BREWER, Maine — Heart of the Penobscot, a group from southern Penobscot County, recently announced plans to launch a website that will serve as a “one-stop shop” for anyone who wants to learn about trails, outdoor recreation resources and events in the area.
The announcement was made at a Heart of Penobscot stakeholders meeting held Wednesday, June 1, in the Community Room of Machias Savings Bank in Brewer.
“What we hear over and over again is that our area is very rich in trails and conserved land, but the outdoor community lacks cohesion,” Lauren Jacobs, Old Town resident and member of the Heart of Penobscot steering committee, said at the meeting.
Heart of the Penobscot, or HOP, evolved from the 2007-2009 work of the Penobscot Valley Community Greenprint, a plan to address land use and conservation on a regional scale in 12 Penobscot Valley communities: Bangor, Bradley, Brewer, Eddington, Hampden, Hermon, Holden, Milford, Old Town, Orono, Orrington and Veazie. This plan was created under the leadership of The Trust for Public Land, the Penobscot Valley Council of Governments and the Bangor Land Trust.
Working with the same 12 towns, HOP plans to continue the land use and conservation work of Greenprint while addressing new and evolving needs of the community. One of those needs, the HOP steering committee has decided, is greater public awareness of existing local trails, boat launches, outdoor events and other recreational opportunities.
Their answer to the problem is an HOP website, developed by Center for Community GIS, a company based in Farmington that developed Maine Trail Finder, at mainetrailfinder.com, a popular website for finding Maine trails.
“We’re trying to create a rich and engaging interface that’s going to stand apart,” Stephen Engle, director of Center of Community GIS, said. “We want to bring together information that already exists in disparate sources.”
The HOP website will include an interactive map of local trails and outdoor recreation spots, a calendar of outdoor recreation events and links to relevant online resources, such as Maine Trail Finder, land trust websites and snowmobile club websites.
“I think the key thing to take away from this is we’re not going to re-create the wheel,” Jacobs said. “The goal here is to create a space for the content from all these organizations and communities we’re representing here to come together.”
“If everyone in the outdoor community sees the value in it, it will become an incredibly rich resource,” she continued.
HOP plans to work directly with local organizations such as land trusts to gather accurate, up-to-date information and direct people to the appropriate sources to learn more about specific trails, resources and events.
“It’s a great resource for visitors,” Belle Ryder, assistant town manager of Orono and member of the HOP steering committee, said. “Outdoor recreation is becoming more and more of a reason for people to go somewhere.”
The HOP steering committee has been meeting monthly and planning the website for about a year and a half, Jacobs said, and they hired Center for Community GIS to develop many aspects of the website already.
“We have several pages developed and in place and a plan for moving forward,” Engle said.
These page designs, as well as the new HOP logo, were presented at the stakeholders meeting, where it was announced that the development and launching of the website will cost an estimated $15,000. Approximately $9,500 of those funds have already been raised — about $4,000 from the Trust for Public Land, $2,500 from the City of Bangor Public Health and Community Services and $3,000 from a Maine Coast Heritage Trust donor, according to Jacobs.
There is no planned date for the website launch at this time, as further funding is needed to complete the project, according to the HOP steering committee. They’re currently focused on raising the remaining funds.
“The idea that so many communities are coming together and working on this is just so awesome,” Bangor Land Trust Executive Director Lucy Quimby said at the meeting. “I’m so excited about this I can hardly stand it.”
To learn more or contribute to HOP, contact Linda Johns at 989-8431 or ljohns@BrewerMaine.gov or follow the new HOP Facebook page facebook.com/Heart-of-the-Penobscot-721849394624092/.