Volunteers needed Sunday

Camden’s Riverwalk takes shape where once a tannery stood

Sat, 10/19/2013 - 10:45pm

    CAMDEN — A section of the Riverwalk, a pathway alongside Megunticook River, is taking shape this week, thanks to a team of Maine Conservation Corps youth, as well as local volunteers.

    The work moves the project from the design table to a reality following years of talk, drawing and drafting. On Sunday, progress will continue, and there is a call for more volunteers to help with moving wheelbarrows full of construction material — gravel and dirt — to specific spots along the outlined trail.

    This section of the Riverwalk recreational trail, which is part of a broader vision to extend a path from Shirttail Point to the Public Landing at Camden Harbor, runs along a 25-foot easement that borders the river and the town-owned tannery property. In 2011, the town approved submitting a $15,000 grant application for trail construction.

    That money was secured, as well as help from the Maine Conservation Corps to build it.

    Six Corps members arrived in Camden this week to begin construction, camping first at Camden Hills State Park and then moving over to the Snow Bowl area. Two of the Corps members had to leave, so there are now four working on the trail, plus volunteers. However, according to Geoff Scott, chairman of the Camden-Rockport Pathways Committee, there is much work to be accomplished over the next several days and weeks before the weather turns.

    He encouraged residents to show up on Sunday, Oct. 20, with a shovel, gloves, wheelbarrow, gravel rake and heavy boots, anytime between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. The work will continue at the site on Monday and the first half of Tuesday, and volunteers are welcome those days, as well. The Corps will return Oct. 28 to Nov. 1 to finish the project.

    Scott said Jackson’s Landscaping has donated “a day of excellent work by their crew.”

    Maine Conservation Corps crew include Amie Daniels, of Lewiston; Ethan Harding, of Waldo County; Savannah Steele, of Gray; Jed Mason, of Norwich, Vt.; Erica Stowe, of Virginia; and Christian Moody, of Texas.

    After the Corps finishes in Camden they will be moving to southern Maine to finish a project for the Great Works Regional Land Trust.

     

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    Editorial Director Lynda Clancy can be reached at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657