Poland Town Manager Matt Garside, left, Don Stover, center, and Fred Huntress attend a recent meeting at which Stover was honored for his service on the town Conservation Commission. Fellow commission member Huntress recalled, “In front of some Select Board meetings I would get up, my face would get red, my voice rise, you could tell I was mad. And then Don would get up with his nice, professional voice and calm them down and usually they went along with what we asked.” Eriks Petersons photo
POLAND — In 2008, Don Stover said he managed to lead the newly formed Poland Conservation Commission by not knowing “much about conservation really except I do like to walk on trails and get to know woods.”
“They picked the dumbest and least qualified to be the chairman,” Stover said about himself at the recent commission meeting when Town Manager Matt Garside presented him with a plaque thanking him for his years of service.
“For his 14 years of dedicated service as a member of the Poland Conservation Commission since its incorporation in 2008 . . . His leadership as chairman and secretary was instrumental in promoting and enacting the conservation projects including Bragdon Hill, Heart of Poland and Waterhouse Park,” the plaque’s inscription reads.
The retired psychologist recalled, “When we started, we weren’t sure what we were going to do. . . . I think there were people in town who thought we were to handle trash at the Transfer Station.”
One of the initial things the commission did was to learn what townspeople wanted from them.
At the November 2009 elections, the commission members asked residents to participate in a voluntary survey on the town’s open space.
Over 200 residents completed the survey and 90% were in favor of preserving and utilizing open space in town for the following reasons: Insure balanced development, maintain natural environment, provide a rural quality of life, and consideration for future generations.
Waterhouse Brook area and Bragdon Hill were specifically mentioned in the survey by the residents.
One of the first projects Stover held high hopes for was to preserve the Waterhouse Brook area, starting from behind the Poland Community School leading to the stretch of land by the fire station.
Stover said he had been drawn to the idea of a park in that area for years since he drove past it every day.
“I was always struck with the pond there at the dam behind the firehouse. . . . We ought to be able to do something,” he said.
One of the first photographs Stover took was that pond in the winter. Stover said a relative of his was commissioned to do a painting of the pond for a friend of his.
Years before the commission was formed, Stover was on a committee encouraging the town to purchase “a big chunk of the land” behind the school for athletic and educational purposes.
“We were drummed out of the town office,” Stover said. “I thought at the time one of the sellers was on unfriendly terms with one of the selectpeople.”
The Waterhouse Park and Trail did come to fruition years later, as have other parcels in Poland including Bragdon Hill and Hilt Hollow, which together with the 32-acre Furnham lot comprise the Heart of Poland Conservation Area.
Stover said, “Looking back it took a while for it (the Conservation Commission) to get underway, and there was a lot of suspiciousness in the town about what we were doing.”
For instance, the commission was accused of taking land off the tax rolls. “That we were taking something away from people,” Stover said. “Some of the business interests were very distrustful of what we were doing, but from the beginning we saw it as good for the town economically.”
Stover said the commission members “saw it as giving something to this town, making it a better town.”
He added, “Research studies have shown that conservationists caught on more and more at town levels in Maine that parks and recreation is good for the town economically.”
Fellow Commissioner Fred Huntress remembers, “In front of some Select Board meetings I would get up, my face would get red, my voice rise, you could tell I was mad. And then Don would get up with his nice, professional voice and calm them down and usually they went along with what we asked.”
Garside said in his six years of knowing Stover, “I never heard Don say, ‘I did this or I did that.’ Never said what he accomplished or was part of a group who accomplished.”
Speaking directly to Stover at the meeting, Garside said, “You have never, ever tried to big note yourself. You were just happy to let the accomplishment sit out on its own. Speaks very highly of you.”
Stover and his wife, Eunice, will be moving from Poland, which they’ve called home for 50 years, and resettling in Brunswick.
Stover said the Conservation Commission was a “great group effort with a great group of people.”
“It was a privilege to live in Poland,” Stover said.
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