Orono Bog Boardwalk, Orono

The Orono Bog Boardwalk is 4,200 feet long and is composed of 509 sections 8 feet long and 4 feet wide, plus connector bridging at turns. Seven interpretive stations plus an orientation kiosk educate Boardwalk visitors about the various habitats and wildlife present, as well as the geologic history of the Orono Bog. Benches every 200 feet provide visitors rest areas and are placed at wheelchair turnaround sections.

Currently, over 50 volunteers help to maintain the Boardwalk, guide tour groups, lead nature walks, and do the countless other jobs that allow visitors to have an enjoyable experience. Volunteers in 2011 contributed over 3,300 hours in work at or for the Boardwalk. Since opening in 2003, volunteers have provided over 25,000 hours of work. The original Boardwalk took over 8 months to build by more than 100 volunteers, as well as the Maine Conservation Corps, carpentry crews from the Charleston Correctional Facility, and other groups.

Every year schools and other community groups take advantage of our free guided walks. In the last 5 years, 86 K-12 school groups (2,806 students), 40 civic and other groups (466 attendees), and numerous self guided college and university classes came to the Boardwalk. Since June 2003, over 275,000 visits have been made to the Boardwalk. In the first 14 weeks of the 2012 season, over 14,800 visits were recorded.

Boardwalk volunteers raised $223,000 during Phase I of the Orono Bog Boardwalk Capital Campaign. We are now engaged in Phase II to raise the needed $298,000 to continue the work. As of January 1, 2014 we have raised $60,000 toward Phase II which we hope to complete by the end of 2014. For Phase III we will need to raise $500,000. We hope to complete Phase III by the end of 2015. Completion of Phase's II and III will make the Orono Bog Boardwalk available for our thousands of visitors well in to the future.

For more information about ways to support the Orono Bog Boardwalk or about methods and advantages of charitable giving through the University of Maine Foundation, please contact Jeffery N. Mills, President/CEO, (207) 581-5100 or (800) 982-9503, or by e-mail at jeffmills@maine.edu.

If you have questions about the Orono Bog Boardwalk and its reconstruction or the capital campaign, please contact Boardwalk Director Jim Bird at jim.bird@umit.maine.edu or (207) 581-1697.

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