The Babson Creek Learning Forest Project

Join the effort to create a permanent outdoor education space on Mount Desert Island for schoolchildren and community members to foster a love of nature and a connection to place.

Want to learn more?

An oasis of forest and marshland

Wander down the paths of Maine Coast Heritage Trust’s Babson Creek Preserve to look out across the marsh and winding waterway and you’ll see an expanse of woods home to wildlife, wetlands, and vernal pools.

This ecologically rich 70-acre property connects Acadia National Park and MCHT’s Kittredge Brook Forest Preserve—connecting conserved properties to form a larger region of undeveloped land and important habitat.

Supporting community education through nature

This land is also a natural extension of The Community School (TCS) of Mount Desert Island, a place-based K-8 independent school serving families from ten local townships. At TCS, learning is inspired by the natural and social communities of coastal Maine and land stewardship and conservation are deeply woven into the school’s curriculum.

“Protecting this range of ecological habitats fits directly into MCHT’s statewide Marshes for Tomorrow Initiative to conserve, restore, and steward undeveloped lands surrounding Maine’s environmentally important salt marshes.”
— MCHT Project Manager, Misha Mytar

Join us on our collaborative effort to conserve the Babson Creek Learning Forest! TCS now owns and manages the property for its own educational use and special community events, and MCHT holds a conservation easement on the majority of the property, limiting development to protect its ecological and scenic features.

Your gift to this project will:

• Protect a beautiful viewshed, important wildlife habitat, and the ecological integrity of salt marsh at Babson Creek
• Create a permanent outdoor educational space for schoolchildren and community members to foster a love of nature and connection to place

“This land has inspired a sense of place in our students and will continue to foster a space for learning, connection, and solace for the next generation.”
—The Community School, Director Jasmine Smith

Make a difference for this important community space and ecosystem

Your gift today will bring us that much closer to completing this project, ensuring a sense of place for students today and generations to come.

For more information about giving, please contact:

Misha Mytar

Senior Project Manager, MDI
Maine Coast Heritage Trust
(207) 801-4049

Jasmine Smith

School Director
The Community School
(207) 276-8137

9/8/2022: Listen to the WERU 89/8 FM’s Around Town Podcast to hear them talk about this project!