Maine Heritage
Summer 2020 - Downeast Edition
From the President
Paying Attention
Lately I’ve been meeting with other presidents and executive directors from land trusts across the country. From California, Iowa, Florida, and Maine we gather in that now all-too familiar grid on a screen and share what’s been going on, and how each of our organizations is responding to the health crisis upending life in America and across the world.
Confusion, uncertainty, grief—it’s all there. But each time we meet, hope, admiration, and inspiration are the feelings I come away with. The land trust community across the state of Maine and across this country is as strong and committed as ever. To the people each trust serves, and to one another, the question I hear asked over and over again is, “How can we be of service?”
Featured Stories
MCHT Helps Create Majority of New Coastal Access Sites in Maine
Since 2013, roughly 30% of the new sites added to the Maine Coastal Public Access Guide are MCHT preserves, and another roughly 30% were partner projects, where MCHT played some role in supporting a town or local land trust’s effort to conserve a special place.
The trend is significant: land trusts are playing an increasingly important role in the effort to create more public access to the coast.
The Gift of Old Point
In March of 2020, the Hartline sons and their families gifted the Old Point property in Lamoine to Maine Coast Heritage Trust to own and manage as a public preserve, continuing in the footsteps of their parents who first conserved the land in 1975.
Old Point is a spectacular new addition to the network of conserved lands open to the public at the top of Frenchman Bay.
Creating More Public Access to the Bold Coast
Small in acres, big in impact: a conservation project at Bailey’s Mistake in Lubec improves access for recreational and commercial use on the Bold Coast.
My Favorite Preserve – Harriman Point
By Josh Ingram
“Sometimes my girlfriend and I will pack a picnic and walk out to the beach and look out over the water for 30, 40 minutes, watching the seals come in, or beachcombing.
Harriman Point becomes more interesting and beautiful to me every time I visit. It lures me in, wraps me up in this warm blanket of nature.”
In Brief
Thanks to our Donors
Everything you read about here is possible thanks to MCHT donors and supporters. Thank you for all you do for the Maine coast.
Have you made your gift to MCHT? If not, give today, and keep up the good work for the coast.