The Kennebunkport Conservation Trust announced it received an award from The L.L.Bean Maine Land Trust Grant Program that is administered by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. According to a Dec. 12 news release, the $10,000 award is one of seven awards awarded this year through the annual L.L.Bean Maine Land Trust Grant Program and the only project funded this year in York County.

The Kennebunkport Conservation received an award from The L.L.Bean Maine Land Trust Grant Program. Contributed / Kennebunkport Conservation Trust

The funds, according to Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, will be used to create a sensory garden that will be installed by trust garden and trail stewards, working with students and teachers from Kennebunk High School. Using the grant funds, the project will revitalize the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust’s Storybook Trail with a new story, new landscaping and a sensory garden area.

The sensory garden will be designed and built by students in the high school’s Alternative Education Program and is aimed at providing a space for children and adults to activate all five of their senses – sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell.

“We’re excited to work on the development of this new trail and sensory garden,” said Jenna Van Haren, education coordinator at Kennebunkport Conservation Trust. “In a time when young people are increasingly connected to technology and increasingly suffering from high levels of anxiety, we’re gratified to be able to work with the local high school to develop a space that supports wellness, roundedness, and a deeper connection to nature.”

Elements of the garden include a series of natural elements; interpretative signage that explains the purpose of a sensory garden; sitting areas where visitors can rest and appreciate the sensory experience; and native plantings that will attract butterflies and birds and that can be touched, tasted and smelled.

Kennebunkport Conservation Trust will use funds it received from the L.L.Bean Maine Land Trust Grant Program to create a sensory garden that will be installed by trust stewards, working with students and teachers from Kennebunk High School. Contributed / Kennebunkport Conservation Trust

Van Haren said that students at the high school have already been designing and building the physical elements of the sensory garden. News of the grant funding, she said, gives the community the confidence to know that their costs will be covered. The funding will also be used to revitalize the Storybook Trail that connects to the sensory garden.

The trail elements are being built over the winter and will be installed in the spring of 2025. The revitalized Storybook Trail is expected to be unveiled in May 2025.

For more information, contact Van Haren at 207-967-3465.