by Thomas Owen
Orono, Maine – Sites in the Orono, Old Town, Veazie and Bangor area have always come to experience a form of land usage shift.
The latest example of this is the potential residential use for the lot that used to be home to the Webster Mill along the Penobscot River. Once the EPA grants given to the town are put to use to clean up the land, the next thing to follow could be condominiums.
Such is not the case for the entire coastal area, however.
Meet David Clement, a ten-year tenured member of the Orono Land Trust. Three years ago, he was named President of the organization.
“We moved here back in 1992,” Clement says, “and my interest was noticed by the board there and they asked me to join in 1999.”
Clement’s other life? He is an anesthesiologist at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in neighboring Bangor.
“Most days I go to work at the Hospital, and when I come home I usually have alot of Land Trust e-mails to answer and all these projects,” Clement says.
“Since this is an all-volunteer organization, the President is the de facto Executive Director and coordinates most of the work of the Land Trust.”
A self-described outdoorsman, Clement describes what the organization lists as the Caribou Bog-Penjajawoc Corridor Project.
“It’s a real mouthful,” Clement admits. “Little by little, we have acquired either easements or actual property along this area, the eventual goal being to preserve the area in its natural state for traditonal use… [A]s well as preserve this area as a corridor of natural habitat for the wildlife that normally lives there.”
Land Trust map of recreational corridor. Courtesy of the Orono Land Trust, oronolandtrust.org
“I should mention,” Clement adds, “that I’m really excited about some of the offshoots of the project [for] those of you who like to go outdoors. I foresee it as being a recreational hub for the public, becoming more and more important over the next few years.”
Sitting at his desk in what Clement describes as the “dungeon” of the Orono Historic Society on Bennoch Road, with a computer full of e-mails to his right and an enlarged assessor’s map over his left shoulder, Clement discusses his future.
“My term as President will end in April. Jerry Loncore, who is a retired wildlife biologist, will be taking my place, and I will gladly hand over the reigns to him.”
Clement says he is eager to tackle past activities that he enjoyed doing.
“We used to go dancing, my wife and I did. At least to try to dance, learning how to dance. And that got totally wiped out when I started being President of the Land Trust.”
After his term is up, “We’ve got to find more dance classes to go to,” Clement says with a smile.
For more information on land projects in the Penobscot area, click here.
