Maine
Rachel Carson Center for People and Nature opens in Kennebunk
KENNEBUNK (WGME) — A national wildlife refuge in Maine has a new center for its visitors.
At a ribbon cutting in Kennebunk Wednesday, Maine leaders celebrated the grand opening of the Rachel Carson Center for People and Nature.
The new center offers exhibits and programs for the nearly 300,000 visitors that stop by the refuge each year.
The center’s grand opening coincides with the late author Rachel Carson’s birthday.
Carson’s research helped to spur conservation efforts and environmental policy changes in the 1960s, something Congresswoman Chellie Pingree says she’s now fighting for decades later.
“We’ve actually come 180 degrees, we think science is wrong and we shouldn’t believe in it and climate change doesn’t exist,” Pingree said. “We’re battling an anti-science battle, and we have to continue to take it on, but one of the best ways to do that is to bring people right here in touch with nature.”
The refuge in total spans more than 6,000 acres across several cities and towns in southern Maine.