Paying little attention to visitors, a herd of 35 beef cattle relaxed on a hillside Monday not far from their drinking fountains at Walnut Crest Farm, off Route 25 in Gorham.

The scene – cattle dotting the bucolic, rolling farmland – is timeless. But there’s a big difference now. For the first time in centuries, the herd in pastures at the farm no longer treks down a bank of the Presumpscot River to drink water. These days, an alternative watering source is not only quenching their thirst, but also is stabilizing the riverbank and preventing a major source of river pollution.

Dale Rines, a fourth-generation member of the Rines family that has owned the farm since the 1890s, was concerned enough about the problems at the river his herd caused to contact Betty Williams, project manager at Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation District, about a remedy for the situation.

She had one: Rines was awarded a grant to stabilize the riverbank area and provide an alternative watering source for cattle to drink. He is the only one in New England and one of only 12 nationwide to receive such a grant.

The project is part of a watershed initiative, aimed at improving water quality of the Presumpscot River, which flows 27 miles from Sebago Lake to Casco Bay. Money for the Rines’ project derived from a portion of a $739,000 grant received by Casco Bay Estuary Partnership and Presumpscot River Watershed Coalition in February 2006 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The grant targets cost-share projects with farmers to reduce the impact of livestock on streams. But Williams said pollution reaches the Presumpscot River from a variety of sources, including runoff from pavement. The watershed area, which covers about 205 square miles, is under housing development pressure. Williams said even homeowners with lawns that go right to the water impact the river. Without barriers of shrubs and trees, lawn chemicals can wash into the water, Williams said.

Industrial discharges had polluted the river for decades, but the water quality has improved in recent years with the cessation of pulp mill discharges. Williams also credits education and more public awareness with improving water quality.

Fred Dillon of Portland is a volunteer with the Presumpscot River Watch, which tests water from the Presumpscot at its lab in Gorham. Dillon said Wednesday the pre-2007 testing of water 2.5 miles above the farm and a mile below showed an increase in e-coli bacteria in the past seven or eight years. But, Dillon said, that stretch of the river now mostly meets the state’s water quality standards.

Rines was concerned about the potential problems stemming from bare ground on the riverbank where cattle went to drink. Rines’ project marks the first of its kind in the county.

“It’s going to work,” said Williams, hoping more farms participate. “The cows don’t mind too much.”

Rines and volunteer workers did the labor, totaling $10,161. The grant paid $4,867 for trees and reimbursed Rines $3,173 for fencing and water system.

“No money out of pocket for Dale,” Williams said, adding grant money is still available to other farmers.

She said the goal is to exclude livestock from the river and its tributaries. At other farms farther upstream, Williams said, cattle are getting into the water, contributing to elevated bacteria counts in the river.

At Walnut Crest Farm last spring, pines were planted by hand along the riverbank, completing the planting of 3,700 pine seedlings that began one year ago on four acres as a protective buffer along the river. Only a few scattered pine seedlings have turned brown.

“Considering it has been a dry year, I think we’re doing alright,” said Rines, who is a member of the Gorham Parks and Conservation Committee.

As he scanned the project this week, turkeys gobbled nearby in a stand of tall pines. Those trees were planted in the pasture by Rines’ grandfather in the mid 1960s.

A new, 600-foot fence keeps livestock away from the newly buffered area, where cattle had been drinking since the 1800s. A pipe installed this summer runs from the barn to concrete water fountains in the pastures. Crushed stone was placed where cattle congregate near the fountains.

“Water comes from the farm well now instead of flowing down from Sebago Lake,” Rines said.

The farm now has approximately 75 acres of pasture and 75 acres of hay land. Rines said the property has been known historically as part of “Smith’s 300 acres,” a land grant in the 1700s. It was once farmed by John Tyng Smith.

“It was laid out before the town was settled,” said Rines, who added that the land grant was established before John Phinney, Gorham’s first settler, “paddled by.”

Rines said the Smiths were ambitious farmers and farmland was cleared from a forest. “There were white pines and we put white pines back,” Rines said.

Recalling another historical anecdote, Rines said James Phinney Baxter, father of a long-ago Maine governor, Percival Baxter, once lived on the farm. But Rines said Baxter was a city boy and froze during winter months in a former house on the hill there.

“They moved back to town. It was too cold,” Rines said.