LEWISTON – Dog walking and other public uses will still be welcome at the Garcelon Bog when it becomes a conservation area.

“Our goal is to preserve the land for conservation, but we want to include the public in the site, as well,” said Jonathan LaBonte, executive director of the Androscoggin Land Trust.

Councilors on Tuesday approved a series of conservation easements for wetlands around the city, including 107 acres at the Garcelon Bog, south of Sabattus Street and west of Randall Road, and 56 acres around No Name Pond. That land will remain city-owned, but the trust will be given authority to monitor the health and use of the wetlands.

The city, meanwhile, will be responsible for preventing storm water runoff from neighboring streets and homes from draining into the wetland.

“The only authority really granted (to the trust) is to monitor the ecology and wildlife of the site and make sure it stays preserved,” LaBonte said.

But efforts are already under way to make the area more accessible to the public. The city plans on creating a walking path and some bridges connecting Warren Avenue and Marguerette Street as well as a boardwalk off Russell Street.

“There are already paths there that people have been using, so one goal will to be to improve access and get people in without damaging the area,” LaBonte said.

The Garcelon easement is part of the city’s plan to develop a 150-acre business park near Lewiston’s turnpike interchange. The area is dotted with small wetlands and vernal pools, totaling about 5.7 acres.

It took the city nine years of negotiations to get the approvals it needed from the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers before the park could be developed. The trust’s involvement the final step toward approval of the business park.

According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the city agreed to set aside 213 acres of wetlands for protection, in exchange for developing the 5.7 acres of wetlands in the business park. In addition to the land trust easements, the city will protect 50 acres around the business park from development as well. The trust will not be involved in that land, LaBonte said.

With councilors’ approval, the matter goes to the trust’s governing board. LaBonte said he expects the city will file the finished plan with the Army Corps of Engineers early in March and should get final approval later in the month.

He expects trust officials and volunteers will begin evaluating the site this spring to create a report on its condition and will revisit the parcels each year to monitor the ecological health and condition of the properties.