Bayley’s Camping Resort offers direct access to the Scarborough Marsh Wildlife Refuge

The Scarborough Marsh is Maine's largest salt marsh and is located just south of Portland in the town of Scarborough. The marsh covers 3,100 acres from north of Rte. 1 to the Atlantic Ocean at Pine Point and is crossed by meandering tidal rivers and streams. It is owned and managed by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife as part of the Scarborough Wildlife Management Area. It provides critical habitat for a broad array of wildlife, particularly birds including waterfowl, egrets, herons, ibises, raptors and grassland sparrows. Muskrat, mink, otter, and deer also frequent the marsh. Like most of Maine, the Scarborough Marsh and Pine Point Beach area is most active with birds and people in the Spring & Summer months but it's a beautiful and peaceful area to visit in Fall & Winter, too. Because the streams and rivers are tidal, wading birds & ducks can usually find some open water for feeding. Snowy Owls will visit the marsh when they venture south in winter. (For more info go to: www.mainebirding.net) The Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center, conveniently located on Route 9 offers a variety of guided and self-guided walks and canoe tours in addition to exhibits, a nature store, and canoe rentals enabling visitors an opportunity to experience the Scarborough marsh up close and personal. All the guided programs offered at the Audubon Center are led by trained naturalists. Walking and canoe tours and specially designed programs are available for groups at a discounted price. Bayley’s Camping Resort is conveniently located on Pine Point Road a mile east of the Audubon center and has direct access to a large part of the 3100 acre refuge and offers campers rental kayaks to tour the marsh without ever leaving the campground. (For more information go to: < a href="www.bayleys-camping.com">www.bayleys-camping.com.) In 2012, the Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center will be open on Memorial Day weekend and June 2 and 3 then seven days a week from June 9 on through Labor Day, from 9:30 to 5:30. They will be open the first three weekends in September. (For more info go to: www.maineaudubon.org)