In 2005 the Fund joined with a diverse network of partners to secure a conservation easement on 327,000 acres of working forestland. The protection of the Downeast Lakes property is an exemplary forest conservation project. The partners secured the second largest forestland conservation easement in U.S. history, which was designed to sustain a natural resource based, rural community economy and the lifestyle of residents in Maine’s Washington and Penobscot counties.
“We are proud that Wal-Mart is making land conservation history, but quite simply, protecting our environment is simply the right thing to do. By giving back something now, our kids, our grandkids and others will have a chance to enjoy these national treasures for years to come.”
These forestlands are strategically positioned between more than 600,000 acres of conserved lands in New Brunswick and 200,000 acres of state, federal and Native American lands in Maine. The lands contain 54 lakes with 336 miles of lake shoreline and more than 1,500 miles of river and stream shoreline in the Machias, East Machias, Dennys, Mattawamkeag and St. Croix River watersheds. There are at least eight active bald eagle nests and 33 nesting pairs of loons, representing seven percent of the loons in northern Maine. Together, the lakes and 50,800 acres of wetlands provide habitat for 180 bird species, including 23 warblers, American black ducks and wood ducks, as well as bear, moose, deer, pine marten, beaver, and otter. This tremendous coldwater fishery also supports landlocked salmon and smallmouth bass.
Sales of significant forest properties in Maine and across the nation are changing the face and the future of resource-based communities. In addition, the potential loss of habitat for wildlife as forests are converted to other uses threatens an array of species.
The project brought together an extraordinary group of public and private partners to support the local economy, linked by tradition to the surrounding natural resource base. Project partners included New England Forestry Foundation, State of Maine, The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Downeast Lakes Land Trust, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and Wal-Mart’s Acres for America program.
The 312,000-acre property will be placed under a forest conservation easement and an access easement that together will maintain sustainable forestry practices and ensure perpetual public access for hunting, fishing, hiking, birding and boating. This bold conservation initiative will result in the permanent protection of more than one million acres of essentially uninterrupted habitat across an international boundary.
At the Fund we help save wild havens: large, natural spaces for wildlife to be exactly that—wild. Your gift ensures that wildlife, like this bear cub, has the habitat it needs to thrive.
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Over the next two decades as many as 20 million acres of America's forests will go up for sale. Even as our effort to protect forest land continues, we face an enormous challenge. That’s why we’ve launched creative new efforts to help save these treasured landscapes
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Arlington, Virginia 22209-2156
Phone: 703-525-6300
Fax: 703-525-4610
Email: postmaster@conservationfund.org