Joe Panza Nature Trail at Alden Town Park

ALDEN. At the north end of Alden Town Park, along Ellicott Creek, the Joe Panza Nature Trail offers 1.5 miles of wood-chip and gravel path across 35 acres of woodland.

The trail was conceived in 1976 by the Alden Environmental Conservation Commission and dedicated in 1981. Town officials, highway crews and local Boy Scout troops built it. It is named for former commission chairman Joe Panza, whose work helped keep the ground in public hands.

Open year-round, the path is used for hiking, bird watching, nature study and cross-country skiing. It also hosts high school cross-country meets.

Walkers commonly see white-tailed deer, red foxes, opossums and a mix of local birds. The canopy includes hemlock, beech, yellow birch and sugar maple, and the woods change color with the seasons.

Near the south end stand the Koch Pines, a living piece of town history. In the 1930s, high school teacher B.J. Koch and his students planted hundreds of pine seedlings on former farmland. Those trees now rise in straight rows, a reminder of Alden's agricultural past.

Guidebooks for local plants and wildlife are available at Alden Town Hall, Alden Village Hall and the Alden Heritage Center.

- Kyle Kavanagh is a docent at the Alden Historical Society