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PHOTO: Whiskeag Trail in Sewall Woods Preserve, which will be expanded with new property and a trail, supported by a grant the Maine Land Protection grant. (Kennebec Estuary Land Trust photo)
ELLSWORTH — Fifteen projects are sharing $619,000 to conserve more than 50,000 acres and create land conservation easements across the state with funding through Maine Community Foundation’s Maine Land Protection grant program.
The grant program awarded $145,000, while donors with advised funds at MaineCF contributed an additional $474,000.
The Maine Land Protection grant program was launched in 2020, and has awarded $914,000 to 24 projects in its first two years. The program will accept proposals for 2022 grants beginning on June 1. The Maine Land Protection program focuses specifically on larger land acquisition and conservation easement projects, and prioritizes proposals that create or expand access to land and water for underserved people and communities.
Local projects that received 2021 grants;
Somerset Woods Trustees, Skowhegan, to expand Weston Woods and Waters and provide access for year-round outdoor recreation, sustainable forestry and environmental education: $35,000
The Kennebec Land Trust, Winthrop, for a land acquisition project in Fayette that will protect a wetland buffer zone and provide local families access to fields and mature forest: $15,000
Kennebec Estuary Land Trust, Bath, to support Sewall Woods Preserve Expansion Project to conserve 8.2 acres abutting the Sewall Woods Preserve and extend the Whiskeag Trail system: $15,000 and an additional $15,000 from donor grants.
Town of Brunswick, to support the Merrymeeting Park Project by buying a property along the Androscoggin River with water access and historic, prehistoric and ecological assets: $15,000 and an addition $35,000 from donor grants.
Greater Lovell Land Trust Inc., to protect a forested landscape of 1,300 acres in the Kezar River Corridor with conservation, climate resilience and regional connectivity value: $50,000
High Peaks Alliance, Farmington, to support conservation of historic property with trails and habitats for Atlantic salmon and wild brook trout: $50,000
Mahoosuc Land Trust, Bethel, to acquire Tumbledown Dick Mountain, a 978-acre ecological and recreational regional resource, connecting critical habitats in the Mahoosuc Region: $50,000.
