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Press Release Date: January 16, 2008 LAND TRUST SURPASSES 6,000 ACRES AT TURN OF YEARCAMDEN, ME -- Coastal Mountains Land Trust celebrated both the end of 2007 and the beginning of the new year with three new conservation projects, lifting its conserved land total above the 6,000-acre mark. The Land Trust has now conserved 6,574 acres since it began serving in the western Penobscot Bay region more than 21 years ago. Of that total, 1,271 acres were added in 2007 or the first week of 2008--making this past year truly remarkable for local land conservation! Of the eleven land conservation projects completed during this period, three were conservation easements that total 665 acres. A conservation easement is a permanent deed restriction, tailored to conserve resources of individual properties such as agricultural land, working forest, or wildlife habitat. This year the easements donated to us protect waterfront on Alford Lake, a large family farm and forest in Lincolnville, and a significant wetland in Swanville. The Land Trust, as holder of these easements, is responsible for ensuring the properties retain their conservation values. The land, however, is still privately owned and not open to the public without the owners' permission. The remaining eight projects were purchases or donations of land. Transfer of the 326-acre Fernald's Neck Preserve on Megunticook Lake from The Nature Conservancy this past spring was the largest. Three acquisitions increased the Land Trust's protection of Bald and Ragged Mountains by more than 179 acres. Two projects continued the Land Trust's progress conserving the Ducktrap River watershed, adding 235 feet of protection to the river and 629 feet on Ducktrap Harbor. A portion of Hatchet Mountain near Hope village was conserved, creating Hope's first public footpath. And a 61-acre property in Northport, the McLellan-Poor Preserve, was transferred to the Land Trust from Maine Coast Heritage Trust. Altogether, Coastal Mountains Land Trust's new preserve properties total 606 acres. All properties owned by the Land Trust are open to the public, although trails are not built until ecological inventories and management plans are conducted for each preserve. Thus, newer preserves are open for exploration but may not yet have a trail. In the new year, the Land Trust anticipates expanding its trail system on Ragged Mountain and improving the trail and parking area for better access to Hatchet Mountain. The year 2007 closed with a generous donation of land from James Murray and his sister, Joan Webster. The 10-acre Murray Preserve, named in honor of their parents, is situated on Ducktrap Harbor. It abuts the land owned by the State of Maine at the Ducktrap River bar, currently managed under lease to the Town of Lincolnville as a public park. The new Murray Preserve features a scenic field identified as worthy of conservation by the Town of Lincolnville's Comprehensive Plan, and includes 629 feet of rocky shorefront on the southern side of Ducktrap Harbor. In the first week of January, the Land Trust continued its momentum with purchase of 12 acres on Bald Mountain from Kenneth Walker. The land, a dramatic composition of bald ledges and mature hardwoods, overlooks land previously conserved on the summit and western slope of the mountain. The new acquisition to the Bald Mountain Preserve, now 500 acres, protects a portion of the popular Bald Mountain Path and offers highly scenic views of Ragged Mountain and Penobscot Bay. The property also features two exemplary natural communities, "dwarf oak-pine woodland" and "low elevation bald," as designated by the Maine Natural Areas Program. With this purchase, the Land Trust has achieved 40% of its goal to conserve 3,320 acres of undeveloped land on Bald and Ragged Mountains. Coastal Mountains Land Trust has been working to permanently conserve land to benefit the natural and human communities of western Penobscot Bay since 1986. For more information, please visit www.coastalmountains.org, or call (207) 236-7091.
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