Range Ponds State Park is a public recreation area wrapping around the eastern end of Lower Range Pond in the town of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Androscoggin County Androscoggin County (French: ''Comté d'Androscoggin'') is a county in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 111,139. Its county seat is Auburn and its largest city is Lewiston. Androscoggin County compris ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. The

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

offers a sandy beach with lifeguard-supervised swimming, kayaking, limited motorized boating, hiking trails, and fishing. Mountain biking trails, built with the help of local volunteers, provide intermediate level, single-track loops off a central double-track trail that winds through mature pine and hardwood forests.

History

The park was created after the State Park and Recreation Commission acquired over 500 acres of land bordering Lower Range Pond in 1965 from Hiram Ricker and Sons, bottlers of Poland Spring Water.

Range Ponds

The three Range Ponds are at the same elevation and connected by narrow necks where bridges carry roads over the pond. Flow sequence is from the upper pond through the middle pond to the lower pond which overflows through Range Brook to the

Little Androscoggin River } The Little Androscoggin River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 30, 2011 river in Maine. It flows from Bryant Pond in Woodstock () to its confluence with the Andr ...

in Mechanic Falls to the north. The ponds have native populations of

chain pickerel The chain pickerel (''Esox niger'') is a species of freshwater fish in the pike family (family Esocidae) of order Esociformes. The chain pickerel and the American pickerel (''E. americanus'') belong to the ''Esox'' genus of pike. Taxonomy French ...

white perch The white perch (''Morone americana'') is not a true perch but is a fish of the temperate bass family, Moronidae, notable as a food and game fish in eastern North America. In some places it is referred to as "Silver Bass". The name "White perc ...

, and smallmouth bass, and have been stocked with

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

and

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

. These species of

angling Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniqu ...

interest prey on native

rainbow smelt The rainbow smelt (''Osmerus mordax'') is a North American species of fish of the family Osmeridae. Walleye, trout, and other larger fish prey on these smelt. The rainbow smelt prefer juvenile ciscoes, zooplankton such as calanoid copepods ('' L ...

and stocked alewife. Stocking with

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

and land-locked

Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...

has been discontinued.

Upper Range Pond

Upper Range Pond is the shallowest of the three ponds. It is the southernmost pond, and the north end connects to the middle pond.

Middle Range Pond

Middle Range Pond extends from the upper pond at its southern end to the lower pond at its northern end.

Maine State Route 26 State Route 26 (abbreviated SR 26) is part of Maine's system of numbered state highways. It is a major interregional route running for from downtown Portland northwest to the New Hampshire border near Upton, where it connects to New Hamps ...

bridges the narrows where the middle pond connects to the lower pond. Middle pond is the largest and deepest of the three, and supports some

lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can also ...

. There is no spawning or nursery habitat for

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...

, but the species is regularly stocked for angling.

Black crappie The black crappie (''Pomoxis nigromaculatus'') is a freshwater fish found in North America, one of the two types of crappies. It is very similar to the white crappie in size, shape, and habits, except that it is darker, with a pattern of black sp ...

were illegally introduced to the middle pond in the early 21st century.

Lower Range Pond

Covering , Lower Range Pond is the smallest, but longest, of the three; and forms the top of a "T" with the middle and lower ponds. The north end of the middle pond connects to a short bay on the southwest side of the lower pond. The state park is on the northeast shore and southeast end of the lower pond, while the northwest end of the lower pond overflows as Range Brook.

References

External links

Range Ponds State Park
Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry {{authority control Beaches of Maine State parks of Maine Poland, Maine Hiking trails in Maine Protected areas of Androscoggin County, Maine