Trail Adopters
Trail Maintenance Par Excellence
Last Year’s Dinner
A Few of the Local Inhabitants
Grand Manan Trails

UPDATE - Bob Stone
This was a busy year on the trails, with more hours spent in May-June preparation by Anne and Jessie, followed by regular upkeep by our “trails adopters”. We had more adopters this year than any previous year, and they have done a terrific job in keeping the trials in good shape. Generally the comments about the conditions of the trails have been very positive. In fact, on CBC’s Radio Noon, our trails were called the “best maintained trails in New Brunswick”. We do receive a few letters from hikers who have had some difficulties finding their way, which emphasizes that the markings cannot be too clear. Beavers, clear cutting, and sign removal have been some of the challenges this year, but, overall, the trails have offered a great deal of enjoyment to many people.
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TRAIL MAINTENANCE PAR EXCELLENCE - Judy Stone
Hikers who have encountered Anne Mitchell and Jessie James at work express amazement at this unlikely dynamic duo. If you are meeting them, you first encounter a machete-wielding powerhouse who mows down alders with the efficiency
of a well-maintained machine. Once Jessie passes, you will be treated to the vision of a slim, elegant woman who looks as chic in her green Wellingtons and plaid shirt as she would in full formal dress. However, her choice of accessories, a chain saw and gas can, might give the observer a moment of hesitation. Thanks to these two dedicated individuals, the rest of those who take responsibility for trail upkeep find their sections in great shape at the beginning of the season.

We had the privilege of accompanying them and their faithful supervisor “Pinky” from “The Whistle” to Dark Harbour in May, and can attest to the fact that they take a personal pride in every aspect of the trial system, carefully checking red markers from both directions and clearing overgrowth with a vengeance. If a fallen tree blocks the path, Anne delivers the chainsaw to Jessie and then stands back. (She also stays clear of the “cutlass”, just in case of accidental beheading.) If the trail seems too close to the edge, they carefully re-route, doing as little cutting as possible, and tidying as they go. If a beaver pond threatens to force a major detour, as it did at the Money Brook crossing, Jessie, with a grin of one
who loves a challenge, wades to the other side, boots filling with water, and hauls out dead trees and logs to make a
bridge for his companions. If bugs are voracious, as they were that day, Anne and Jessie become banquet material and
do not hurry their pace just to avoid being devoured (as did their companions). Only when they are totally satisfied that hikers will encounter the best possible conditions do they proceed to the next section.

TRAIL ADOPTERS: 2006

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In the kitchen were a number of people helping out for free, including: Ce Bowden, Anne Mitchell, Linda L’Aventure, Joanne Ingalls, Fredonna Dean and Jana Gatta. We are very grateful to all of them.

At one end of the room the Stones had set up a computer slide show of scenes along the various trails. Basil Small, as head of the Rotary Club of Grand Manan was there to thank the Friends of Grand Manan Trails for their contribution towards the cost of painting Swallowtail Light. Altogether it added about $1000 to our budget for keeping up the trails and it was a great success.

A FEW OF THE LOCAL INHABITANTS
When the Loyalists settled here, there were no large mammals on the islands. The onl y non-fl yi ng, non-swimming
species native to Grand Manan are two rodents - the meadow vole and the deer mouse. Both are bigger than their mainland counterparts.
•Beavers were brought over about 1948 by residents, presumabl y for the purpose of establishing a population
which could be trapped for pelts.
•The otter came by himself, swimming over from the mainland.
•Muskrats were introduced about 1935, to be trapped.
•The Norway rat and the house mouse probably came by ship.
•But nobody is quite sure how the red squirrel got here.

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GRAND MANAN TRAILS

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.
-John Muir

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THE TRAILS MEETING
On June 6th there was a Trails meeting at Ce and Gene’s place at Harrington Cove; almost all the trail adopters were present. The eighth edition of the Grand Manan Trails guide, edited by Bob Stone, has just been published, and for the first time it has a cover in colour and the price has been slightly increased. It has been revised over the winter, marking a number of changes. Also for the first time GPS waypoints have been included for major landmarks, listed by latitude and longitude. There was a discussion of trial adoption and what it involved; keeping the trail clear of brush and bramble, checking on erosion that would endanger the trial, and making sure that signs are clear. Trail adopters were handed out packets including clippers, a small saw, heavy work gloves and a copy of the new Trails guide. Jessie and Anne, who do the heavy work on the trails in May and June, reported on what they had done so far.

TRAILS COMMITTEE
Bob and Judy Stone
Frances Hodge
Cecilia Bowden
Jessie James and Anne Mitchell
Pete and Carmen Roberts

BIRD NOTES, 2006 - Peter Pearce
It can be said to have been fairly quiet on the Grand Manan birdwatching front in 2006 because of apparent declining populations of many avian species. The forests hardly rang with songbird voices and there were unusually few shorebirds along the strand. But, as always, the island lived up to its reputation during the year as the place to see birds in considerable variety and of regional rarity.

So it was that a Common Moorhen, rare here despite its name, was at Whale Cove in the spring and a much-sought-after Connecticut Warbler at Long Eddy Point in the fall. Several Peregrine Falcons, an endangered species, were noted - one on White Head Island spreading alarm and despondency among migrating shorebirds. Thanks to conservation efforts, Peregrines have staged quite a comeback in the last few decades. In contrast, a Piping Plover, an endangered bird hardly ever encountered on Grand Manan, spent a few August days on Long Pond Beach. On adjacent Great Pond a Eurasian Wigeon, a transatlantic visitor, joined the few pairs of its quite common American cousins breeding there.

One of the most exciting events during the year was the spotting of a Magnificent Frigatebird off northern Grand Manan in September. That was a bird from a faraway warmer clime that had not been reported in New Brunswick. At a different level of accessibility, a pair of Northern Cardinals brought their young to a Castalia bird feeder, to the delight of the homeowners peering from their kitchen window. And in Grand Harbour a Black-billed Cuckoo continued to sing, morning and evening, throughout the summer.

Included on a list of observed birds that might be characterized as “usual unusuals” were Egrets at Castalia Marsh, House Wrens and Prairie Warblers near Sourthwestern Head and a Clay-colored Sparrow at North Head.

In the short-term, the super abundance of mountain ash berries and spruce cones augurs well for some fruit - and seed-eating birds this coming winter. As for the long-term, in consideration of climate change - perhaps already manifesting itself in New Brunswick - who knows what exotic birds the future will bring to Grand Manan.

******* Peter Pearce was, in his professional life, a wildlife toxicologist, which meant that he was actually paid to watch birds. Now he does it for fun, and has been watching Grand Manan birds for nearly fifty years.

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HIKING IN THE 1920s
Miss Jacobus (from Whale Cove Cottages) and friends going down to Dark Harbour. The road was little more than a cart track until a good one was finished in 1928. It was built mainly with “Statute Labour”, a system whereby citizens were called out to work for certain periods of time depending upon an assessment made of their property. Enoch Green was one of those who helped to build the road-way which ended where the steep entrance now
begins. A footpath skirted the high hill and it was not until some years later, after Andrew Johnson carved the road extension from the rocky hillside, that vehicles could be brought in. For his services, Mr. Johnson was promised a supply of herring as fertilizer for his farm. “The Cottage Girls,” a group of young women from the United States who became the nucleus of Whale Cove Cottages, were very active in the 20s and 30s in walking the local trails and keeping them open.

**Photographs kindly loaned by Mary Mossman.
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GEORGE LOGAN
George Logan died in June, aged 88, and probably just the way he wanted to– out on one of his many walks near Ottawa where he lived with his wife Helen. He was a keen hiker of the Grand Manan Trails and was usually out there somewhere
in all weather, especially in the fog which he loved. He would seriously complain if a week went by without it.

At the beginning of July a number of his friends gathered together for a picnic to celebrate his visits here, and this is Holly Cheney’s memory of him: “My first view of George Logan was about this time of year in 2001. We had just bought the
Motel and I happened to look out the kitchen window, when up from the beach came someone who looked like a cross between Ichabod Crane and Inspector Gadget, making long strides toward apartment #28 - George and Helen’s summer home here on the Island for many years. Wearing as usual a long-sleeved dress shirt (ironed), Bermuda shorts, knee socks, sturdy shoes, Tilley hat, the GPS around his neck and ski poles in hand. George certainly loved all his gadgets: computer, printer, digital camera, cell phone, handheld GPS. He would go for a hike all day - Helen would drop him off and come home - and then he would call her on his cell phone to pick him up at the Whistle, or Dark Harbour, or the Anchorage, or out some dirt road at the back of the Island.” He only had to be rescued once, when he was brought out on the back of an ATV which he found a very scary experience. He insisted that he was not lost.

George was born in Saint John and finally settled in Ottawa where he worked for the Government. In 1999, he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution in founding the Canadian Microelectronics Industry. Besides his
beloved wife, Helen, he leaves three children, two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and many friends on Grand Manan who remember him with great affection.

Photographs from Susan Sargent
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FRIENDS OF GRAND MANAN TRAILS