Pitcher perfect
These young pitchers, photographed in June from the Orono Bog Boardwalk, arose about a month earlier from a perennial rootstock that produces new pitchers annually. Pitcher plants are abundant where the walkway first emerges into the open bog and are among four kinds of “carnivorous plants” found in the bog. Also growing nearby are cranberry plants with trailing stems and pink flowers. Photo by Ronald B. Davis
The Orono Bog Boardwalk Endowment Fund was established in the University of Maine Foundation in 2002 to maintain, operate and develop the Orono Bog Boardwalk and associated educational programs. The mile-long boardwalk begins in Bangor’s Rolland F. Perry City Forest and runs through the University of Maine’s property in the Orono Bog. Annually, the boardwalk is a destination for some 35,000 visitors, including more than 800 schoolchildren who receive guided educational tours. Orono Bog Boardwalk is open May through November, affording visitors opportunities to observe the seasonal changes in the colorful, natural beauty of the site’s diverse flora and fauna. The Orono Bog Boardwalk Project was initiated in 1999 by University of Maine professor Ronald B. Davis of Orono and the University of Maine.
