by Wen Wadlington, GWRLT Intern

On Wednesday, September 10, Great Works Regional Land Trust (GWRLT) hosted another beautiful mid-morning Wednesday Wandering at the Perkinstown Wildlife Commons in Wells. It was a beautiful sweater weather morning, about 60°F, and Southern Maine found itself right at the transition between summer to fall. The wandering began at the cul-de-sac at the end of Thompson Road and lasted an hour and a half from the trailhead to the end of the hiking path and then back.

Led by Katherine Derby, GWRLT’s Development and Outreach Coordinator, the wandering was attended by Violet, a local with a passion for environmental conservation and the outdoors, as well as myself. We spent the morning stretching our legs on the two-mile hike there and then back, enjoying the beautiful views of Southern Maine’s densely wooded forestry, and engaging in conversations about mountain biking, New England locales compared to the Midwest, and the importance of conservation.

Nestled between Wells and Berwick, the Perkinstown Wildlife Commons offers 288 acres of undisturbed Maine forestry, including several miles of walking paths and hiking trails through the woods. Originally slated to be a liquid propane terminal, the land is now owned by the town of Wells, with a conservation easement held by GWRLT that ensures permanent protection and access to an expansive ecosystem of mature northern hardwoods and New England wildlife. The Perkinstown Wildlife Commons is also home to a burgeoning Eastern cottontail population, as well as several brook trout fisheries.

As we walked through the expansive forests, we saw the excavations of woodpeckers, wood frogs darting around small creeks, and water striders resting atop the surface tension of puddles. Being able to appreciate natural beauty on conserved land is exactly the kind of mission that GWRLT believes in, and the Wednesday Wandering was a perfect example of why the work of land trusts is so important.

If you’re interested in joining a Wednesday Wandering, the next hike is on October 1 at 10:00am and will be hosted at Goodwin Forest in Elliot. For more information about Wednesday Wanderings, as well as other events, you can visit the GWRLT website and navigate to the events calendar page beneath events and outings.