WOODSTOCK - Efforts to conserve 644 acres of woodland got a big boost this week.

The Land For Maine's Future Board allocated $251,000 to the Mahoosuc Land Trust toward the purchase of Buck's Ledge, which includes Lapham Ledge and Moody Mountain.

Buck's Ledge is a huge granite outcropping above North Pond that is visible from Route 26 and Gore Road.

"We want to make it accessible for people in the future," Buck's Ledge Committee member Jane Chandler said at an informational meeting Friday night.

After providing a brief background on the trust, which owns 13,486 acres and has conservation easements on 807 acres, Chandler described all-season recreational and scenic benefits of the former paper company land.

Not only are there rare plants on the parcel, but Chandler said that on a hike up to Buck's Ledge last month, she saw a nesting peregrine falcon.

Committee member Cathy Newell of Greenwood said she thought local people would donate money to help the trust buy the property, which the town of Woodstock would officially own. The trust will maintain the parcel, keeping the land wild and available for recreational activities.

Newell credited state Rep. Timothy Carter, D-Bethel, and State Sen. Bruce Bryant, D-Canton, with helping to get Land for Maine's Future funding for the project.

In addition to the trust and LMF, the Maine Department of Conservation is a financial partner in the endeavor.

Using the $251,000 and an as-yet-unknown amount from the Department of Conservation, the trust will raise the balance needed to buy the 644 acres from agent BayRoot LLC.

According to a Buck's Ledge brochure at Friday night's meeting, the projected selling price was $750,000.

However, Jim Mitchell, executive director of the Mahoosuc Land Trust and Steve Wight, the trust's president, said a sale price had yet to be set. That's why the trust has commissioned an appraisal of the property, which is required by LMF due to its use of public money to conserve land.

Once that is done, Mitchell said the goal would be to finalize the purchase and sale this fall. Then, a campaign would begin by winter to raise the remaining amount locally.

An initial appraisal two years ago valued the property at $560,000, Wight said, but the landowner rejected it.

"We tried to buy the property as the land trust and we thought we had an agreement. We went right to the 11th hour and they rejected it, because they thought they could get more money," Wight said.

"The good news is that Bayroot held the parcel off the market, because they knew we were interested in it. They want us to have it, but we don't quite know at what price."