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Sunday, April 21, 2002-- Maine Sunday Telegram
Land preservation: Grass-roots efforts spread northward
By MEREDITH GOAD, Portland Press Herald Writer
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
Chip Carpenter, a mechanic from Solon, has watched peregrine falcons soar over Bald Mountain Pond, and crept up on a bull moose as he was canoeing to a
campsite under the stars. "My wife and I, on our 25th anniversary, camped out on one of the peaks there on a full moon night, which was pretty magical, I'll tell ya," he said.
This magical place,
bordered on the north by the Appalachian Trail, is home to the rare blueback charr and has a virtually undeveloped shoreline. Most people don't go there on purpose. It's the kind of place that's stumbled across
and, once discovered, is never forgotten. "It's what people envision the back country of Maine to be, and it's also accessible to people," Carpenter said. "It's not that difficult to get to, but
it's pristine, still."
Locals think of Bald Mountain Pond as theirs, a personal refuge from the outside world. Now, concerned that it could be sold one day to new owners who might cut off their access
and perhaps develop the property, they have banded together to save the pond and surrounding lands - a total of 10,000 acres - through either conservation easements or an outright purchase.
"Friends of
Bald Mountain Pond" is one of many new grass-roots groups that have emerged in northern, western and Down East Maine during the past few years as rural communities watched "For Sale" signs go up
around their local lakes and woodlands. Since 1998, 22 percent of Maine's land - about 5 million acres - has changed hands.
Sometimes the land that's sold remains open to public access, and local residents can
continue snowmobiling, hiking, canoeing and other activities they have enjoyed over the years. But in other cases the property has been subdivided by investors or, in a couple of instances, sold to wealthy
"kingdom buyers" who purchase large, secluded properties for wilderness retreats and could cut off public access to them at any time. The uncertainty of the future has made some communities nervous.
"It's not like in the old days when one paper company would sell a million acres to another paper company and life would continue on more or less the same," said Cathy Johnson, North Woods project director
at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. "Those days are really gone in Maine, and it's sort of coming to grips with that reality, I think, that has stimulated these groups to say we need to look at what's
going on in our communities."
From all walks of life
These ultra-local land trusts are an eclectic bunch, with members who are teachers, loggers, sportsmen and doctors.
Many are people who never would have joined a conservation group years ago, but now they see change coming and they want to guide that change. "We have registered Maine Guides, people involved in the woods
industry and in the sporting camp industry," said Steve Schaefer, a professional photographer from Grand Lake Stream who is president of the Down East Lakes Land Trust. "We have people who summer here as
well. There are people who are natives and people who are not natives."
These "friends of" groups don't have the staffs or budgets of large conservation organizations, and they are keen on
maintaining traditional uses of the land as much as preserving its natural beauty and ecological values. That includes continued cutting of the forests. "That's kind of the new twist," Schaefer said.
"Wood harvesting is, of course, a valuable economic enterprise in Maine. It's had its ups and downs, but it definitely is something that can be carried on forever if it's done right."
Maine has
already seen a lot of land trust activity, particularly in the southern part of the state. Out of 1,400 land trusts in the country, 96 of them - representing 70,000 members - are in Maine. Historically, these
organizations have clustered in coastal areas because that's where the development pressures have been, said Chris Hamilton of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. Plus, projects in the North Woods are often too unwieldy
- and costly - for small groups to handle, so they have relied on larger groups like the Forest
Society of Maine to do the bulk of the work. "They're a little bit harder for people to get their hands around
on a community level, so they organize to be supportive of those and to help raise money and bring the political support to them," Hamilton said.
Still, some of the new, smaller groups are now pursuing
larger projects, with the help of the state and larger conservation groups that have more money and experience. They are finding that they have to compete with each other for limited land acquisition dollars.
Ralph Knoll, director of planning and land acquisition at the Maine Department of Conservation, said he is getting a lot more phone calls from small land trusts that look to him for money and advice on protecting
North Woods properties.
"Their focus is Bald Mountain Pond and 'Ralph, you've got to save this for us. What are you going to do, Ralph?' " Knoll said. "As we listen to the groups and understand
their passion for properties, I've always been very clear with the groups that at the end of the day, the state will have to prioritize and make some decisions. We can't protect it all."
But he does try
to help when he can, including the group interested in Bald Mountain Pond, located in west-central Maine about 15 miles south of Moosehead Lake.
Frontier Mountain
In northwestern
Maine, the Frontier Mountain Alliance turned to Knoll for help with 50,000 acres near Jackman that went up for sale for almost $18 million.
"It's a huge parcel with a big price tag that we couldn't
imagine trying to fund," said Honor Sage of Alna, whose family has had a cabin on Little Big Wood Pond for more than 100 years. "But we were hoping to bring enough interest so that any future buyer might
want to work with us in putting easements on. We talked to the state, and they acknowledged that the lands are important lands, but there are a lot of important lands."
The Frontier Mountain Alliance was
founded two years ago, and just a dozen- maybe 18 - people regularly attend meetings. There are no officers, and the only money the group has is a $1,000 grant from the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund.
After Hancock Land Co. put the Frontier property up for sale, members of the new land trust went into the community to gather residents' opinions and hear their concerns.
Jackman's economy has always
depended upon forestry, but it has also become more dependent on tourism in recent years. The community wants to preserve what makes the region special, but without too many environmental or recreational
restrictions.
Some people seemed a little uncomfortable about getting involved with the alliance, Sage said, "but they also have come to realize that it isn't going to stay the way they want it."
"They hear about these places over on Moosehead (Lake) where camps are being sent off, they're not allowed to operate," she said. "They're starting to really realize that life as they've known it
is changing. If they can keep those lands open to traditional uses, then they're fine. And if somebody can compensate for whatever taxes might be lost, that's fine." With Knoll's help, and the help of a
consultant, the group got some conservation investors interested and put together a proposal. "The group of investors made an offer to Hancock but it was not accepted, and they didn't feel that they could offer
any more," Sage said.
According to LandVest, the real estate company handling the sale, the property is now under agreement, but the buyer's name is being kept confidential because the transaction is not
yet complete.
Lack of money to bargain with is a common problem for such small groups, especially those in rural areas where populations are smaller. "We just don't have the resources to draw on that
some of the coastal land trusts have, so it's hard for us to envision, for example, having paid staff or an endowment for land acquisition or anything like that," said Pamela Prodan, a Wilton attorney who
volunteers for both Friends of the Boundary
Mountains, which was formed in 1995, and the Tumbledown Conservation Alliance, which was formed in 1999.
Outreach programs
To raise
money, Prodan relies heavily on outreach to people who care about the western Maine region but may not live there, such as the 70,000 people who visit Mount Blue State Park every year.
The Tumbledown
Conservation Alliance has 30 to 40 core members who do mailings, put together fund-raising events, create displays for stores, and write grant proposals. But the first phase of the 50,000-acre, $10 million to $15
million Tumbledown project was paid for in part with donations from more than 300 individuals who either live in western Maine or have ties there, Prodan said.
Now fund raising is beginning for the next phase
of the project, and Prodan is again planning outreach programs. On May 8, she'll be giving a talk and slide show about the project at the art gallery on the University of New England's Westbrook campus.
Prodan also plans to attend the Maine Land Conservation Conference, sponsored by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, on May 3 and 4 at Bowdoin College and Brunswick High School. More than 350 people are expected to
attend the event, making it the largest state land trust conference in the country. Prodan said she is eager to share information with other groups at the conference as well as learn what strategies have worked well
for them.
Other small land trusts rely on the expertise of larger conservation groups that can help them get their projects off the ground both logistically and financially.
Steve Schaefer's group, the
Downeast Lakes Land Trust, is still adding people to its board of directors even as it is working closely with the New England Forestry Foundation on a project that could, if it goes through, protect 27,000 acres in
the West Grand Lake and Fourth Machias Lake region. The Downeast trust formed after Georgia-Pacific announced the sale of its lands in 1999 to an institutional investor, with the lands to be managed by Wagner Forest
Management. About 10 local people started meeting to discuss their concerns about the sale.
"It was not a structured type of thing," Schaefer said. "It was a reaction to the change in
ownership. People were worried."
The group meets once a month, with anywhere from six to a dozen people attending each meeting. The group has not yet purchased any land or put together an easement, but
it is hopeful about its current project. Schaefer would not give any details, citing confidential negotiations.
"We try to keep the local voice and not have people put words in our mouth,"
he said, "and that's why we are often quite guarded in what we say."
That local voice has been "critical" in projects preserving large tracts of land
in the North Woods.
"What they do is they help others understand the significance of the region," said Keith Ross, director of land protection at the New England Forestry Foundation. "They can articulate what is
important in their region and what is important to the people who live there better than anyone can."
Up sides, down sides
Knoll says small land trusts help build
awareness in rural communities about what's going on with local properties. They also can be a big help after a property is purchased by helping to manage it. A local conservation alliance in Belgrade, for example,
is helping to maintain trails and build campsites on the 6,000-acre Kennebec Highlands project.
"That's a really critical role for us because there's good news and bad news here," Knoll said.
"The stars are aligned right here in the acquisition world, with plenty of opportunities and more funds than there have ever been in the past. The challenge is that the state's acquiring more resources without
necessarily the capacity to manage them."
Protecting and promoting Maine's special landscapes also has its drawbacks, according to people active in community land trusts. The more people learn how
beautiful these spots are, the more people will visit them.
But that's a price Chip Carpenter of the Friends of Bald Mountain Pond is
willing to pay.
"There's lots of beautiful pieces of
property in this state that need to be preserved," Carpenter said, "and as things change in the North Woods, something's got to be done; otherwise these pieces of land that are spectacular are going to be
lost to the public."
Staff Writer Meredith Goad can be contacted at 791-6332 or at:
mgoad@pressherald.com
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