Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
PHOTO: Tamaracks on the Oxford land recently bought by Western Foothills Land Trust. (Submitted photo)
OXFORD – Western Foothills Land Trust has bought three parcels of the former Chadbourne Tree Farm property, part of a bigger effort by several nonprofits to conserve the 15,408-acre area.
WFLT bought the parcels, comprising 494 acres, from White Pine Forest LLC, a subsidiary of The Conservation Fund on Oct. 15. The land is near the Webber School House neighborhood.
The size, connectivity and quality of the iconic working forests of the Chadbourne land drew the interest of The Conservation Fund, which bought the 15,408 acres in 2020.TCF is also working with the U.S. Forest Service, Maine Bureau of Public Lands, Inland Woods and Trails and Mahoosuc Land Trust on the preservation effort.
WFLT is also acquiring the Edward Mills tract in Norway, Harrison and Otisfield and the Staples tract in Oxford WFLT anticipates completing the acquisitions via grants and donations in the next two years. Funding for WFLT’s purchase and long-term stewardship of the Oxford tract was provided by the Maine Community Foundation’s Land Protection Grant program, Maine Natural Resource Conservation Program and a grant from TCF.
The Oxford parcel has frontage on Webber Brook and Little Androscoggin River, as well as other resources, including possible working forest. WFLT is working on a management plan for the tract, including a forest management plan for a portion of the property that could be commercially harvested.
Logging roads, including a discontinued public road, will be turned into trails for non-motorized recreation. There are two recognized snowmobile trails through the tracts that are maintained by the Rock-o-Dundee Snowmobile Club that will be continued. ATVs will not be allowed. The logging roads have been used historically by equestrians, which will continue to be permitted as long as there is no damage to the resource.
The trust aims to name the preserve, name trails, install signs, a trailhead kiosk and a small parking area in 2022.The permanent protection of the parcel represents significant shoreland protection along the Little Androscoggin River, as well as substantial wetlands protection. It will also provide the Oxford Hills community with additional user-friendly trails for walking, running, bird watching and nature studies.
Nearly 11,000 acres of the former Chadbourne property are anticipated to be conserved with a working forest conservation easement funded by the U.S. Forest Service Forest Legacy Program. Tracts will be added to Bethel’s Community Forest and Inland Woods and Trail’s recreational trail system. Other parcels will be permanently conserved by Mahoosuc Land Trust and the USFS’s White Mountain National Forest.
The recently purchased 494 acres is part of 8,500 acres the WFLT conserves in the region. For information, visit wfltmaine.org.
