Recent News
07/10/2011
Maine Audubon "Wildlife Road Watch" Program
Maine Audubon recently launched their "Wildlife Road Watch" program. With the help of volunteers, including runners, walkers, cyclists, and drivers, they are collecting information about where wildlife attempt to cross roads, what animals are involved, and on what kinds of roads collisions are frequent.
Maine Audubon scientists will use the data to improve our collective understanding of where wildlife attempt to cross roads and what we can do to reduce road-kill and increase safety for people and wildlife.
Signing up is easy at http://www.wildlifecrossing.net/maine/doc/adopt_road_introduction. Volunteers will receive a bumper sticker that will identify them as Wildlife Road Watch participants.
Somerset Woods Trustees supports this program and is encouraging folks to sign up and help with this effort.
06/25/2011
Skowhegan Savings Bank Donations
Skowhegan Savings Bank makes charitable contribution to help revitalize the Route 2 picnic area. Several employees also volunteered their time to help in the effort. The following article can be found in the June 16th edition of the Morning Sentinel.
June 16, 2011
Somerset Woods Trustees receive help for picnic area
Morning Sentinel Staff
SKOWHEGAN -- Skowhegan Savings recently announced a charitable donation to the Somerset Woods Trustees of $1,500 to help fund the revitalization of the Kennebec Banks Picnic Area and Historic Site located on U.S. Route 2. click image to enlarge From left to right: Greg Dore of Somerset Woods Trustees, Donna Fortin, John Witherspoon, Kurt Maynard and Karen Hart of Skowhegan Savings help to clean up and paint a local picnic area in Skowhegan. Select images available for purchase in the Maine Today Photo Store A group of employees from the bank assisted with the project. The Somerset Woods Trustees, founded in 1927 by Skowhegan native Louise Helen Coburn, protects land in Somerset County that offers public benefit and the appropriate cultural and natural resources required to manage the area. The donated funds from Skowhegan Savings will allow the organization to revitalize the popular Kennebec Banks Picnic Area and Historic Site offering scenic views of the river. Five employees volunteered to clean-up and stain the picnic table canopies on the site. In addition to the picnic table canopies, the site provides visitors cooking grills, bathrooms and is located near a boat launch and fishing area.
12/27/10
Somerset Woods Trustees Recognizes Four Area Men
In late December, the Somerset Woods Trustees recognized four men for their service to the orginization. These men were named honorary trustees. Below is the orginal article from the December 27th issue of the Morning Sentinel newspaper.
December 27, 2010
Woods Trustees honor achievements of four men
By Doug Harlow
dharlow@mainetoday.com Staff Writer
SKOWHEGAN -- Somerset Woods Trustees have recognized four area men with lifetime achievement awards. Donald Eames, of Norridgewock; Kirby Hight and William Reid of Skowhegan; and Clinton B. "Bill" Townsend of Canaan, have been named honorary trustees. Each served the organization for more than 20 years as a board member or officer. Somerset Woods Trustees was founded in 1927 by special act of the Maine Legislature to protect and preserve land in Somerset County for the benefit of the public. The organization owns several hundred acres in Somerset County, which are all open to the public. Eames served as a volunteer clerk for Somerset Woods Trustees, was president of the Somerset County Bar Association and president of the Skowhegan Rotary Club. He practiced law for 50 years. He joined the Skowhegan law firm of his father, judge Clayton Eames, after graduating Boston University School of Law. He also served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Kirby Hight managed Hight Chevrolet-Buick in Skowhegan for many years and served on numerous Skowhegan civic boards. He is a past president of the Skowhegan Rotary Club. During World War II, he was captain of a U.S. Navy destroyer in the North Atlantic, protecting convoys of military supplies sailing from the United States to Murmansk in northern Russia. He is a Bowdoin College graduate. William "Will" Reid became the Somerset Woods Trustees' environmental consultant after his retirement. During his career, he worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Maine Atlantic Sea-Run Salmon Commission. For many years he was director of environmental services for the Maine Department of Transportation. He has a doctorate from the University of Maine and is a U.S. Air Force veteran. Clinton B. 'Bill' Townsend was a member of the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, served as a United States commissioner to the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization and is on the boards of the Atlantic Salmon Federation and Maine Rivers. He practiced law in Skowhegan for more than 50 years after graduating from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He is also is a past president of Skowhegan Rotary Club and a U.S. Navy veteran. Land parcels owned and maintained for public use by Somerset Woods Trustees include islands in the Kennebec River, woodlands which are managed for forest products and wildlife habitat, the boat launch and rest area on the Kennebec River on U.S. Route 2 in Skowhegan and a Little League baseball field and a playground in Skowhegan. Somerset Woods Trustees recently granted a 99-year lease for a tract of land on Malbons Mills and Parkman Hill roads in Skowhegan to the Maine Appalachian Trail Conference as a headquarters for trail crews who maintain the trail. The organization also holds conservation easements on several hundred acres of woodlands, waterfront and wildlife habitat in Somerset County.
Doug Harlow -- 474-9534
dharlow@centralmaine.com
09/08/10
Kennebec Banks 1st Annual Barbecue Fundraiser
On August 25, 2010, we held our 1st Annual Barbecue Fundraiser at the Kennebec Banks Rest Area. The funds derived from this event are to be used for maintenance purposes for the Rest Area.
The State of Maine had decided to close many of the rest areas that it maintains throughout the state, Kennebec Banks being one of them. That decision generated much concern from area residents. SWT received a number of calls and inquiries expressing chagrin and the hope that something could be done to keep the rest area open. Through discussions with the state and the Town of Skowhegan, it was decided to share the responsibility in maintaining the rest area, enabling us to keep it open.
The fundraiser was very successful despite rainfall beginning at about the time the first burgers and dogs came off the grill! Over $2500 was raised with generous donations from Rotary and, especially, Donna Brown and Prudential Insurance. We sold over 100 hotdogs and 70 hamburgers! Thank you to all who supported us and we are looking forward to doing it again next year.