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JIM ROE MUSEUM PLANNING | BIG ISLAND NATURE PARK CONCEPT PLAN | APRIL 15, 2021 2 <br />INTRODUCTION AND APPROACH <br />People have been drawn to what is now Big Island Nature Park for thousands of years. Its <br />enduring attraction lies partly in its isolation, a world set apart from its surrounding geography, <br />by the lake and the long views that the open water affords. As in centuries past, a trek across <br />the water, or winter ice, is rewarded by valuable resources and natural beauty—in the woods, <br />wetlands, and along the shoreline. <br />Off and on for more than a century, the east end of Big Island has been an appealing recreational <br />destination, a place to spend splendid summer days and evenings on the water. It’s also been a <br />place known for its years of abandonment—typically during the winter months and often for <br />years between various owners, ventures, and uses. Transforming Big Island from a place that <br />some people see as neglected into a cherished public park will require shifting the assumptions <br />and impressions of everyone who lands on its shores, for the first time or the tenth. The planned <br />amenities described in the City of Orono’s Master Plan will signal an operational transformation <br />of this site into a public park. The addition of interpretive trail signs will further influence visitors’ <br />experiences and expectations of this place, helping them recognize its recreational value and its <br />treasured, and often surprising, history. <br />Project Scope and Purpose <br />This plan for interpretive signage focuses on site-specific subjects within the recreational <br />easement represented in the 2018 Master Plan. This easement includes two separate areas, one <br />that encompasses the historical center of activity on the island and another smaller site on the <br />south end of the island. These locations, and the extensive body of researched archaeological <br />features they contain, suggest a particular design approach for interpretive signage in the park— <br />one that frames views from specific locations and uses historical images, along with a site map, to <br />help visitor imagine scenes as they would have appeared long ago in the island’s history. <br />A network of 10 to 12 trail signs will fulfill a particular objective in conveying the natural and <br />cultural history of Big Island Nature Park. In more experiential ways, these signs will facilitate <br />personal explorations of the island and many of its stories. This site-based technique, however, is <br />less suited to presenting a comprehensive and sequential history of the island. The visitor center <br />exhibit will help satisfy this level of interest among visitors and a forthcoming book on Big Island <br />promises to tell the full story of the island and its occupants from its geological origins through to <br />the present. <br />Ed <br />w <br />a <br />r <br />d <br /> <br />A <br />. <br /> <br />B <br />r <br />o <br />m <br />l <br />e <br />y <br /> <br />C <br />o <br />l <br />l <br />e <br />c <br />t <br />i <br />o <br />n <br />, <br /> <br />H <br />e <br />n <br />n <br />e <br />p <br />i <br />n <br /> <br />C <br />o <br />u <br />n <br />t <br />y <br /> <br />L <br />i <br />b <br />r <br />a <br />r <br />y <br />Ex <br />c <br />e <br />l <br />s <br />i <br />o <br />r <br />- <br />L <br />a <br />k <br />e <br /> <br />M <br />i <br />n <br />n <br />e <br />t <br />o <br />n <br />k <br />a <br /> <br />H <br />i <br />s <br />t <br />o <br />r <br />i <br />c <br />a <br />l <br /> <br />S <br />o <br />c <br />i <br />e <br />t <br />y