Portland Trails wants you!

Portland Trails invites local teachers and students to team up with them to monitor and manage the habitats that line the trails that we all enjoy running, walking, and biking along.

Portland Trails' Foreman, Charlie Baldwin, says invasive species are a major concern for the trail system. He wants our help!

“Upland invasive species can be found on almost all of the trails in greater Portland. Japanese knotweed and common reed are gaining a foothold in the Fore River Sanctuary. Morrows honeysuckle and winged burning bush are forming thickets along the Stroudwater Trail. Asiatic bittersweet and Japanese barberry line the banks of the Presumpscot River. Multiflora rose spreads its thorny canes into every habitat it finds.”
-Charlie Baldwin, http://www.mltn.org/conservation_story/2011/02/climate-change-invasive-s...

Students from Portland Schools have already started working with Portland Trails to make a dent in the invasive species on these trails. You can help too! Document the invasive species and native species you find along their trails, and publish your observations on Vital Signs. Your data will help Charlie and Leo target their mitigation efforts, and also monitor the success of these efforts.

There are also opportunities to help them with their invasive species removal efforts.

Interested in learning more? Let us know, or email Charlie directly: charlie@trails.org.