The pickerelweed had just bloomed, and its deep purple flowers hovered over the grey water of Pushaw Stream. Dragonflies zigzagged overhead, and paddles dipped in sync, propelling the six war canoes downstream.
Each canoe carried 10 people, making for a group of 60.
The trip, ending at Indian Island in the Penobscot River, was in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Hirundo Wildlife Refuge, a 2,400-acre preserve in Old Town that serves as a hub for public nature programs and outdoor recreation.
The group paddle was a collaboration between Hirundo, the Penobscot River Keepers and the Penobscot Nation.
“This is our first time attempting anything like this, and logistically it has worked out,” Bucky Owen, professor emeritus at the University of Maine and former commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, said. Owen, with ties to the Penobscot River Keepers and Hirundo, was one of the trip leaders.
The group paddle, which was open to the public, was fully booked, despite the gloomy forecast on July 18.
In addition to observing Hirundo’s 5oth anniversary, the trip celebrated the heritage of the Penobscot Nation, as well as the ongoing restoration of the Penobscot River.
“We always try to combine having fun outdoors with learning something about the outdoors, because if people understand nature and grow to love it, then they are much more likely to preserve it,” Stephanie Larouche, chairwoman of the Hirundo Board of Trustees, said.
Stephanie Larouche’s uncle, Oliver Laroche, founded Hirundo Wildlife Refuge from his parents’ 3-acre camp in 1965. Over the years, he expanded the refuge to its present size of 2,402 acres, creating a “haven for wildlife in which to grow and be protected, an area in which they can live and survive.”
“Hirundo” is the Latin word for “swallow,” a songbird that returns to the refuge each spring to nest in the many nesting boxes placed throughout the fields.
“It’s a very vibrant place that serves the community and protects nature,” Stephanie Larouche said.
The July 18 group paddle began at the refuge, at a boat launch where Pushaw Stream passes under Route 43 in Old Town. From there, the 300-pound canoes traveled downstream, stopping several times along the way for presentations on natural and historic aspects of the waterway.
“Three out of the four mussels that are threatened in Maine live in Pushaw Stream,” Gudrun Keszocze, naturalist at Hirundo, said. She scooped up a few empty mussel shells from the muddy banks of the stream and carried them back to the canoes gathered at the edge of the water.
Keszocze works full time at Hirundo, organizing public nature and recreation programs year-round.
“I would like to introduce as many people as I can to the outdoors,” Keszocze said. “I would like to make them aware of our environment … about the interaction of the trees, the plants and the animals — and the place of humans in the environment, and how we can all live together.”
As the canoes neared the Stillwater River, which would lead to the Penobscot, Keszocze began pointing out several archeological dig sites along the shore, places where Native Americans used to live and fish thousands of years ago.
Near Gilman Falls, Keszocze pointed to a tiny isle. That was an interesting site, she said. On the island was a quarry where Native Americans used to hammer out long stone rods sometime between 6,300 and 7,300 years ago.
“They were actually mortuary gifts,” Keszocze said. “And they did that for only one year, and in the [scientific] paper it was suggested that those particular gifts fell out of vogue. Then they stopped making them.”
More than 600 artifacts have been found at the site, and the stone rods have been found in graves throughout the area, including graves in Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Milford.
Native American history has long been a topic of discussion at Hirundo.
In the early 1970s, ancient artifacts were found at Hirundo, along the south bank of Pushaw Stream. The site was excavated, in collaboration with the University of Maine in Orono, and it was found that Native Americans had inhabited the site for more than 4,500 years, making it one of the longest occupied inland sites yet found in Maine.
Today, the refuge has an interpretive trail called the Wabanaki Trail, which leads through the forest and past the archeological site. The 0.4-mile trail is just a small part of the refuge’s 7-mile trail network, which is open to the public year-round, dawn to dusk.
These footpaths travel through mixed hardwood and evergreen forest, along the edges of vast wetlands, through fields and visit the banks of Lac D’Or, a manmade pond by the refuge’s Parker Reed Nature Center.
In 1982, the Larouche family donated the refuge as a trust to the University of Maine, which uses the refuge as an outdoor classroom and setting for scientific research projects. The Larouches, however, continue to guide the fate of the refuge through the Hirundo Board of Trustees, ensuring the land continues to be a haven for wildlife and a place of learning.
“In the past few years, since we hired our full-time naturalist, we are now able to run nature programs, and it’s very heartening to see that the programs are really picking up,” Stephanie Larouche said during the July 18 paddle. “We have the wonderful example of that today, with 60 people attending and having a blast.”
In 2014, Hirundo began offering memberships to individuals and families, as well as partnerships to businesses, for the first time.
“Collaboration, I think, is very important to running vigorous programs,” Stephanie Larouche said. “Having the Penobscot River Keepers and a Penobscot Nation representative [John Bear Mitchell] on this paddle, and we’ve had two wonderful businesses supporting the event. I think that’s how we can be successful.”
The daylong paddle ended at Indian Island, home of the Penobscot Nation, where the paddlers disembarked and soon learned that the adventure wasn’t quite over yet. Nearly everyone was needed to help load the six 300-pound canoes on the boat trailer.
Because of the popularity and success of the event, Stephanie Larouche said Hirundo likely will offer similar group paddles in the future.
To learn more about Hirundo Wildlife Refuge or become a member of the Hirundo Wildlife Trust, visit hirundomaine.org or call 394-2171.
To visit the refuge, take Interstate 95 Exit 197 to Old Town-Hudson and drive 4.75 miles west on Route 43 and several gates to the refuge will on your right, marked with large red signs.