The Wiscasset Conservation Commission is looking for volunteers; young and old to help spruce up the West Woods trail system. The spring cleanup, called Trails Day, will take place Sunday, May 17 starting at 8 a.m. Participants should meet by the kiosk in the Sortwell Memorial Forest parking area on the north side of Willow Lane, about 1.4 miles from the intersection of Willow Lane and Churchill Street.

Volunteers should bring small saws, branch clippers and trash bags, if possible. If you’re handy with a chainsaw you might bring one of those along as well. If you don’t have tools, a pair of work gloves and willingness to help is all you need.

Trails Day is under the direction of the Conservation Commission, which meets on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m. in the hearing room of the town office.

“Wiscasset is fortunate to have this greenbelt of properties, one right next to the other, that are open for public enjoyment,” said Anne Leslie, commission chairman.

“We’re hoping to make more people aware of the opportunities the trail system offers for exercise and enjoyment of the outdoors. On Trails Day, townspeople can get to know these trails and lend a hand in maintaining them,” she added.

The West Woods trail system weaves through the Sortwell Memorial Forest, the Morris Farm, and town-owned properties behind the primary school, community center and high school. It traverses 200 contiguous acres of woods, field and wetlands. The trails for the most part are hard-packed and well-marked making them idea for hiking, running and mountain biking, as well as cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter, snowmobiling in designated areas. 

Users can access the trail network from two trailheads on the north side of Willow Lane and also through the Morris Farm, or the Wiscasset Community Center, both on Gardiner Road. Dogs are allowed on the trails but citizens are asked to keep them on leash on the Morris Farm property when livestock and children are present.

Just a few years ago David Marcus of Wiscasset took on the maintenance of the trail system as an Eagle Scout project. Along with blazing the trail system, Marcus built kiosks at the trailheads and added helpful directional markers. A downloadable map of the trail system is available be visiting www.wiscasset.org and clicking on community trails.

The Sortwell Memorial Forest is owned by the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) based in Littleton, Massachusetts, which manages it for sustainable forestry. It’s open to the public for non-motorized recreation.

In 1955 the late Daniel R. Sortwell of Wiscasset donated the forested land behind his home to NEFF. Twenty years later, his sister Marion Warland, also of Wiscasset, donated two abutting parcels bringing the total acreage of the preserve to a little over 90 acres. The land is abundant with towering northern pine, hemlock, birch and hardwood trees.

“This spring we are focusing on cleaning up the trails west of the village,” Leslie told the newspaper. “In years to come, we hope interested community members will help us maintain trails in other parts of Wiscasset too.”