Please join us for an informative and educational SMCC Workshop on designing hiking trails for aesthetic experiences.

• When: Tuesday, January 29, 2018 | 4:00pm-7:30pm
  
• Location: Maine Audubon-Gisland Farm | 20 Gilsland Farm Road, Falmouth, ME
• FREE to the staff and board of SMCC Member organizations
• $20 for non-members (please make checks payable to Southern Maine Conservation Collaborative)
• Participants are asked to bring maps of areas they are considering for trails; we will have time to workshop what we have learned so that we are able to draw potential routes as a closing exercise.

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Designing Hiking Trails for Aesthetic Experiences
Session Details:
This workshop will focus on designing foot paths that are focused on the hiker’s interaction with the landscape. While ecological and engineering considerations are critical and must be properly addressed, hiking trails are first and foremost created to offer sensory experiences.

Guest Speaker: Steve Spencer, Big Pine Consulting

Steve is the principal at Big Pine Consulting, offering recreation and conservation planning services. His experience includes 20 years as Recreation Planner for Maine Public Lands and 5 years as Stewardship Director at Damariscotta River Association.

In the workshop, Steve will work through the elements of aesthetic trail design, which include:

• Feature/terrain inventory
• Presentation(framing, approach and use of edges)
• Sequencing
• Flow
• Wildlife interaction enhancement
• Seasonal considerations

Each of these elements will be examined and examples shared. The concept of recreation carry/management capacity will also be discussed.

Participants are asked to bring maps of areas they are considering for trails; we will have time to workshop what we have learned so that we are able to draw potential routes as a closing exercise.

Over the past decade the land trust community has demonstrated strong growth in the leadership in the development and stewardship of hiking trails in Maine. These trails are generally short to medium (less than 4 miles) particularly in southern Maine. However, the recreational opportunities provided by these trails are enormously important for quality of life for residents and enhanced visitation experiences for those “from away”. Much of this work has been accomplished by enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers who in many cases lack formal training. This has led to some inconsistency in the quality of experiences provided by some trails.  This inconsistency can arise from either poorly designed trails on land with high recreation potential or trails developed on properties with low potential for hiking trails.

Additional Information about the Guest Speaker: Steve Spencer, Big Pine Consulting

Steve is the principal at Big Pine Consulting, offering recreation and conservation planning services. His experience includes 20 years as Recreation Planner for Maine Public Lands and 5 years as Stewardship Director at Damariscotta River Association.

At MPL Steve evaluated land acquisitions for recreation potential.  He authored the recreation component of the land management plans for 600,000 acres of public land.  He designed and supervised construction of recreation infrastructure including land and water trails and campsites.

At DRA Steve was responsible for stewardship aspects of the trust’s successful Land Trust Accreditation application. With very dedicated volunteers, he designed and developed hikign trails, wrote stewardship policies, management plans, easement baseline reports and interpretive materials.

In 2015-16 Steve and his wife Libbey circumnavigated America’s Great Loop, a 6,904 mile voyage on their 24’ lobster boat. This provided opportunities to seek out and examine innumerable conservation/recreation projects as they cruised the country’s heartland waterways and eastern seaboard.