FARMINGTON – The Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust would like to brand the county’s high mountain peaks area to give it a recognizable name that tells people it is a special and unique place.

More importantly, from a landscape conservation perspective, the high peaks area is especially important in Maine because it is such a scarce natural resource, Chris Beach, a director of the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust, told Franklin County commissioners Tuesday.

One of the organization’s top priorities, Beach said, is to attract new investment in the future of Franklin County’s high peaks area. It’s a big area with most of it in unorganized territories, he added.

“In the AT community, Franklin County’s high peaks are one of the entire trail’s most spectacular and most challenging section,” Beach said. “As our Executive Director Carole Haas is fond of saying, ‘The high peaks are not special because the AT is there; the AT is there because the high peaks are special.'”

Mountain areas above 2,700 feet account for only six-tenths of 1 percent of the state’s total land area, which is surprising for a state that is often associated with its mountains, Beach said.

“The high peaks area right here in Franklin County encompasses the largest contiguous mountain area in the state,” he said. “Instead of taking it for granted, we think it should be celebrated and branded as one of Franklin County’s scarcest and most valuable natural assets.”

Eight of the 14 highest mountains in Maine are in this region, he said.

If the Bigelow Range is counted, the region hosts 10 of the highest mountains, all above 4,000 feet, another trust director, Lloyd Griscom of Phillips said.

The high peaks region is widely regarded as among the most spectacular stretches of the entire Appalachian Trail due to the remoteness and visually impressive layout, according to the trust.

The Appalachian Trail is about 2,175 miles long and extends from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine.

The organization, one of five associated with the Maine portion of the AT, believes that the future prosperity of northern Franklin County will depend on two strategic natural resource industries – forest products and nature-based tourism. The non-profit real estate organization’s investment strategies clearly align with forestry and tourism, Beach said.

The trust is engaging in conversations and negotiations with owners of large blocks of forestland in the high peaks area, he said.

“The lands we are concerned with deserve protection for multiple uses for sustainable forest production, for public access for motorized and non motorized outdoor recreation and for protection of special ecological areas,” Beach said.

They are working in alliance with local groups that share interests in outdoor recreation – snowmobilers, ATVers, hikers, hunters, horseback riders, fishing enthusiasts, cross-country skiers, mountain bikers and others to create a united effort to preserve traditional public access to private lands, he said.

“Our activities are all collaborative and intended to earn the trust and support of all residents of Franklin County,” Beach said.

Like most residents, Beach said, he supports economic development activities that bring new investment and new people to the county.

He has seen the decline of the manufacturing sector yet believes the area has a bright economic future still based on careful use of the area’s wonderful natural resources.

The trust believes “landscape conservation is an asset-based economic development strategy that will attract significant new investment dollars to Franklin County and provide essential infrastructure for the county’s growing nature-based tourism industry,” Beach said.

To learn more about the trust or initiative the Web site is www.matlt.org.