You may have hiked the trails at Buck’s Ledge trail before but some residents have been concerned for years about their future, and on Saturday, Buck’s Ledge Community Forest became a reality.

To celebrate the occasion, volunteers, town and state officials, and local nonprofits came together to dedicate the new Community Forest and unveil a new kiosk as well as benches designed by Telstar students.

Jane Chandler, chair of the Woodstock Conservation Commission has been working for years to make sure that Buck’s ledge became a “forever forest.”

“Some projects are marathons and some are sprints,” Chandler said. “This was both! The last 14 months was the sprint.”

Chandler explained that the project really started back in 2007, when Land For Maine’s Future [LMF] authorized funds, but they did not have an agreement yet with the seller, Bayroot LLC, on the price. Bayroot did allow them to add a parking lot and to build trails. Chandler told how Oxford County Conservation Corps hired young people back in 2016 to build some of those trails.

“Many of those young people were so impressed that they brought their family or friends to see what they had done,” Chandler said. “They felt connected to this place; they are part of this place. Young people told us what was important to them, and we agreed. We took the trails to where they wanted them. We involved young people at every step of this process. We all feel connected to this place, some way or another. We didn’t let go of our dream.”

By 2020, students at Telstar turned their efforts to fundraising and saw that they could make a difference. “They did,” Chandler said. “They helped buy this place.”

The Town of Woodstock now owns the entire 646 acres.

“We had a shared vision for the future that really is about creating a lasting legacy,” Ed Rosenberg, also on the Conservation Commission, told the assembled crowd on Saturday. “We’re no longer just a group of trails on somebody else’s land.”

He credited the town highway department, who created a beautiful extension of the parking lot and fixed the first section of the road and the gate in just four days. “They are just amazing craftsmen,” he said.

There were thanks and congratulations all around, from moderator Steve Wight, from Town Manager Vern Maxfield, from Mahoosuc Land Trust’s Kirk Siegel, Northern Forest Center’s Julie Evans. Ron Deegan, chair of the Woodstock Select Board – who also drove the shuttle bus for the day – read a proclamation from the town that declares the second Saturday of October each year as Buck’s Ledge Community Forest Appreciation Day.

Liz Petruska from the State Bureau of Parks and Lands was also on hand for the dedication. Her department works closely with the Land for Maine’s Future program and with land trusts and communities and towns across the state to conserve key parcels for Mainers and visitors, she explained.

“Our agency is really proud to be a sponsor of this project,” Petruska said, “because of the many conservation values it has—a unique mix of recreational opportunities for hiking and snowmobiling, even rock climbing, and of course for its contribution to several state-wide conservation goals. The Buck’s Ledge property is a special place; it contains geological settings and habitats that are underrepresented in Maine’s conservation lands. Our conservation efforts at the state or community level are only going to be more important over time. So it’s really critical the we continue to work together to identify and protect these unique and important communities now and ensure accessibility for people in the future.”

Telstar Middle School students in Melissa Prescott’s community art class created an art installation to greet visitors to Buck’s Ledge, entitled “Heart of the Forest.” They also designed and built benches for along the trails. The first bench sits in front of the kiosk.

“We wanted something that was colorful and welcoming,” said Michaela Mowery, one of the students involved, “and we thought, what’s more welcoming than saying ‘welcome’? But the message isn’t just saying, ‘Welcome to Buck’s Ledge,’ it’s saying to welcome ALL to Buck’s Ledge.”

“The best part about this entire experience,” Mowery explained, “is that a bunch of people who have never met us kids, except on Zoom, were willing to entrust this project to us, even though they’ve been working on it for many years.”

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