MASSACHUSETTS GORE – A Bangor-based land trust announced Thursday it has permanently protected 22,000 acres from development in northern Franklin County, including the headwaters of Kennebago and Dead rivers.
The Forest Society of Maine raised more than $2 million over 18 months to buy the conservation easement and establish a permanent stewardship fund to ensure perpetual oversight of the easement known as the Boundary Headwaters project.
The tract abuts the Maine-Quebec border in Franklin County and spans three unorganized territories: Chain of Ponds, Massachusetts Gore and Seven Ponds, Executive Director Alan Hutchinson said.
The mountainous border region has significant ecological, recreational and timber resources. Those include a rare plant site, a five-mile snowmobile trail that runs up the Dead River into Quebec, and golden eagle nesting sites, which are rare on both sides of the border, Hutchinson said.
The easement ensures public access to the snowmobile corridor that leads to the Canadian border, as well as access for hunting and camping.
The land also provides a “nice home” for species including deer, moose, pine martin and potentially lynx, Hutchinson said.
The Kennebago River is also important for its quality genetic stock of brown trout, which is valued by anglers and which supports the state’s efforts to stock fish in other areas of Maine, he said.
The Forest Society of Maine acquired the conservation easement from International Paper in December and continues to work with new owner, GMO Renewable Resources LLC, which bought IP’s lands earlier this year, to ensure the easement goals are met.
Three members – George Browning of Boston, Richard Lewis of Portland and Dick Page of Cape Cod, Mass. – spearheaded the effort to ensure that the lands stay undeveloped and protected, Hutchinson said.
There was strong support from Mainers, he said, and from people elsewhere in the country. Many supporters have hiked and fished the land, he said.
In its 20 years of existence, the organization has conserved 400,000 acres around the state, 385,000 of those since 1998. Only 1,000 acres are not under a conservation easement and owned outright by the society. More information about the organization’s project is available on the Internet at www.fsmaine.org.
The land under conservation easement is owned privately and remains on the property tax rolls, he said.
Comments are no longer available on this story