plus several mentors and instructors that are experienced Maine Master Naturalists and outside experts.
An important component of the course is nature journaling, where students create sketches and record observations and reflections while in nature. This can be intimidating for those who don’t consider themselves artistic, but the project is less about drawing and more about training yourself to notice details.
“When you’re done with the year, you have this beautiful record of the phenology of that year, the seasonal changes,” Magnuson said.
Cassandra Knudsen of Millinocket graduated from the program in 2024, when it was held in Orono. She’s the interpretive specialist at Baxter State Park, so many of the skills and information she gained from the course can be applied to her day-to-day work. She especially enjoyed the unit on wildlife tracks, scat and skull structures.
“You get out of it what you put into it,” said Knudsen. “The goal is simple: to learn. It’s OK to have fun with it.”
Creating volunteers
The Maine Master Naturalist Program is completely run by volunteers. Many graduates become involved as mentors, coordinators, instructors, and board members, which allows the program to grow with ever-changing leadership and new ideas — while staying true to the central mission.
“Everyone’s volunteering, and they’re training volunteers. So, everyone who’s involved in the program is super passionate about what they’re doing,” said Chelsea Ehret of Millinocket, who graduated from the program in 2024 and is serving as a mentor for this year’s class.
“It’s very malleable to how people learn, and it’s something that you can kind of fit into your life in different ways,” said Ehret. “I had a baby while I was a student, and I was able to work with my mentor and meet the requirements.”
To date, more than 300 students have graduated from the Maine Master Naturalist Program and have gone on to volunteer more than 10,000 hours of nature education in Maine.
“I’m sort of gobsmacked with the idea that we’ve been so successful 15 years out,” said Hayward. “I’m just really pleased that it’s meeting a need … We still get really healthy applicant pools when we open up a new course, so we don’t think we’ve maxed out yet, and I don’t know that we ever would.”
Each Maine Master Naturalist is tasked with volunteering as a naturalist educator for at least 20 hours during the first year post-graduation. After that, they’re asked to volunteer at least 10 hours a year.
This volunteer work is often done in partnership with libraries, land trusts, and schools. One graduate teaches regularly at a prison. Often graduates will partner up to lead nature walks and workshops together, especially if they don’t have prior experience as educators or presenters. It makes the experience less nerve-wracking.
“For me it was as easy as going to my local library and asking to volunteer,” Knudsen said, adding that she especially loves giving presentations about wildlife.
Perks of the program
Many students report seeing the natural world differently after completing the program.
“It’s had an impact on how I move through the outdoors,” Knudsen said. “My experience of it is enriched because I notice so much more and I have an understanding of how things work.”
Ehret has noticed a similar change.
“I go outside and it doesn’t really matter what I’m doing, who I’m with, what pace I’m going at, I just see so much more of the natural world and notice so much more,” Ehret said. “I’ve noticed it’s not just when I’m outside. It’s just made me more detail-oriented in general. The program helped me to slow down and pay attention to life, improve in mindfulness, and lengthen my attention span. I think that’s just great.”
Graduates of the program join a “nexus of naturalists,” a community of fellow Maine Master Naturalists scattered throughout the state. This network allows graduates to stay in contact, plan outings, volunteer together, and simply socialize.
“I’ve been pretty involved in the nexus program since graduating and we’re looking at ways to deepen opportunities for graduates,” Ehret said “That’s something I’m really excited about. We really love getting together and just being with each other and going for walks, learning from each other. We’re all really interested in learning and so we’re all looking for more learning opportunities.”
“It’s a great set of peers,” said Ellen Gellerstedt, a member of the program’s leadership team. “You know there aren’t that many people I know [outside of the nexus of naturalists] who like to go on a walk and sit down and look at moss for three hours and talk about how cool it is.”
Gellerstedt pursued becoming a Maine Master Naturalist when she retired as a pediatrician just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s changed my life,” Gellerstedt said. “It’s given me a focus and a passion that I wasn’t sure I would get after I retired but I desperately needed. It gives me a sense of constant learning, constant growth, and doing good for this world, and those are really important things to me.”
To learn more, visit mainemasternaturalist.org.
