Project Manager’s report:  The retreat opened in May for spring plantings.  At 2800’  GAIA is well suited to grow vegetables and fruiting plants.  We have planted a small garden, a few bushes of blueberries, and hazelnuts near the brook.  Some blueberries have survived and hopefully will show next year. Hazelnuts unfortunately were not in good shape to start with and none managed past summer.

The retreat however did not officially open this summer. The reason was understaffing, due to my health issues that escalated in the spring and interfered with running the camp. We had a few visitors, and I hope to get things going next summer.

The other issue was the unfortunate disappearance of beavers who were maintaining the habitat; all three beaver houses got affected most likely by poaching. The result was a loss of two feet of water, due to beaver dams  not maintained throughout this significant habitat, affecting brook’s water levels, other species, as well as camp’s swimming and recreational area.  Hopefully beavers will repopulate, else it would be a great loss for all, and would require some ingenious human engineering and resources.