Standish man gets award for wilderness center

STANDISH — A retired paper company executive has been given the National Wilderness Award for volunteer work that transformed an abandoned 19th century house into a wilderness information center.

Jim Folsom, 59, of Standish was one of seven to receive the award this year.

The house, an Evans Notch landmark known for years as “the Brickett Place,” is staffed by volunteers and Forest Service interns.

Forest Service records show that 2,100 visitors from the United States and 10 other countries stopped at the Brickett Place Information Center last year, when it went into operation.

“Jim basically organized the whole thing, and was the driving force in coordinating the volunteers who run the center,” said Rebecca Oreskes, a Forest Service wilderness program leader with the White Mountain National Forest. It is staffed by Forest Service interns.

The Brickett Place has long marked the start of the Bickford Brook Trail up 2,877-foot Speckled Mountain.

The red brick 19th century building had been an endangered landmark since the 1950s, used only sporadically by Boy Scouts, when Folsom approached the Forest Service with his rehabilitation plan.

The Forest Service committed about $2,000 for building materials and workers in 1997 and 1998.

Folsom mobilized volunteers. He and his wife, Mary, spent many hours renovating the house. Volunteers organized by Folsom for the Brickett project came from the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Forest Service and the Wilderness Education Association.

“Jim was the driving force,” said Rob Burbank, spokesman for the Appalachian Mountain Club in Gorham, N.H.