WELLS — The June 14 Town of Wells ballot is of special interest to Owen Grumbling, a University of New England professor of environmental literature.

Grumbling is also part of the Wells Conservation Commission, which is an official town board that works to acquire ecologically significant land for wildlife habitat, education and traditional outdoor recreation such as hiking, hunting and skiing.

Composed of volunteers, the commission advises the Wells Board of Selectmen on what land to buy and when. The money to buy the land comes from a Capital Improvement Plan Land Bank Reserve account that the people of Wells vote to put money into.

This year, Article 16 on the ballot, “Open Space Purchase,” represents a huge opportunity for the town to acquire important land, said Grumbling. The article proposes appropriating $160,000 from the Land Bank Reserve to purchase a 5.69- acre parcel of land along the Merriland River.

“This is the kind of place we want to preserve,” Grumbling said recently while standing on the Beaver Pond trail near the hoped-for parcel and watching a porcupine nestled in a high tree branch.

That land, the Tilton Downstream project, would connect the 130-acre Tilton Homestead area, which was purchased in 2012, with the 130-acre Sawyer Preserve, a land easement managed by the Great Works Regional Land Trust. The parcel is part of the original Donny Tilton Homestead, but was not purchased in 2012 with the rest of the land.

The new acreage would also act as a buffer to protect the 200-acre Great Haith, a unique and ecologically vital bog area located nearby.

If purchased, the Tilton Downstream project would allow people to walk along the Merriland River for about two miles, from the Beaver Pond Trailhead on Bragdon Road to the far end of the Wells Recreation Area.

In the future, that two-mile trail could be extended even farther, from Bald Hill Road downstream to the Beaver Pond Trailhead, making the total length of trail about 4.8 miles.

Keith Fletcher, who is also on the Wells Conservation Commission, said the commission is “establishing the green infrastructure of the town.”

“You’d be able to walk from Route 109 all the way down to the town recreation area,” said Fletcher. “The plan is to link together all the trails on conservation land where we can.”

While the trail would be an asset to the community, it’s not just people that could walk along the riverbank.

“It connects for the wildlife, it’s a corridor,” said Grumbling. “Animals tend to follow water.”

Wildlife corridors that connect large parcels of land are vital, especially for bigger animals that need large amounts of territory. It allows them to safety get from one section of preserved land to another, which could reduce the amount of animals killed by cars.

“We see the land as a resource for the public,” Grumbling said. “We want people to feel like this is their backyard.”

Wells residents Rene and Clifford Risher-Kelly recently wrote in a letter to the Journal Tribune that conservation efforts in Wells is “crucial.”

“We should seize this opportunity for the public to own a riverside trail before it is too late,” they wrote.

The Merriland River is a very important public resource, said Grumbling, as it is the major freshwater source for nearby estuaries, and provides habitat for brook trout. The commission is “very concerned about water quality” in the Merriland, because the river has a large role in the watershed, he said.

Additionally, the tourist economy of Wells is tied to the beaches and the seafood, and without clean water, both of those would suffer. However, Grumbling believes that “people understand that,” which is why there’s so much support for conservation.

The Risher-Kellys echoed Grumbling’s statements in their letter, writing “It is important to preserve the water quality in the Merriland River and the ocean where it empties, all of which is crucial for the tourist industry that contributes so much to our local economy.”

Aside from the economic role of the river, it holds much of the town’s history as well. There are numerous old dam sites along the Merriland, one of which still has the equipment from a mill race still standing among the huge granite slabs of rock.

“This is the history of Wells,” said Grumbling. The commission wants to preserve it so “people can interpret this history.”

The commission, he said, would also like to build a footbridge along the current Beaver Pond trail that would allow people access to the Great Haith, an old cemetery and what Grumbling believes to be Maine’s largest American Beech tree.

It’s a project that will happen “one way or another,” Grumbling said.

“The conservation commission very much wants Wells people to come out and use these lands,” he said, adding that as the Town of Wells grows, the preserved acres might one day be the only green spaces left in the city, similar to New York’s Central Park.

“Change is good, but some things shouldn’t change,” said Grumbling. “We live in paradise, and you have to take care of it.”

The commission does not intend to use the entire $160,000 it requested, as it’s looking to negotiate a good deal for the Tilton Downstream parcel, Grumbling said. The commission requested a larger amount to have some “wiggle room” when they negotiate. If the commission doesn’t get the deal it’s hoping for, he said, it will “back off.”

Grumbling is hopeful that Article 16 will pass. In 2012, the people of Wells supported the Merriland Crossing Project by a 64 percent margin. That project resulted in the Tilton Homestead land purchase.

Fletcher is also optimistic about the results of the vote, saying that the people of Wells “have always supported these articles” and there’s a lot of support for conservation in the town.

“It helps that the money is already in the bank,” said Fletcher. “It’s already been set aside, so it doesn’t raise taxes. But we don’t want to be overconfident.”

“People want to look out for the future of the town,” said Grumbling. “I admire the people of Wells for their foresight.”