Daryn photo column on Old Growth Forest

Old, and getting older

Bob Packard first noticed the tree when it was barely sticking up from the forest floor. With a little luck, the young hemlock will one day stand more than 150 feet tall.

Packard and his wife, Ella Mae, have protected the land around the tree from development – forever.

Nestled between the Sabattus River and No Name Brook only 1,200 feet from the Lewiston town line is a 10-acre parcel with trees pushing 300 years old.

“Whatever Mother Nature dishes out” is the hands-off-approach that the Packards decided to take.

The land has been in Ella Mae’s family since 1853, when her great-great grandmother married Seth Bickford. Generations have passed and the trees have grown bigger. The stand is surrounded by the Packard-Littlefield Farm, a 199-acre vegetable and flower farm that was put into permanent conservation in 2003 through the Land for Maine’s Future Program. The farm will remain an active farm or open space. The old-growth forest will never be touched.

“It’s our little part of the world,” said Bob Packard.

Both retired teachers, the Packards have opened their slice of history to educators and wildlife viewers. A local bird club has been out for a visit, and a biologist identified 46 types of birds in the middle of the day when birds are less active.

Bob Packard speaks affectionately of the turtles, eagles and ospreys he encounters on nearby No Name Brook.

“There is more than economic value to these trees,” he said.