By Martha Brant

On a cool and damp Fall morning several years ago, Susan and Scott Salka were taking one of their favorite Harpswell walks along the Cliff Trail. It was there they met a young military veteran who had lost his legs and was using specialized braces to navigate his way up to the 150-foot-cliff lookout. “I was blown away by his spirit,” Scott remembers. The young man’s determination left the Salkas deeply inspired. “We have got to figure out a way to create more accessibility,” Susan recalls thinking.

That encounter planted a seed. Now, the couple is taking steps to make the outdoors for all through its philanthropic vehicle Together for Good—the Salka Family Impact Group. The group is funding a seasonal land steward at the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust to help evaluate the accessibility of its trails. Over the next six months, the Salka Impact Land Steward will identify good candidates for trail upgrades and spark new ways to communicate trail characteristics to a wider array of people. “Not everything can be accessible, but if we do as much as we can, Harpswell can be appreciated by everyone,” Scott Salka says.

The land steward’s work will truly begin at ground level: measuring the trails’ running slope, cross slope, width and elevation gain. They will catalogue other factors affecting mobility such as trail surface, obstacles and rest stops. It isn’t just the trails themselves that need review, but the trailheads and parking. “Those little things get overlooked, but it can be a big thing if a person can’t even get to the trails,” explains Enock Glidden, who climbed Yosemite’s El Capitan as a paraplegic. He has co-founded Outdoor Access Solutions and test-run several HHLT trails in his wheelchair.

No one expects every trail to be fully ADA compliant. “We are looking for bite size, right size to start our work,” explains Emma Balazs, HHLT’s Lands and Stewardship Director. She points to what the Town of Harpswell did on the first .4 miles of the Cliff Trail in 2021—building a flat, four-foot wide path of hard-packed gravel culminating in an accessible rest stop. Even making small changes to some of HHLT’s trails would benefit everyone. “We are all just temporarily able. We could have an injury or as we get older we can become less able,” she says.

Building more “accessible” trails, however welcome, is not the apex of Maine’s growing adaptive recreation movement. What that term means for Glidden, might mean something very different to someone with limited eyesight, for example. “If you give people good information, they can make a choice of what is accessible for them,” Glidden says. He recalls returning to a trail recently that he had successfully traversed only to find that new bog bridging across a wet stretch had created a road block. Once armed with metrics, HHLT can do more to empower people. There are good models: Maine Trail Finder gives precise online descriptions down to the percentage of maximum slope. AllTrails offers photo tours to help people preview a hike. HHLT is also exploring quick ways to deliver information including QR codes and social stories. “We can help people visualize what it is going to be like,” Balazs says.

For the Salkas, their vision for accessibility doesn’t stop at the trailhead. They want people to be able to share their love of Harpswell’s islands. Susan has been hooked on Bailey Island ever since she happened upon it in 1993. Scott shares her passion for the ocean and public access to it. He kayaked across Middle Bay to Birch Island last fall with HHLT’s Executive Director Matt Newberg. “The wheels were already turning about island accessibility and I think that trip is where his excitement built,” Newberg explains. The family has agreed to fund the rebuilding of a dock on the island at the 43-acre Helen & Walter Norton Preserve. The design features a 4-foot-wide by 50-foot long ramp that makes it accessible at most tides. Plans include a transition plate and guard rails for wheelchairs. The project awaits Department of Environmental Protection review. “We want people to be able to get out there and explore the island in a safe way,” explains McKenzie Salka, project coordinator for the family group.

Together for Good takes its direction from the Salkas’ large, blended family. “Besides connecting our family, it helps us see that we can make an exponential impact by collaborating with others,” Susan Salka explains. One of the couple’s eight children was born in Senegal and it was from there they first learned the Wolof word that seems to define their philanthropic ethos: teranga. The translation blends respect, community and generosity. Or, as Susan puts it, “That visitors feel like family.” The spirt of teranga is exactly what the Salka family is building in Harpswell.