RUMFORD — Inland Woods + Trails celebrated on Sept. 19 the donation of 52 acres to the Rumford Community Forest, a permanently protected, nearly 500-acre natural and recreational area at 161 Isthmus Road.

Gabe Perkins, executive director of Inland Woods + Trails, said the tract will be called the Lucy and Christy Pachios Woods in honor of the couple whose family donated the land.

“I’m very grateful that you’ve chosen to honor my parents (Christy Pachios and Lucy Cokkinias), who acquired the property back in 1953,” said Harold Pachios in a letter read by Perkins. “My parents had a strong sentimental attachment to the property, although they rarely visited it. My family didn’t contemplate selling the property until last year, when we received a written offer of $66,000 to purchase it.”

Harold Pachios credited Rumford native Severin Beliveau and his brother Albert, who both established the Friends of River Valley group, with urging him to donate the property to benefit the region.

“And we couldn’t be happier that this land will be owned and maintained by a wonderful organization on behalf of the community,” Harold Pachios said.

Town Manager George O’Keefe noted that Christy Pachios was also involved in the transaction for the land that ultimately became Rumford Elementary School.

“Christy was the seller on the land parcel that the former Rumford Elementary School sits on today, which is about to become our new community center in the upcoming years,” O’Keefe said. “So, the Pachios family has a really deep footprint in our community, in terms of enhancing public gathering spaces and making it possible to be a successful, functional and prosperous community.”

Jeff Sloan, president of the Inland Woods + Trails board of directors, said they received a trail grant last fall to build mountain bike and hiking trails.

“We’ve had the Maine Conservation Corps, a crew of five people, right here building the hiking part of it. They’ve been at it for three or four weeks,” he said, adding the goal is to establish about 10 miles of trails, between mountain biking and hiking, for all different skills levels.

Sloan said that based on the terrain, none of the trails for hiking or biking will be more than beginner to intermediate. They met with local residents for a year before deciding how to best use the property, he added.

“It’s not really steep, but enough to make interesting mountain biking,” Sloan said. “A lot of work is involved. To build a one-mile loop this summer for the first mountain biking, it took six weeks. It’s machine built, so you’re getting all the roots and rocks out so it can flow down. And it makes it resilient, so when it rains, it drains properly.”

The community forest has a trail counter, an eye that counts when people walk into the community forest, Sloan said, though a final tally won’t be known until the end of the season.

“Even while we were building it, there were people showing up all the time,” he said. “So, we’re very excited. This is beyond our wildest dream how well it’s used.”

Sloan said one of the trails, which they call the Rumford Adventure Trail, is a demonstration forest.

He noted that for “one little piece of property, we’ve got an awful lot going on.”

Karen Wilson, chair of the Rumford Community Forest management team, showed some of the new signs that will be posted along the trails.

“One of our big goals has been building the Pennacook Area Community Trails behind the high school and then establishing the community forest here, to create a great place for our townspeople and local area River Valley residents to recreate,” she said, “and also to get people to come from other areas to recreate here as well.”

Following the dedication, Sloan led a group to clear debris from what will become the Learning Point Trail. At the end of the short two-tenths of the mile trail, they want to build a pavilion.

“Next year, the plan is to get a grant and build an outdoor learning pavilion there,” he said, noting the vision is for the center to become the most useful place in the community forest. “Teachers are going to have classes here, the whole thing.”

Among the tours given during the morning were the mountain bike trails called Upsey and Daisy, and a hike up Porcupine Ridge to see work that’s been done for the past year or so. Porcupine Ridge and Ironwood Trails create nearly a three-mile loop.

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