BANGOR, Maine —- The Orono Bog Boardwalk is showing its age.
Wood-decaying fungi, carpenter ants and heavy use have made it necessary to replace the entire 4,200-foot boardwalk over the next two to three years, Jim Bird, a spokesman for the group of volunteers that maintains the walk, said Tuesday morning as the walk opened to the public for the season.
Bird estimated it will cost $1.06 million to replace the wooden walk with composite wood, which would last about 30 years. That wood product would be attached to a self-leveling aluminum platform rather than the wood and foam the walk now rests upon.
The boardwalk opened on June 3, 2003. It cost $175,000 to construct from wood, according to previously published reports.
To get the fundraising campaign to replace the boardwalk off the ground, an anonymous donor has offered a $25,000 challenge grant to the effort. To receive the money, volunteers must raise a matching $25,000 by June 20, Bird said.
Money raised by the friends organization, by an annual yard sale and by the sale of merchandise such as hats, mugs, T-shirts and calendars, goes toward operating expenses, not capital improvements, he said.
Grace Ferguson, wife of University of Maine President Paul Ferguson, opened the gate Tuesday and led a group of volunteers on the first walk of 2012. A native of Southern California, she compared visiting the bog to her frequent trips to Disneyland as a child.
“Growing up, we went to Disneyland about four times a year,” she said. “Every time I left, I felt like I hadn’t seen everything. I feel that way about the bog walk because it’s always changing.”
Al Larson, 70, of Orono took the first volunteer shift of the boardwalk’s 2012 season. A forestry major who worked for Georgia Pacific before retiring a few years ago, he said the boardwalk offers the public a unique opportunity to visit a bog.
“People can come and see it and not get their feet wet,” he said Tuesday. “Thirty thousand people a year come out to enjoy it — from babies in strollers to old people in wheelchairs. I just love to watch [the bog] progress through the seasons.”
The Orono Bog Boardwalk can be accessed from the Rolland H. Perry Forest in Bangor, where it winds its way through forested wetland and out onto a broad, open peat bog located in Orono.
As each season unfolds in the rare habitat, visitors can see many plant and animal species, including orchids, carnivorous plants and migratory birds. The wheelchair-accessible boardwalk features seven interpretive stations along its route, as well as numerous benches where visitors may rest and contemplate their surroundings.
It is free of charge and open from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. seven days a week during spring and summer, with hours adjusting for day-length changes in autumn. It is scheduled to close Nov. 29.
The boardwalk is jointly managed by the Orono Land Trust, the city of Bangor and the University of Maine. Its operation and maintenance are funded entirely through donations and sales of merchandise.
For information about the boardwalk, visit oronobogwalk.org, email jim.bird@umit.maine.edu or call 581-1697.
This is my favorite place in Bangor.
Ok, so it cost $175 k to build it ,from scratch, and now $1.6 million to repair? They are kidding,right?
The difference in price is in the cost/kinds of materials. If you keep building it with wood it is going to keep rotting every several years.
it would be worth the added cost for composite for durability, foot feel, and no chemicals of pressure treated lumber to leach into the bog.
Different materials that should last about 30 years as compared to the 10 that the wood lasts. I would imagine it would cost more than $175K to replace it with wood now.
Last 3 times as long for 10 times the price, seems reasonable.
If you take in to account inflation and replacing it with wood every 10 years you will be spending close to that.
If inflation goes up. The market inflated and income didn’t putting a halt on inflation. Now the world market has to catch up, as Mexican immigrants go home, because the United States is too expensive with the current to pay scale, and Chinese want benefits and more pay and regulations increase also in countries like India, etc.
Besides, replacing the bog in 10 years creates more jobs and is made from a local renewable resource that helps keep jobs, right, or is that all shipped out now too?
Also with this material that lasts for 30 years, what happens to our landfills with that material? Is is recyclable?
Unbelievable.
Not repair, REPLACE — with more durable materials.
Shaking my head.
Doesn’t matter what you spend or how you maintain it when young, ignorant people will deficate in the building at the starting point and tear out pieces along the walk. It killed me to see the damages last year. The foreest walks are lovely, also, and I always feel safe whether I am with friends or alone – always lots of people to say “hi” to. Someone was even walking their black cat on a leash – terrific!! But…
Yes, most of the dog poop was cleaned up (and instead the bags were left behind with poop inside them), but I guess we can’t do anything about the 6 inch high, foot-across horse dung? Watch it while you’re running!
Don’t bother with the composite stuff – looks good on a private deck (kind of), but it doesn’t hold up to traffic. It tends to shred and gets kind of a plastic-bag look on the edges as it wears. You don’t want that junk in the bog.
Wouldn’t it be nice if one of the state’s lumber barrons and/or weathy conservationists stepped up and donated the “organic” lumber needed……ahem (I’m looking at you Irving and/or Roxanne). No to plastic!
I think that should be something to consider as well.
175,000 for 9 years equals 19,000 per year. 1,060,000.00 for 30 years equals 35,000 per year???????does this add up????hmmmm
Please do not report the facts. It only tends to confuse people…
“The Orono Bog Boardwalk can be accessed from the Roland H. Perry Forest in Bangor, where it winds its way through forested wetland and out onto a broad, open peat bog located in Orono. ”
Rolland F. Perry City Forest. Maybe Roland H. is his evil twin or something…
Stories desperately need to be edited before being published.
We love the Bog. Happy to help replace with wood with whichever product the committee should decide is the best. Just let everyone know when you start fundraising.