Record Year for Coastal Land Conservation

Couple holding hands on Stone Hill Maine Coast Heritage Trust completed fifty land conservation projects in 2007 - more than any other year in the Trust's 37-year history, and up 25% from last year. The conserved properties include nine entire islands and nearly twenty miles of coastline, ranging from Casco Bay to Washington County's Bold Coast.

"It's been a remarkable year and a particularly busy December," said MCHT's interim president David MacDonald. "We're grateful to all of the landowners who showed vision and generosity in conserving their properties for future generations, and to our invaluable partners at public agencies and local land trusts throughout the state."

The beach at Bear Island 2007 was a year in which a number of long term projects came to fruition for the Trust, while several new initiatives were launched. The donation of 285 pristine acres on Vinalhaven's Basin culminates 25 years of work among neighboring owners there; a partnership with the Maine Farmland Trust and MCHT's Aldermere Farm in Rockport will conserve valuable productive hayfields along Route 90 in Rockland; several tracts adjacent to Acadia National Park were protected from adverse development; and three prominent coastal properties around Pleasant Bay were conserved with funding assistance from the Land for Maine's Future Program.

"The common thread running through all of these success stories are people with a deep love for their land and desire to maintain that special place on into the future," said MacDonald. "Together these individual acts represent a remarkable gift and legacy for all who love the coast of Maine."

The Trust also stepped up its land management activities on its coastal holdings and islands-improving public access and recreational opportunities. MCHT rehabilitated ten miles of coastal hiking trails on its 967-acre preserve on Frenchboro Long Island and partnered with the Maine Conservation Corps to construct 8 miles of new trails on its 985-acre Marshall Island preserve.

Coastal communities across the Maine coast are seeing direct benefits from this effort as MCHT works to ensure public access to threatened coastal lands, help conserve important wildlife habitat, and continue to protect the scenic beauty of our treasured coast. MCHT's conservation success on the Maine coast reflect statewide and national trends of balancing economic growth with the protection of places that preserve the quality of life for local communities. There is growing recognition statewide that the protection of "quality places" will be one of the keys to Maine's prosperity in the years ahead.

The Trust expects the need for land protection along the coast to accelerate in 2008 and is hopeful it will be continuing its momentum into the new year. MacDonald sees the approval by Maine voters last month of $17 million in new funding for the Land for Maine's Future Program as an encouraging sign.