WALDO COUNTY — The Hills to Sea Trail Coalition recently launched a new website (hillstosea.org) that features detailed maps to improve locating and navigating sections of the 47-mile Unity-to-Belfast Hills to Sea Trail.

The maps can be printed out or downloaded to a cell phone using Avenza maps. The new website is the result of a pilot project with the Quimby Family Foundation that provided three Maine nonprofits with consultants to improve and/or develop the group’s website, social media, messaging, story, brochure, mission and vision.

Portland-based Leah Hurley of Craft and Adam Burk of Adam Burk + Co. worked with the Hills to Sea Trail Coalition on its outreach materials.

Additionally, a second project that has been underway for more than a year offers interactive educational resources for trail users that can be printed out or downloaded to a phone. The materials and activities are intended to engage a range of users and ages, increase ecological literacy and facilitate more interaction between people and the natural world.  In addition to offering natural history information and engagement with citizen science projects, other activities will prompt users to write entries about their trail experience, share photos, and  experiment with focused awareness and reflection to investigate their place in the world. Work is ongoing to add additional materials.

The 47-mile Hills to Sea Trail was completed in 2016 and stretches from Unity to Belfast, passing through or bordering nine of Waldo County’s 25 towns. The entire trail is open from January 1 until September, when several properties close for parts of the remainder of the year. The Hills to Sea Trail links with other footpaths and the entire network has more than 80 miles of trails. 

Foundations that supported these two projects include: Quimby Family Foundation, Maine Community Foundation, Davis Conservation Fund, Borman Family Foundation, New England Grassroots Environment Fund and the Onion Foundation.

To learn more about the Hills to Sea Trail Coalition and volunteer opportunities visit their website at www.hillstosea.org or contact Buck O’Herin at 207-589-4311.