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PHOTO: Purinton Homestead Conservation Area. (Androscoggin Land Trust photo)
AUGUSTA – Several walks in the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Fall Wildlife Walks series are scheduled for this fall.
MDIFW Education and Outreach Supervisor Laura Craver-Rogers will lead the walks, which allow participants to open their senses and relax their mind as they meander through different MDIFW wildlife management areas and land trust properties. The walks will observe birds, plants, insects, and other wildlife. Walkers will learn more about how these wild places are maintained, managed, and preserved to benefit a variety species and humans.
Walks are free and open to the public, but registration is required. Register for each walk separately by clicking here, where there is also more information about each walk, including trail conditions.
Upcoming area walks are:
Major Gregory Sanborn (Brownfield Bog) Wildlife Management Area, Fryeburg, 8:30-10:30 a.m., Sunday, Oct. 9. The walk is easy to moderate on rough-cut terrain and trail, which may include some debris, tree blow downs, or uneven areas.
This wildlife management area covers about 5,700 acres of floodplain wetlands and upland forest, including pitch pine – scrub oak habitat. The area supports a variety of species including deer, ruffed grouse, snowshoe hare, bobcats, foxes, raccoons and more. It also supports a variety of common, rare, threatened, and endangered species such as rare butterflies and moths attracted to pitch-pine- scrub oak barrens.
Purinton Homestead Conservation Area, Bowdoin, 8:30-10:30 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 25. Mostly easy to moderate, approximately 2.5 miles round-trip.
The walk will be through forest and along the Gillespie Brook, looking for various autumn bird species, and signs of other wildlife as they prepare for winter. The preserve includes a 40-acre field and 100-acre forest. This property is managed by the Androscoggin Land Trust, donated to the trust by the Purinton family.
Jamies Pond Wildlife Management Area, Farmingdale, 8:30-10:30 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 13. An easy to moderate walk which will include some uneven terrain and may have occasional trail obstructions walkers will have to go around.
Walkers will look for signs of wildlife as some begin to tuck themselves away for winter. With more than 900 acres of habitat, this wildlife management area has mixed forest and wetlands, which is habitat for numerous species of waterfowl, wading birds, songbirds, and many species of mammals throughout the year.
