GRAFTON TOWNSHIP – After years of negotiations and waiting, the Maine Department of Conservation is finally poised to buy a chunk of land that’s been its top priority.
Thanks to voters who approved the $12 million conservation bond issue on Nov. 8, the department’s Bureau of Parks and Lands can now apply for money to help buy 3,688 acres on the shoulders of Old Speck and Sunday River Whitecap mountains in the Mahoosuc Range of Grafton Township.
“The bond issue passed and the funding gates are open,” said Bureau Deputy Director Ralph Knoll when contacted by phone Friday in Georgia.
The bureau has applied for a $2 million Forest Legacy grant from the U.S. Forest Service, and, in December, is to apply for some of the available $8 million from the Land for Maine’s Future program.
Because the bureau is seeking federal funding, the parcel, which “fits like a glove” in between Grafton Notch State Park and public reserve lands, is to be designated as public reserve and managed for multiple use, Knoll said.
“I think it will be a great addition to state ownership. We’re all confident that we can get the money we need,” he said.
Nestled north of Newry, the parcel includes the upper slopes of Old Speck, elevation 4,180 feet, and Sunday River Whitecap, elevation 3,376 feet, land mostly located west of Route 26.
The land was purchased from MeadWestvaco about two years ago by Bayroot LLC, whose agent is Wagner Forest Management, then offered to the state.
Knoll said the parcel, which is near the Appalachian Trail, would complement the region’s tourism and recreational infrastructure.
“Part of the new Grafton Loop Trail goes through this, so that’s one of the big factors in buying it. Given where it is, use will lean heavily toward the recreation side of the equation,” Knoll said.
Additionally, department consultant Jerry Bley of Readfield said Friday the land also contains two exemplary and rare natural forests worthy of protection.On the southern and southeastern flank of Old Speck, lies a sub-alpine forest that is the largest known area of fir and heart-shaped leaved birch in Maine.
The other, is a crowberry-bilberry summit bald ridge on Whitecap that is one of only five such documented examples in Maine.
Both areas are potential habitats for rare plants and animals.
Knoll said the bureau has been trying to buy the land from various paper companies that owned it, most recently, MeadWestvaco.
“We could never make a lot of progress with Mead, and, when Bayroot bought it, the faucet was turned on harder, meaning, that in the last two years, we’ve done serious work (to acquire it) and made serious progress,” Knoll said.
Tim Glidden, director of Land for Maine’s Future program and the state Planning Office, said Friday in Augusta that of the $12 million bond issue, $8 million is available “for conservation work like this.”
Parcels like the Grafton project are prime candidates for program dollars because they are surrounded by state parks and have high value, he said.
But Glidden expected competition to be fierce for the money, with more than 25 applications looming for more than the $8 million.
“I think we will be very over-subscribed,” he said.
“The pressure has been building since 2004 when the Legislature didn’t put out a bond issue, but interest in land conservation continues to grow across the state. Conservation land is part of the tourism economy infrastructure,” Glidden added.
Land for Maine’s Future program applications are expected to begin being submitted after the beginning of December.
Early February marks the deadline, with finalists picked in early May, whereas with the Forest Legacy grant, Knoll said the bureau won’t learn if they get it or not until November 2006.
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