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Cobbossee Stream Conservation Area & Harrison Nature Trail
Location and Description:
Location: Gardiner, Maine
Property Description: Visitors to the 14-acre Cobbossee Stream Conservation Area and the 15-acre City of Gardiner Harrison Avenue Nature Trail will enjoy an ~ 0.8 mile round trip hike along a stream-side trail. KLT holds a conservation easement on the Cobbossee Stream Conservation Area, which is owned and managed by the City of Gardiner.
Directions: Access is from Route 126 to Harrison Avenue, immediately west of the bridge over Cobbossee Stream. Limited parking is available at the height of land along the east side of Harrison Avenue. A kiosk marks the trail entrance; QR signs along the trail enable digital access to history and wildlife information.
Usage
Allowable Uses: hiking, nature observation, snowshoeing. No motorized vehicles. Dogs are allowed on a leash. Please clean up after your pets.
Hemlocks on the bank of Cobbossee Stream in Gardiner, Credit: Theresa Kerchner
History & Ecology:
Brick walls, remnants of dams, and rusted pipes illustrate a time when Gardiner was a thriving industrial city powered by Cobbossee Stream. In just the year 1860, thirty-one businesses lined the lower stream using hydro-mechanical power to grind grain and produce sawn lumber, clapboards, brooms, boxes, doors, sashes, and other wood items. More than four hundred employees generated two million dollars in products.
The Harrison Avenue Nature trail showcases the spring migration of alewives and American eels which attracts ospreys, bald eagles, double-crested cormorants, great blue herons, belted kingfishers, and gulls. Below the lowermost dam in the Cobbossee Stream Conservation Area, sea-run fish gather as water roars over granite blocks and birds cry as they fly, pivot and dive to drive away competitors while swallowing fish whole. In autumn, the migration is reversed. Birds reconvene to feed on out-migrating juvenile alewives and adult silver eels move downstream to the Kennebec, through the Gulf of Maine en-route to the Sargasso Sea off Bermuda to spawn.
Many species of birds migrate to and through the mature red oaks, eastern hemlocks, and early successional and wetland habitats on this conservation land. In 2019, unprecedented waves of warblers and other species filled streamside branches. In winter, the ice-free stream attracts common, hooded and red-breasted mergansers, black ducks, and mallards. The resident mammals, including deer, raccoons, and river otters, leave telltale signs of tracks and scat, and beavers leave partially chewed trees.
Brochure, courtesy of Upstream.
Upstream in Gardiner advocates for dam removal on Cobbossee Stream and also organizes nature walks and events.