Warblers danced through the trees, flashes of yellow and orange. Their sweet songs echoed through the woods as we strolled along the smooth paths of the Rolland F. Perry City Forest in Bangor.
That morning in May, I was birding with two friends. And coincidentally, at the same moment, a grandson of Rolland Perry, the man the forest was named after, sent me a message.
At 89 years old, Rolland was dying, his grandson Jeremy Perry told me. Would I like to write about him?
The coincidence was too significant to be ignored. I’d just spent the morning walking under the shade of trees that Rolland planted during his 42 years as Bangor city forester. While I’d never met the man, I had benefited countless times from his vision and hard work.
Later that day on May 15, Rolland died. I waited a few days, then reached out to some of his family members to learn more about him, and specifically, his time as a forester.
“You see a tree [in Bangor], think about him because he probably put it there,” said Lillian Roque, Rolland’s wife of 20 years.
Over the course of Rolland’s career, he oversaw the planting of exactly 812,809 trees in Bangor, as documented in his meticulous records. His only regret was that he didn’t reach 1 million trees, according to a 2006 BDN article about his retirement.
“I don’t think he really wanted to retire, even at age 70,” said Lillian. “He was very dedicated to the trees and his job.”
Back in 1964, Rolland was hired by the city and given a daunting mission: to replace about 8,000 trees infested by Dutch elm disease. If you’ve ever cut down just one tree, you’ll understand just how big of a challenge this was. The job was dangerous, and to replace all the dying trees, he established the city’s first tree nursery.
The 1998 Ice Storm, which damaged hundreds more trees, presented him with a new project. Plus he was responsible for some of the ornamental flower plantings around the city, including the perennials that pop up around City Hall each spring.
After his retirement, he’d often go for a drive to check on the trees that he and his crew planted along Bangor’s streets.
“He had — I think paternal is the best word — a very fatherly feeling about all of these trees,” Lillian said.
While Rolland helped beautify the developed areas of the city, he also worked to save pockets of wilderness where people could enjoy nature within the boundaries of Bangor. To say he had a hand in the creation of the city’s four public forests is an understatement.
In addition to piecing together the 680-acre city forest that now bears his name, he helped create 28-acre Brown Woods, 35-acre Prentiss Woods and 70-acre Essex Woods.
“He liked to talk about Essex Woods and how he helped transform that recreation area, which used to be a dumping ground for garbage and a lot of junk,” said Jeremy. “He laid the groundwork for what you see at Essex Woods today.”
For years now, the wetland area of Essex Woods has been one of my favorite local spots to photograph wading birds like egrets and herons, plus a variety of ducks and songbirds. It has also turned into a fun mountain biking destination, with single-track trails snaking through the woods, up and over hills.
When speaking to Rolland’s family, I tried to get a sense of why he did what he did. Why did he work so hard planting trees and establishing trails for the community? From their stories, I gathered that he simply loved the outdoors and wanted to share that joy with others.
Rolland grew up on a farm in Lincoln, surrounded by nature.
“If he wasn’t working on the farm, he was out doing something in the woods,” said his grandson Ben Amarel. “It was absolutely a part of his identity. And it wasn’t even necessarily about the fishing or about the hunting, he just loved to be out in nature.”
As a kid, Ben would sometimes accompany Rolland on treks through the Bangor city forest as he painstakingly mapped trees and trails with a GPS device.
“I was just along for the ride,” Ben said. “But it was clear how important it was for him to create this thing so people could go out and have a place in Bangor to escape to some nature.”
Today, the Rolland F. Perry City Forest is a popular place where people bike, walk, run, cross-country ski, push strollers, use wheelchairs, snowshoe, walk dogs and look for birds on more than 9 miles of intersecting trails. This sizable slice of wilderness is nestled in the northeast corner of Bangor, just down the road from big box stores and restaurants.
It’s a haven for wildlife, plants and people.
“I think it was probably one of his proudest accomplishments,” said Rolland’s son, Kevin Perry. “One thing that’s very important to me is that they keep it as a public forest and don’t develop it. We need more wild places.”
At the entrance of the forest, a dark green sign with gold lettering commemorates Rolland, stating that “his vision, dedication and perseverance preserved this living resource for generations to come.”
What a legacy, to leave a piece of the world better than you found it.
I wish I’d had the opportunity to shake his hand, buy him a cup of coffee and thank him. I’m sure some of you feel the same. Though I would bet he’d prefer that we simply enjoy and take care of what he built, walk under the shade of the trees he planted and search for warblers in their branches.
