UMPI students develop grant-funded trails at ANWR

    PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge is getting some major bang for the buck thanks to a federal grant and the work of some University of Maine at Presque Isle students.
    The $8,000 federal Challenge Grant awarded to ANWR this month was matched with practical work by members of UMPI’s Interpreting the Environment Class. It was a real-life project studying tourism and outdoor recreation.
“Four different groups of the students were required to develop an interpretive trail for ANWR,” said Anja Whittington, course instructor. “Some were nature-oriented, some historical and all four were combined into a driving trail.”
In addition to site visits and meetings with officials at ANWR, the students took a field trip to Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge with ANWR Director Bill Kolodnicki to analyze trails and signs established in that park.
According to Kolodnicki, the grant funds are earmarked for construction costs associated with the student-proposed trail.
“The project gave the students the opportunity to develop complete plans, visitor displays, trails and budgets for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the refuge,” the director said. “The refuge will use the information to construct an interpretive center.”
The trail, ANWR Biologist Dawn Washington said, will provide information about wildlife and provide the public an opportunity to explore a rarely visited area of the refuge.
“The students gave the refuge and the Friends of Aroostook a professional presentation on the project,” Washington said.
Involved in the project were Mark Fullen, Bryan Daigle, Cora Campbell, Jason Gardner, Nick Hale, Charly Jillson, Jamie Landeen, Jacob Lohan, Meghan McLaughlin, Charles Reece and Andrea Stowell.
“This was a very hands-on project worth 40 percent of their grade,” Whittington said. “It’s really cool that parts of the project will be implemented.”
The grant was awarded through the National Wildlife Refuge System Region Five, which this year funded projects from Maine to Virginia. According to Kolodnicki, the trails project should be complete by September.