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Clark's Pond Trail Set to Open

September 28, 2007 - Traffic on Interstate 295 whizzes by only a few yards from the Clarks Pond trail, which will be formally opened on Sept. 30.

After a ribbon-cutting ceremony next week, Clark's Pond will join Hinckley Park and the Greenbelt Walkway as a viable outdoor recreation trail within city limits.

Meanwhile, another group is taking a step of a different sort: The Long Creek Watershed Planning Committee will hold the first of a series of meetings on Sept. 27 with residents and commercial property owners to encourage their participation in a longterm study and restoration process for that area.

Both events highlight efforts to make the city's west end a more environmentally friendly place to live, work and play.

While the watershed cleanup is required by the state, the Clark's Pond trail was built by volunteers under the leadership of the South Portland Land Trust's West End Trail Committee.

"This is an opportunity for the community to celebrate their support and appreciation for the ongoing revitalization of the Long Creek watershed," said land trust President Tom Blake, who is also WET chairman and a member of the Long Creek planning committee. "Our Clark's Pond Trail is a showcase for southern Maine, a major step in our long-term vision to make the western part of South Portland, including the Maine Mall area, recreationally and environmentally appealing to our citizens."

Blake said the Clark's Pond trail is unique because of its location - nestled into a thin strip of forest between Interstate 295 and the pond, which itself is nestled behind a variety of Westbrook Street and Gorham Road retail stores.

WET also hopes to received a $4,000 L.L. Bean grant from the Maine Coast Heritage Trust to establish, what is believed to be, the first stewardship program in the state, which will ensure that such trails are maintained and improved, Blake said.

"If there is any place a steward program can work, it's right here in South Portland," he said. "When it's completed, we will share it with the rest of the state."

But while some trees along Clark's Pond still bear the markings of beavers that once called the area home, a black, oily ring around the pond would seem to dash any hope beavers will return anytime soon. That and the dozens of old discarded tires lining the embankments and littering the water are reminders of how desperately a stewardship program is needed.

"When we first blazed that trail we had a 40-foot Dumpster donated to us and we filled it," Blake said. "This summer we had eight kids from Long Creek (Youth Development Center) and they did the same thing."

The 1.2-mile Clark's Pond trail, blazed last summer by more than 80 volunteers and improved with stairways and bridges this summer by the Appalachian Mountain Club, is another step by WET to improve pedestrian safety and reclaim open space in the city's retail center.

The goal of the volunteer committee is to make the west end more accessible and livable by creating an extensive series of recreation trails, walkways, bike paths and parks to connect the neighborhoods. The group has developed a master plan, which will be available at the ribbon cutting.

While Clark's Pond trail presents an opportunity for people to hike within city limits, it also gives residents like Jim Berryman and Gene Roberts, both in their 70s, a chance to remember the good old days.

On a recent sunny Tuesday afternoon, the men sat trailside, trying to pinpoint the exact location of an old ice house, but they said the area had grown up too much to find it.

On Sept. 30, hikers - the first 100 of whom will receive an "I hiked Clark's Pond" T-shirt - will have those questions answered for them by volunteers like historian Kathy DiPhilippo and Julie Isbill of the National Park Service, who will be trailside to point out significant environmental and historic landmarks.

Roberts and Berryman said they can remember swimming and skating at Clark's Pond and fishing for rainbow trout. Roberts said, on any any given summer day, there would be nearly 100 people at the Clark's Pond swimming hole.

"I'd like to see the water cleaned up a little bit," Berryman said.

Watershed management efforts

The city is also moving forward with a state-mandated effort to study and improve the water quality in the Long Creek watershed, which includes Clark's Pond.

The City Council unanimously approved a stream consultant, who will ultimately devise a watershed management plan to return the contaminated waterway to its Class C rating.

The Long Creek Convening Committee will hold the first of a series of meeting with commercial residential property owners. The outcome of the watershed study could have a financial impact for landowners whose property drains into the watershed, which not only includes those in the west end, but properties in Portland, Westbrook and Scarborough, too.

Portland Forecaster
9.27.2007

Lakes:
Regions: Sebago


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