A group of local volunteers who formed the nonprofit National Resource Education Center several years ago have moved forward on a plan to build an interpretative center where residents and visitors can learn about the state's natural resources, its working forest and the relationship private landowners have with the state.

The organizers hope to construct a three-level building near the rest stop off Route 15. The building would house an interpretative center as well as the Moosehead Lake Region Chamber of Commerce's information center. NREC owns the land and the Department of Transportation is expected to put out contracts this fall for the construction of a parking lot for the anticipated facility.

Because NREC trustees were unsure if they could raise $3 million for the project and $500,000 for an endowment, the group commissioned Beers Associates of Bangor to do a feasibility study. That $20,000 study, funded through Piscataquis County's unorganized territories white-water rafting account, states that there is financial support for such a center, according to J. David Sinclair, president of the Natural Resource Education Center board of trustees.

"We got a good report that gives us a good work plan ahead of us," Sinclair said Tuesday. "We felt very good; we thought we spent our money well."

Sinclair said the consultant recommended that the group hire an executive director to seek grants, foundation funds and financial support from businesses and individuals. The trustees are now trying to secure a grant to hire such a person, he said.

The feasibility study also indicated that the trustees must do more to "show and tell" about the concept because many individuals are unaware of the project. This was determined when the consultants interviewed 38 selected community and business leaders throughout the state that were in a position to help fund the project. Many of those contacted, especially in the southern part of the state, were unaware of the group's effort.

Much has already been done by the group, including a successful series of programs that focus on wildlife, water and fish, and the working forest. The trustees also publish a newsletter, View From the Hill.

By mid-July, a self-guided interpretative trail with map and marked sites of interest will be completed on the Route 15 property and a neighboring parcel owned by Ellen Poole that was harvested recently. The trail is being developed by volunteers and with help from a Forest Stewardship Education grant, according to Sinclair.

The center has also expanded its potential educational outreach with a gift of 115 acres in Dover-Foxcroft. Foxcroft Academy gave the property to NREC with the stipulation that it must be used to practice multiple-use forest management. The 35 acres of field and 80 wooded acres will be used by NREC to educate area school children about forest management through the implementation of a tree-growth program envisioned by former landowner Stephen Law, who is an NREC trustee.

Law donated the bulk of his family farm to Foxcroft Academy in 1987 with a plan to use the land for an educational program that would involve children from kindergarten through high school graduation. He envisions a program where children will plant, care for, and harvest their own Christmas trees during their school years

Anyone interested in donating to the project should contact Sinclair at 695-3920.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Wednesday, July 10, 2002 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."