The Saco Heath

Joseph Deering (1894 - 1987), Saco's greatest conservation benefactor, donated 475 acres of the Great Saco Heath to The Nature Conservancy in 1986. Subsequent acquisitions increased the preserve to more than 1,000 acres. Several attempts to mine the heath for its peat ended when the State provided funds to purchase and permanently protect that portion of the Heath.

Click to enlarge Length (roundtrip): 1.8 miles. Directions to trailhead: Drive northwest on the Buxton Road (Rt. 112) for 1.7 miles after passing over the Maine Turnpike. A parking area, marked by a TNC sign, on the right side of the road may be missed as it sits behind a border of trees. Look for a small Nature Conservancy sign at the entrance to the parking lot. Estimated walking time: 90 minutes.

The trail begins as a woodland path with occasional boardwalks providing drier footing. After a half mile, the floating boardwalk, co-sponsored by the Saco Bay Rotary Club, extends onto the open heath. The Saco Heath was once a pair of acidic ponds. The acid bog water found in the ponds slows decay of the dead plant material, particularly sphagnum moss, also known as peat. Over centuries, the two ponds filled with partially decayed peat, and the peat mats eventually grew together forming what is known as a raised coalesced bog. Today as you cross the Heath on the floating boardwalk, you are at times standing on top of 20 feet of water and partially decayed sphagnum moss. The boardwalk passes over a lake left by the last glacier, which receded about 9,000 years ago. This preserve also contains one of the most northerly stands of Atlantic White Cedar, a state-threatened species, and is perhaps the only known location in the world where Atlantic White Cedar grows on a raised bog. Insect eating plants such as the pitcher plant are common to the Saco Heath.

Few people have the opportunity to visit a heath, or bog, as they are also called, because the surface is often wet and unable to support a person's weight. (Do not leave the trail. There are legends of people sinking out of sight forever in this ÒbottomlessÓ bog.) This site offers the visitor the unusual pleasure of viewing northern bog vegetation from the floating walkway. A similar walkway may be visited at West Quoddy Head State Park, Lubec, Maine.

The trail is open from sunrise to sunset. Please leave pets at home. Pets are NOT permitted within The Nature Conservancy's preserve. Other preserve rules are posted at the beginning of the trail. A TNC pamphlet is available at the trailhead. Benches are provided at two places on the floating boardwalk.