BETHEL — The Mahoosuc Land Trust achieved accreditation this month from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, Executive Director Jim Mitchell said in a recent news report.
The commission, which is based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., is an independent program of the national Land Trust Alliance.
“We are proud to have received national recognition for our commitment to conservation,” Mitchell said. “Land owners should find confidence in our ability to care for conserved land in perpetuity.”
Accredited land trusts are authorized to display a seal indicating to the public that they meet national standards for excellence, uphold the public trust and ensure that conservation efforts are permanent, the report said. The seal is a mark of distinction in land conservation.
“Our land trust is a stronger organization today, having gone through the rigorouos accreditation program in which we raised the level of our policies, practices and procedures to meet national standards,” Mitchell said.
The Mahoosuc Land Trust was founded in 1989 and works in central Oxford County in Maine and eastern Coos County in New Hampshire. Mitchell said the trust has worked with eight landowners who have put conservation easements on their properties, totaling 5,565 acres.
Additionally, the land trust owns 1,374 acres of land consisting of several islands and two boat landings on the Androscoggin River, the Gateway property in Bethel, the Stewart Family Preserve (Puzzle Mountain) in Newry, and Rumford Whitecap Preserve in Rumford.
In October 2012, the Nature Conservancy transferred title for the iconic Step Falls Preserve in Newry to the Mahoosuc Land Trust, Mitchell said.
According to the Land Trust Alliance, conserving land helps ensure clean air and drinking water, safe, healthy food, scenic landscapes and views, recreational places, and habitat for the diversity of life on earth.
“Accreditation provides the public with an assurance that, at the time of accreditation, land trusts meet high standards for quality and that the results of their conservation work are permanent,” Tammara Van Ryn, commission executive director, said in the report.
Van Ryn said the Mahoosuc Land Trust is one of only 201 land trusts nationwide that was awarded accreditation since the fall of 2008.
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- Mahoosuc Land Trust holds its annual Gourmet Hike on the summit of Rumford Whitecap in Rumford. The trust recently earned accreditation.
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