New Hike! Westport Island 🏝️ Segerstrom Preserve & Bonyun Preserve

Let’s hike around Westport Island before the tourists! One preserve isn’t long enough for some of us so we’ll be doing two preserves.

Meet/park at the town hall at 9:30am if you want to do BOTH hikes. (This is the event location currently for mapping).

Hike#1: If you are only doing the first hike, meet at Segerstrom Preserve at 10am. Directions and info below. This is ~1.8 miles and I rate it “easy”

https://www.kennebecestuary.org/segerstrom-westport-island

Hike #2: Bunyon Preserve. 2.4 miles, moderate hike. Downed trees will need to crawled under or jumped up and over. They’re big and probably won’t be gone anytime soon. Potential for mosquitoes, some tall grass here (ticks) and muddyish. You may walk off trail at times.

There was agreed consent from all prehikers Bunyon is worth it. If we get good weather, this will be an epic end-of-season hike (for me) until I resume hosting in September.

Meet at 9:30am at town office for both hikes to carpool.

Picnic on trail during 2nd hike. There is a brewery on Westport Island so discuss your desire to go/not go if you carpool to the event.

Segerstrom Preserve:

Preserve users can walk along Jeremy’s Ramble Trail, exploring several short side trails. These blazed trails begin at the parking area off West Shore Road and proceed through hardwood forest, along a picturesque stone wall and by the lush green marsh grass of the wetland along the creek. Several viewpoints offer spectacular views of the tidal salt marsh, supporting a variety of bird populations, river otters and a commercial oyster farm.

This 159-acre preserve protects significant wetland habitats, 3,300 feet of shoreline along Squam Creek, deer wintering habitat and historic cellar holes and cemeteries. The property was one of the first settled on Westport Island, around 1740 by Timothy Dunton and his family. The southern part of the property was settled by the Hodgdon family shortly thereafter. The foundation of the Hodgdon home, livestock pens, extensive stonewalls, and the family cemetery are beautifully preserved on this portion of the land.

Bonyun Preserve:

As you walk the trails look for six natural areas that support a variety of flora and fauna.

1. Tidal Inlet – Mill Cove’s salt marsh supports wading birds such as snowy egret and great blue heron, as well as migrating shorebirds. Low tide mud flats offer abundant crustacean and marine worm habitat. Fish fry shelter in the shallow waters.

2. Mixed Old-growth Woods – Great white pine, oak and hemlock are habitat for woodpeckers and songbirds. Two osprey nests are located on Thomas Cove shore. White-tailed deer, fox, raccoon, and mink use these forests for food and shelter.

3. Fresh Water Marshes – Wetlands nurture amphibians and birds. Mosses and ferns take root on the banks.

4. Sasanoa River Estuary – Part of the Kennebec-Androscoggin watershed draining one-third of the state, the estuary is a nationally-recognized habitat for birds and fish. This section of the east coast flyway is essential for the survival of migrating birds. Over 40 species of fish use these waters including striped bass, Morone saxatilis.

5. Riparian Areas – Land adjacent to waterways is used by 85% of Maine’s vertebrates. Amphibians find food and shelter along the small streams that drain into Mill Cove.

6. Pocket Wetlands – Salt marsh uplands provided early settlers with hay, Spartina patens. Populated by salt-tolerant species, marshlands are the most productive ecosystems in the world.

(If needed, rain date 5/26 at 1pm)