| Sunday, November 16, 2003 |
| Kennebec
Highlands a veritable jewel In the Augusta-Waterville region, a quiet but dynamic project has saved a startlingly beautiful, vast woodland that goes by the catchy name of Kennebec Highlands. I say "quiet" because surprisingly to me, the movement had completely escaped my attention, although it has been going on since the late 1980s. I am getting ahead of myself, though. My introduction to these highlands began over two decades ago. In 1981, this rather remote, forested region in Kennebec and Franklin counties started attracting me like a proverbial magnet, and each year since, I have wandered these woods. This land lies surprisingly close to Augusta and Waterville and includes the most significant mountain range in central Maine, several remote and semi-remote ponds, trout brooks,high, cascading waterfalls, seven deer yards, seemingly endless hardwood forests, dozens of ancient, stately hemlock groves, vernal pools and more. In the early 1980s, few byways for snowmobiles sliced across this landscape, and ATVs were in their infancy. One faint trail that offered access to Round Pond was old-fashioned with blaze marks on trees, which struck me as the work of a trapper. Perhaps that was just my romanticized version, though. A hiker or angler might have blazed the way because the path ended at a pond fed by two brooks with majestic, 30- to 40-foot waterfalls. On a still day after heavy rain, roaring water can be heard from a half-mile away, but the falls are not a straight drop. Rather, the rushing, tumbling brooks plunge steeply downward in a series of steps, and I do mean "steeply". These woods are as familiar as my living room, so you can imagine my surprise when I recently came across a freshly cut, hiking trail that threaded up-wards through dense hardwood saplings. Someone had cut stumps flush to the ground, and the ascent took full advantage of land contours; obviously not a haphazard plan. Who could resist following the meandering trail to see where it went? In one spot, it skirted the summit of an immense, high hill that would be called a mountain in most of Maine. This vantage point offered a view of Waldo and Knox counties far to the east, including the CamdenHills. To make a short story shorter, it took me little time to find out this trail was part of an acquisition conducted by a group called the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance. BRCA began this project in the late 1980s, and the group has raised $1 million and acquired most of the 6,100 acres that it wanted. The land lies off the Watson Pond Road in Rome just west of the upper basin of Long Pond, and the enormous parcel covers parts of Rome, Mount Vernon, Vienna and New Sharon. The falls I mentioned are near Round Pond, a 7-acre jewel surrounded with white pines on half its shoreline, beech on another part and swale and alder finishing in a corner. From a purely selfish point of view, the Kennebec Highlands is mixed blessing for this writer. Through the years, I have never written a word about this forest, hoping to keep it secret as long as possible. The near completion of the ambitious Kennebec Highlands project highlights the region, which will mean more visitors. The publicity will attract folks, too. This region is a veritable jewel, one of the finer stretches of forest in all of Maine, so word will spread fast. On the other hand, this acquisition insures future access in a region under constant development threats. No reasonable woodland wanderer can deny that is a plus. I'm glad folks took the time to save such a resource for future generations. It is odd that I had not noticed BRCA and its project because all summer, I have patronized a wonderful, seasonal coffee shop in downtown Belgrade Lakes village, which is in the same building with the BRCA office. The story about Kennebec Highlands has appeared in newspapers and so forth, but the articles have never caught my eye. These forests have offered me many adventures afield, but one sticks out the most. One spring in the early 1980s, I had walked into Round Pond just to shoot photos of the falls, when an animal caught my eye - a pure white goat! This spot lies in the middle of nowhere, so the goat really popped my eyes open, making me question my sanity. However, soon, a woman showed up with another goat. She had walked into this area, and the goats had tagged along like well- trained dogs. Naturally, I have the photos to prove it! For some reason, goats are one of my favorite critters, and that day those two added a whole new dimension to my fondness. Mclntire Pond lies on the northern edge of this acquisition, one of the few fly-fishing-only waters in central Maine. Mclntire (under Franklin County in the fishing-regulations booklet) has a north-woods feel to it, one of the real brookie jewels in this region. Some of the other ponds are no-name spots that just might hold promise, and one marginal pond, according to Bill Woodward, a fisheries biologist for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, produced a 4-pound-plus brookie for a game warden several years ago. Kennebec Highlands really has everything to recommend it - fishing, hiking, hunting and more. Folks owe it
to themselves to visit this region. |