Greenville to launch trail, wood composites projects

GREENVILLE – There will be double the cause for celebration on June 24 as Moosehead Lake region officials break ground for a new $1 million wood composites incubator building and dedicate an interpretive woodlands trail.

Gov. John Baldacci will be the guest of honor for the launching of the two economic development ventures, one of which is expected to add jobs and the other to draw visitors.

“Greenville is uniquely positioned in the state to see business growth from both recreational and industrial uses of the Maine woods,” Greenville Town Manager John Simko said Thursday. “Our Greenville business incubator will help to position Piscataquis County as the preferred place for new high-tech businesses to grow.

“This is a big step forward for Greenville’s economic development efforts.”

The day will begin at 9:45 a.m. with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the future site of the Natural Resource Education Center next to the Maine Department of Transportation picnic area on Route 15. The launching of the new Stewardship Trail program, which covers approximately 11/2 acres and leads visitors through grouse territory and native woodlands, represents the first permanent facility on the site. Descriptive maps of the trail are available to the public.

NREC, a nonprofit organization, was hatched from local economic development committee discussions on how best to educate people about the natural resources in the Moosehead Lake region and how best to use them. The organization’s goal is to develop a building that will house orientation and interpretation services, educational exhibits, and provide on- and off-site programs that celebrate the unique natural and cultural heritage of the region.

“We see the building as being the center for all kinds of natural resources education program,” Tarun Johns, an NREC trustee, said Friday. “It will be the place where all kinds of educational programs – not always initiated by NREC – will be held.”

The regular program series now in place and the new trail system are two key pieces in the plan.

Also on Thursday, the governor will help break ground at 10:15 a.m. for a business incubator building at 76 Spruce St. in Greenville.

Simko and Rick Stanley, Composites Technology Center Corp. president, will give presentations about the proposed new building. The community secured federal, state and local funds for the construction. The town will own the building, but the corporation will market and lease the incubator’s space.

The building will be marketed for wood composites, a cutting-edge technology that combines wood waste with plastics to create durable and strong materials used in the construction field.

At 10:45 a.m., participants of the groundbreaking will move to the Steamship Katahdin where Dr. Habib Dagher, University of Maine professor of civil-structural engineering and the director of the Advanced Engineer Woods Composite Center, will talk about the woods composite industry in Maine.

Duke McKeil, Moosehead Marine Museum executive director, also will speak about the Steamship Katahdin and its significance in the region.