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JULY E-NEWS

Trek for the Trails!

Join us for the Loon Echo Land Trust Trek for the Trails, presented by Norway Savings Bank! The Trek is going virtual this year, but that means it will be more accessible than ever before.

Trek to support Loon Echo’s 30 mile (and growing!) trail network in the Lake Region. Our goal this year is to raise $15,000 dollars – about a quarter of the annual costs for maintaining LELT’s trails and preserves. Run, walk, hike, bike, skip or drive- all on your own time and to support the trails you love! You’ll have from 9/19/20 to 9/27/20 to complete your Trek.

Adults - $20
Youth (16 and Under) - FREE

How it Works

Complete your “Trek” by visiting any LELT preserve from September 19 to September 27. That means even a drive up to Hacker’s Hill makes you a Trekker! Feeling competitive? Up for a challenge? You can also sign up for a trail run on Pleasant Mountain and compete for Strava bragging rights (and pie!).

All Trekkers will be entered into a raffle to win prizes from local businesses, including a 2020-2021 SEASON PASS TO SHAWNEE PEAK.

Learn more about the 2020 Trek for the Trails.

Thank you to Norway Savings Bank and Shawnee Peak for their generous support of the 2020 Trek for the Trails.

In This Issue

Upcoming Events
Safety First
Trail Love

Project Update PFW
PFW from Above
Podcast

Upcoming Events

They're back. All 2020 LELT events will take current guidance from state officials & health professionals into consideration in order to protect the health of everyone in our community. Precautions include physical distancing, limiting the number of participants, required pre-registration, and wearing masks when distancing is not possible.

Pondicherry Park Walk - July 20, 12:30 pm - 1:15 pm (RSVP to membership@lelt.org)
Pondicherry Park Walk - August 3, 12:30 pm - 1:15 pm (RSVP to membership@lelt.org)
Acoustic Sunset with Bruce Marshall - August 5, 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Evening Star Party - August 12, 9:00 pm - 2:00 am
Acoustic Sunset with Christine & Mo - August 15, 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Maine Outdoor Film Festival - August 21, 8:00 pm

Registration is required (and limited) for all events. Visit our events page, or click the links above to register.

All events are subject to cancellation and/or changes. Keep tabs on our events page for more details about upcoming events.

All Upcoming Events

Safety First

New speed bumps will be installed this week on the road up to the top of Hacker's Hill Preserve. The speed bumps will encourage drivers to take it easy on their way up the hill and on the road at the preserve, keeping everyone safe.

More Love, More Use, More Love

Over the past 5 months, more and more people have discovered and fallen in love with Pleasant Mountain. The trails have handled the increased use with grace, but have been showing a bit of wear. Thanks to support from an anonymous donor, we were able to hire a professional trail crew from the Appalachian Mountain Club to give the Ledges Trail on Pleasant Mountain some love and attention. The crew built impressive new stone steps in areas where erosion & social trails had made the trail unsustainable.

Project Update: PFW

New trails at Peabody-Fitch Woods and a joint LELT & Bridgton Historical Society parking area are now underway. The corridor of a new trail that extends off the existing granite quarry trail has been completed thanks to an AMC trail crew, and Warren Excavation has made great progress on the parking area for Narramissic and Peabody-Fitch Woods. Work on the accessible trail will get underway soon.

Thank you to Chalmers Insurance for their generous support of this project! Donations are still being accepted to ensure the accessible trail is completed this summer.

See more photos of the work that's been completed so far.

Peabody-Fitch Woods from Above

Video by Nancy Campbell

Check out more videos from our preserves, as well other videos on conservation recommended by LELT staff, on our YouTube channel.

ICYMI: IF&W Podcast

"We see conservation as having myriad benefits across the economic spectrum in our communities. Especially in a time where a lot of rural communities in Maine are thinking about how they can future proof their economies. [...] I think outdoor recreation and tourism is certainly one way to do that and land conservation is an important part of that." - LELT Executive Director Matt Markot on an episode of Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife "Fish + Game Changers" Podcast.

Listen

A cloud inversion makes for a magical moment on top of Pleasant Mountain. Photo by Shane Remillard.

The Northwest River near Tiger Hill Community Forest (visible on the right side of the photo)

Loon Echo Land Trust is a community-supported nonprofit. We're working hard to ensure our trails and preserves stay open for all through this time. You can make sure more forests are accessible for you and your family, local critters have forever homes, and our earth is more resilient to climate change.
Learn more here.

Donate to LELT

Loon Echo Land Trust protects land in the northern Sebago Lake region of Maine to conserve its natural resources and character for future generations.

As a subscriber to our email list, you can expect monthly electronic newsletter in addition to exciting project updates and notifications about events. Have suggestions or feedback? Send an email to membership@lelt.org.