Saco Heath

Joseph Deering, Saco's greatest conservation benefactor, donated 375 acres of the Great Saco Heath to The Nature Conservancy in 1985. Subsequent acquisitions increased the sanctuary to over 500 acres. Attempts to mine the heath for its peat ended when the State provided funds to purchase and permanently protect that portion of the Heath.

The trail is reached by driving northwest on the Buxton Road (Rt. 112) for 1.7 miles after passing over the Maine Turnpike. A parking area, marked with a Nature Conservancy sign, on the right side of the road may be missed as it sits behind a border of trees.

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The trail begins as a woodland path with occasional board walks providing drier footing. After a half mile the open heath is seen where the Saco Bay Rotary Club co-sponsored the floating boardwalk. The Saco Heath was once a pair of ponds that gradually became acidic. This acid bog water acts like vinegar and preserves from decay vegetation such as dead plants that sink into it. The Heath thus filled with peat. Today as you cross the Heath on the floating board walk, you are at times standing on top of 20 feet of water and preserved sphagnum moss. The boardwalk passes over a lake left by the last glacier about 9,000 years ago. This preserve also contains one of the most northerly stands of Atlantic White Cedar, a locally endangered species.

Few people have the opportunity to visit a heath, or bog, as they are also called, because the footing is often dangerous. (Do not leave the trail.) This site offers the visitor the unusual pleasure of viewing a northern bog vegetation from the floating walkway. A similar walkway may be visited at West Quoddy Head State Park, Lubec, which inspired the Heath walkway.

Great Saco Heath

The trail is open from sunrise to sunset. Please leave pets at home because, pets are NOT permitted within the TNC preserve. Other sanctuary rules are posted at the beginning of the trail. A TNC pamphlet is available at the trailhead. Level of difficulty: Easiest. Benches are provided at two places on the floating board walk.