For many people living in Midcoast Maine, the abundant opportunities to hike, cross-country ski, mountain bike or paddle are vital to why they live here and how they spend their free time. But for others, there are obstacles to taking advantage of those opportunities: cost, accessibility, transportation or lack of skills keep many from the health and happiness benefits of outdoor recreating.

Using its Hidden Valley Nature Center as a model, Midcoast Conservancy has launched a Community Hubs program, whose objective is to ensure that no one in its focus area is ever more than 15 minutes from a center for outdoor adventure and learning. To make that happen, Midcoast Conservancy is working with partners in each of the communities where a hub is located to provide a location and facilities; Midcoast Conservancy will bring the instructors and gear to each site for monthly events, at no cost to participants. Imagine a trailer full of skis, boots, snow pants and gloves pulling up to the Walker Memorial Elementary School in Liberty, where waiting families are fitted for gear before a ski teacher takes them on a tour around the trails behind the school. Or a trailer full of mountain bikes and helmets that can get an eager group of riders at Wiscasset Community Center out on the trail. Other hubs set to host programs this fall include Whitefield and Thorndike, with more to come in 2017.

Midcoast Conservancy wants to make sure that communities help determine what events they would most like to see happen in their area. Open Houses have been held in Wiscasset and Liberty already, drawing more than 50 people to each for a mountain bike ride, dinner and conversation about hopes for future hub experiences. The enthusiasm and engagement that have marked these Open Houses is evidence that the Outdoor Adventure & Learning Hubs is an idea whose time has come, and Midcoast Conservancy looks forward to the ongoing partnership with communities across the Midcoast area as it provides more outdoor opportunities for kids and their families.

For more information, or to share any feedback on the community hubs, contact Andy Bezon at Midcoast Conservancy, (207) 389-5156 or andyb@midcoastconservancy.org.