2019 Summary
A busy year in the forest
This past year has been a busy one at the China School’s Forest. We are fortunate to have this public land available educational, recreational and forestry use. Visitors from out of town are amazed at the trails and outdoor classroom areas and often feel encouraged to create similar areas in their own communities. The trails are open to the public and are a great place to get out and enjoy the woods. Many thanks to the volunteer stewards who maintain the area for our community and visitors to enjoy.
Below is a list of just some of this year’s highlights:
*Students from Mrs. Maroon’s class at China Middle School painted life-sized plywood cut-outs and placed them along one of the trails to create a “Wildlife Trail”. They also painted cut-outs to enhance the Bird Watching Station. This project was funded by a grant from the Oak Grove Foundation.
*Three summer day camps and a variety of other family programs were held in the forest this year. Many thanks to the Waterville Garden Club for sponsoring scholarships for children to attend.
*Students from China Primary and China Middle School used the outdoor classroom areas to enhance and support learning objectives. We are fortunate to have this living laboratory adjacent to our schools!
*Erskine Academy students cleaned up several outdoor classroom areas, including clearing up an area by an old rock wall to create a new interpretive educational opportunity. Many thanks to the students and community volunteers!
*Tours were given to Unity College students, the Waterville Garden Club, the Greater Lovell Land Trust and others. To arrange for a group tour, you can contact the China Town Office.
*The Girl Scouts held a Junior Naturalist Day, bringing visitors from around our state.
*We hosted a Project Learning Tree workshop in April. Local educators, college students and community members participated in this hands-on program to learn how to share the outdoor world with others.
*The Reading Tree roof was completely replaced and boards on the pond bridge were repaired. Funds came from Oak Grove Foundation and Project Canopy grants.
*A website was created and can be found at https://chinaschoolsforest.wixsite.com/website.
We also have a facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/chinaschoolsforest/
*The trail map was updated and two more trail loops were added to the map. We will need help in the spring to clear one of the trails from blow down trees so it can be accessed.
There are many exciting things on tap for 2020. As part of our forest management plan, we will be doing a small harvest this winter. China School’s will be holding their school-wide Forest Day on May 22 and volunteers are needed to lead student programs, get volunteer presenters to their trail locations, organize lunch and much more. Help with trail clean up, public programming and outdoor classroom maintenance is always welcome! A big goal is to have a small four-season building so we offer more programming for children and adults and to store teaching materials and forestry tools.