Environment

A Message from Royal River Conservation Trust

Royal River Conservation Trust sends along a BIG THANK YOU to volunteers, landowners and others as we celebrate Earth Day on April 22. With beautiful spring weather arriving, many more people are seeking and enjoying the trails in the area. RRCT offers suggestions for managing dogs and seeking alternate trails when demand is high and parking areas are full. The Big Falls Preserve and Norumbega Trails in New Gloucester and Littlejohn Island Preserve in Yarmouth have been experiencing high volumes of hikers. RRCT and landowners ask that walkers continue to practice social distancing even in the woods, and in the parking areas. See more for the full message from RRCT below.

The fiddleheads will be out soon. The wild leeks are already lush on the banks of the Royal. Buds and flowers are popping daily. Bird migration will reach peak soon. Wild Turkey hunting begins in early May.

As we celebrate Earth Day on April 22, our dominant Earth Day message is THANK YOU to two groups of people. 

First, thank you to a dozen volunteers who have kicked into high gear in recent weeks keeping our preserves and trails well-managed during these exceptional times. We’ve had more volunteer hours than ever before as volunteers help us manage traffic, parking, signs, trail conditions, storm damage, mud, neighborhood relations, dogs, and more. Please be gracious to everyone you see on the trails, but especially to volunteers and neighbors helping manage unprecedented surges of trail use. 

Second, thank you to all of the landowners, donors, board members, civic leaders, and neighbors who have made possible our recent land conservation successes that have given solace, exercise, and education over recent weeks. More than ever, today we know what the earth has to offer, and the value of our work. Ten years ago there was no Knight’s Pond Preserve. There was no Big Falls Preserve. Twenty years ago there was no Littlejohn Island Preserve. There was no Spear Farm Estuary Preserve. Thank you to donors of land and everyone who has made respite and a sense of wonder possible in these troubling times.

We continue to monitor daily the surge in usage of our many trails and trailheads. Certain parking areas exceeded all reasonable capacity during Sunday’s good weather. Emergency access is affected by illegal and sloppy parking choices. Dogs off leash create incidents and risk. Please especially avoid Big Falls Preserve (New Gloucester) and Littlejohn Island Preserve (Yarmouth) during good weather mid-days due to simply too much demand for limited parking. 

We are refining our on-site signage and web-based postings: 

  • Counter-clockwise trekking on loop trails (“Take a right at junctions”), especially Littlejohn Island Preserve. Our trails are narrow, and passing others at boardwalks requires extraordinary courtesies and often requires wet feet. Travelling counter-clockwise on the loops (and enjoying the forests off-trail) will help reduce the need for passing at the loop trails at Littlejohn Island Preserve, Big Falls Preserve, and Pisgah Hill Preserve. Due to parking at capacity, please avoid Littlejohn Island Preserve and Big Falls Preserves at mid-day, and on days with good weather.
  • DOGS ON LEASH. Uncontrolled dogs are leading to uncontrolled encounters. Neighbor and hiker anxiety is at peak levels. Please leash all dogs on all trails, all parking areas, all road shoulders, all towns, and thank those who help enforce a culture of responsible pet ownership.  
  • Report any and all observations to RRCT. We are grateful to so many neighbors and volunteers who are keeping us up to date on parking lot usage, unusual observations, and moments of beauty. We need you to be our eyes and ears. Don’t ever hesitate to send  observations (especially beauty) to any of us, or to Stewardship@RRCT.org or #royalriverconservationtrust. 
  • Give zealous attention to traffic safety, no parking signs, and emergency vehicle access routes. Please avoid trails where parking lots are already full. The coming warm weekends will continue to test your ability to avoid contributing to the need to shut more trails. Ask yourself, What Would the Fire Chief think? Please park as orderly as possible, and never on both shoulders of a road, and never on either shoulder at Pemasong. 
  • Make fierce commitments to good stewardship and personal responsibility. We are impressed by those of you who thank neighbors and landowners. We thank those of you who bring a trash bag and gloves and clean up the road side and trail head. Please coach others to be especially attentive to rules and public safety and the imperative of social distancing.  

As always please enjoy these other destinations (respecting all postings and closures):

Reflect on a sense of wonder on Earth Day. Take care. Be safe. 

Best,

Alan Stearns Executive Director Alan@RRCT.org (207) 215-8315 Irene Syphers Flynn Stewardship Director Irene@RRCT.org (207) 841-7350 Carrie Ridgway Development & Communications Carrie@RRCT.org (207) 615-7824