RLHT conserves area around Little Kennebago Lake, upper Kennebago River

RANGELEY – Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust has completed purchase of 1,731 acres of forest, shorefront and wetlands in the Kennebago watershed.
The property includes two miles of undeveloped shorefront and upland surrounding 190-acre Little Kennebago Lake and nine miles of frontage on upper Kennebago River from Crowley Brook to Little Kennebago Lake. The tract includes the inlet of Little Kennebago Lake that angling writer Ray Bergman featured in his 1938 classic “Trout.”
RLHT plans to manage the land for its significant fish and wildlife habitat and public recreational use. Through acquiring these lands, the Trust has secured public access for such traditional uses as hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, and trapping.
The Conservation Fund provided bridge financing to allow RLHT to close while fundraising continues. According to the CF, lack of timely funding can impede the urgency and pace of conservation. The fund’s loan program offers flexible financing and sustained and expert technical assistance to land trusts and other organizations aiming to protect key properties.
The acquisition is part of the Kennebago Headwaters project to conserve what many consider the finest wild brook trout resource in the United States and a watershed with exceptional habitat for fish, wildlife and birds. Because of its geography and deep lakes, bogs and wetlands, and stream, the area is a bastion of fish and wildlife resilience in the face of climate change. Once complete, the project will have permanently conserved a total of 10,300 acres.
The recent acquisition follows the purchase in November by project partner Black Brook LLC of more than 3,000 adjacent acres. RLHT and Black Brook are working on conservation easements to conserve those acres permanently. The project’s final phase will involve RLHT’s purchase of an additional 5,000 acres of working forest, which will be managed with the goal of conserving fish and wildlife habitat and enhancing climate change resilience. Forest management will focus on increased carbon storage and sequestration and sustainable harvesting for long term health, productivity and diversity
“Efforts to conserve the Kennebago Headwaters have been years in the making,” said RLHT Executive Director David Miller. “Knowing how important this area is to the nation’s angling heritage, the ecology of the western Maine mountains, and the Rangeley community, we’re especially excited to see our project surging ahead.”
Partners on the project include Bayroot lLc, Wagner Forest Management, Black Brook, The Conservation Fund, and the Firebird, PARC and Summerhill foundations, as well as many individual donors.
This is the fourth RLHT conservation project completed with Bayroot LLC and Wagner Forest Management (landowner and manager), Including the South Bog Conservation Area, Cupsuptic Lake Park and Campground and Height of Land.