To state the obvious, with information freely available online in a 24-hour-a-day news cycle from sources around the globe, it is the local content, reliably curated by a trustworthy and accountable editorial board, that distinguishes and makes the local newspaper invaluable.

We need to know what is going on here – in our local government, in our business community, in our schools and in our neighborhoods. Your excellent staff photographers, journalists, researchers and columnists do a wonderful job bringing the events and ideas of Maine to light, and that is why I gratefully continue to subscribe to the Kennebec Journal.

With that in mind, I am advocating here for the return of Dana Wilde’s column “The Backyard Naturalist,” which I sorely miss. Mr. Wilde’s writings blend local observation with global awareness and scientific acuity with poetic expression, and his advocacy for the protection of this marvel of a world have never been more relevant, even necessary.

I have learned so much from him and hope to learn more. His writing inspired me to look for and appreciate the living wonders in my own small garden, not least the beautiful and varied population of spiders.

All of your readers have a stake in the view from Mr. Wilde’s backyard – he made it ours. Please bring him back.

Sarah Reid
Augusta