Walks offered in Orono preserve

ORONO – Just as the fall foliage is starting to erupt in fiery reds, oranges and yellows, nature lovers will have a new way to see the autumn colors in the northwest section of town.

The Orono Land Trust will lead walks at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, through the recently opened 130-acre wildlife preserve accessible by way of the unpaved Taylor Road. A celebration will be held at 3 p.m.

The preserve features a nearly 1-mile loop around Newman Hill with two trailheads, both of which are accessible from the Taylor Road. One of the town’s highest elevations, Newman Hill overlooks Pushaw Lake with views to Hermon Mountain.

The trail is open to hikers, skiers and even bicyclists, although the finishing touches are still in the works, according to OLT President Jay Johnson.

Lumber companies selectively cut trees on the hill during the past, so a portion of the trail is actually a skidder path, Johnson said. Members of the OLT have been trimming up loose brush on the rock, grass- and moss-covered trail during the past two weekends, Johnson said.

“There’s a bit more work to be done,” Johnson said atop Newman Hill on Wednesday.

The OLT is actually caring for two separate but contiguous parcels in the preserve, Johnson said.The larger property, an 82-acre parcel previously owned by Robert Taylor, includes Newman Hill and 1,987 feet of the abandoned Veazie Railroad bed, Johnson explained. The parcel is also a piece of the Caribou Bog watershed. Through a $20,000 grant from the Maine Wildlife Heritage Initiative and several private donations, the OLT purchased the land for $50,000 in July.

The second, smaller piece of property came in the form of a conservation easement donated by residents Jim and Patricia Hinds in December of last year. The 48-acre parcel is located on the Hindses’ land off Forest Avenue and Taylor Road. Development and logging activities are permanently restricted from the easement. Protecting a group of old growth trees on that parcel factored into the couple’s decision to grant the easement, Jim Hinds said Wednesday.

“We didn’t want to see it cut and we thought the best way to conserve it was to make it an easement,” Hinds said. “There’s so little old growth around that if we let this grow up, it could be a refuge for organisms that need that sort of environment.”

Also a member of the OLT, Hinds and his wife are botanists with a specialization in lichens. They have evidence of 25 species of mammals, two snakes, eight amphibians, 159 birds, over 250 species of vascular plants, and 69 species of lichens on the land.

In addition to the unique wildlife, the trail also offers a unique opportunity for recreation, Hinds said.

“There is a lot of desire to go for little walks close to home,” Hinds said. “To me, the outstanding feature is this hill. There aren’t many hills in Orono.”

Founded in 1986, the Orono Land Trust is a nonprofit organization focused on preserving a portion of the natural environment, while balancing development with the conservation of open spaces. For information, visit the OLT Web site at www.bairnet.org/organizations/olt.