
ACT's History
CHAPTER ONE
as told by Founding Member Sam Hull
In a nutshell, it was $16.49 that got us up and running.
In late 2016, the “town fathers” of Arundel were thinking about building a new Town Hall. The old facility on Limerick Road was badly overcrowded and costing more every year to maintain. This was at a time when local events had just highlighted the need to find new ways to build greater community in Arundel. The “Future” was happening and would impact the lives of our descendants; the question for many of us was what could we do now to try to preserve the fast-vanishing small town culture and unique rural character of our little Maine town?
A small group saw the new Town Hall situation as a great opportunity to do something more than just build a “black box” for our town offices; we also saw it as a way to preserve the unique rural landscape of Arundel and to give residents ways to come together in building something for our future. The more we talked about this vision, it became clear to us that the new Town Hall was also a chance to create ways where people young and old could enjoy the precious world of nature around them, learn about and experience this landscape “up close & personal” and be part of creating something for their children and grandchildren to experience.
This all came into focus when the selectmen narrowed the site search for a new Town Hall to two alternatives. One was in an industrial zone, away from our population centers and although already Town-owned, needing expensive site work. The other option was 47 wooded acres on Limerick Road – far in excess of the 8-10 acres needed - but much closer to where people lived and also offering trail access to the Eastern Trail and with lower site development costs.
But how to start? We were soon fortunate to be introduced to the Executive Director of the long-established Kennebunkport Conservation Trust and they agreed to meet with us. We told them of our vision but explained that we really didn’t want to “reinvent the wheel”. We asked if they could take us under their wing and teach us how to build a conservation land trust. KCT talked it over and offered to help and support us!
In early 2017, we organized the Arundel Conservation Trust (“ACT”) as an independent & self-financing chapter of KCT. Shortly thereafter KCT transferred to ACT stewardship of two other properties in Arundel that had been bequeathed to them; they also offered to loan us funds for the Limerick Road property. The six founding members of ACT emptied their pockets and made our initial deposit in the ACT bank account of $16.49 – the exact amount that KCT started with over 40 years ago!
With this foundation, we worked out a critical Cooperation Agreement with the Town of Arundel and in December 2017, when they purchased the 47 acre Limerick Road property, ACT re-purchased the 37 acres behind the new Town Hall site from the Town, funding it with the loan from KCT.
Thus, ACT was born. We had stewardship of three properties in Arundel totaling nearly 100 acres, owed KCT a lot of money - but still only six members. We had our work cut out for us!
The story in the next chapter is how we are growing. We’re building trails, adding new members and working hard to achieve our Vision.

A TRIBUTE TO FOUNDING MEMBERS
SAM HULL AND JACK REETZ
​
With heavy hearts, we share the sad news about the recent passing of two Arundel Conservation Trust founding members, Sam Hull and Jack Reetz. Sam and Jack individually made a significant impact on the Arundel community through their volunteer efforts, but it is the collaboration of these two friends, that we honor and celebrate with deep gratitude, for their role in launching the Arundel Conservation Trust.
Sam, Jack and ACT's Early Days
Sam and Jack are two of the six ACT founding members, who came together in 2016, with great energy and purpose. The group's founding vision was to create a space in Arundel where our community could gather to meet neighbors, have fun and ensure that our children and generations to come would have a public space to be close to nature. This founding vision initially focused on the purchase of the land parcel that would become ACT's flagship property, the ACT Community Trails on Limerick Road. Sam and Jack, played a pivotal role in this early effort, by testifying before the Arundel Select Board, writing letters to the editor and buttonholing whoever they could talk to about the idea of purchasing the land. Through the determination of Sam, Jack and the other ACT founders, this mighty team then collaborated with the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust and the Town of Arundel to purchase the land in 2017 - an amazing feat from this visionary founder group.
Building ACT's Future
Once ACT was incorporated, Sam and Jack each made significant contributions by serving on the ACT Board of Directors and in leadership roles in Finance and Development, which was critical to ACT's growth. Sam and Jack's enthusiastic energy and ongoing commitment brought ACT's mission of "Connecting Conservation with Community" to life and continues to this day. We are forever grateful to Sam and Jack, for their vision, enduring work and constant friendship to the ACT and the Arundel community. While Sam and Jack may no longer be with us, it is our honor to carry forward their legacy through the ongoing work of the Arundel Conservation Trust.
Please join us in extending heartfelt condolences and great thanks to Sam and Jack's families and friends for sharing them with us. Below are the links to Sam and Jack's obituaries that provide more detail about the long, fulfilling lives they led.
https://www.bibberfuneral.com/memorials/samuel-hull/5606992/index.php
https://www.bibberfuneral.com/memorials/jack-reetz/5611981/index.php

Sam Hull

Sam and Joan Hull

Jack Reetz

ACT Board of Directors