PHOTO: RLHT River ambassadors Judy Morton and Harold Schaetzle. (Submitted photo)
RANGELEY — Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust this summer launched the Community Conservation Corps, creating well-paying jobs for people in a safe working environment, continuing the trust’s work on stewardship of conserved land and extending its stewardship practices beyond its 14,000 acres of conserved land.
The CCC will further RLHT’s mission while increasing the region’s economic resilience by completing projects like:
* Trail work — Mapping, maintaining signs, identifying priority maintenance projects and conducting campsite upkeep on more than 130 miles of hiking trails (including trails owned by others).
* Habitat protection and monitoring — identifying and mapping invasive species and conducting habitat surveys on land and water.
* Fire prevention — maintaining fireboxes at remote campsites.
* Education — informing anglers, hikers, birders, and others about conservation in the region, trails, backcountry safety, emerging issues on lakes and rivers.
* Water quality — conducting courtesy boat inspections and water quality surveys.
* Surveying — visitors on use patterns.
The program is rooted in the trust’s commitment to community conservation — a commitment that recognizes both the role of people in conserving natural resources and the importance of the environment in our regional economy the trust said in a news release.
The CCC is underway with funding from donors, one of gave the trust a matching $25,000. “Our member’s generosity enables us to conserve and care for this incredible part of Maine,” the truest said.
Some of the work of the CCC includes:
River ambassadors, who connect visitors to RLHT’s conservation work. While in the field, RAs walk the river access, actively engage visitors and provide education on conservation, invasive plants and regional recreation opportunities. They also collect data on users; numbers, activities, along with the history and the stories of people who love the landscape.
Water Quality Monitors — The trust monitors the water bodies in the Rangeley Lakes Region. Invasive plant patrollers have annually documented more than 90 miles of shoreline. Water quality monitors have collected clarity data consistently on 12 of 16 bodies of water. Courtesy boat inspectors have educated more than 20,000 boaters.
This summer, water quality monitors are filling gaps on water bodies across the region, improving the trust’s data and its width. They greet boaters and anglers while at the launch, inspect boats, and in some locations survey visitors on their use of the property. They also conduct Secchi (clarity) readings and dissolved oxygen tests on previously non-monitored ponds. Additionally, they assist water quality volunteers and further citizen science efforts across Maine through use of iMapInvasives, eBird, and iNaturalist.
Trail Stewards — The trust manages 35 miles of recreation trails on its conservation lands; each year the season begins with an inventory of trails, then a plan emerges for basic maintenance and special projects. This season, with the help of volunteer trail monitors, stewards and technicians, the trust is ahead of schedule. Each week, volunteers perform light maintenance (raking, lopper work). Larger issues like blowdowns, beaver activity and trail damage are reported back to natural resource steward Alyssa Andrews, who creates a plan and connects the trail stewards with the project.
This year the CCC has partnered with the Rangeley Lakes Trails Center, the Fly Rod Crosby Trai, and the Maine Forestry Museum to create a uniform trail system in the region.
For more information, visit rlht.org.
