FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Land Conservation Groups Celebrate Completion of Campaign to Protect 1,500 Additional Acres in Southern York County
May 7, 2020
YORK COUNTY — A coalition of land conservation groups in southern York County has achieved its ambitious goal of protecting 1,500 more acres of open space since 2014, within a focus area that spans six towns centered around Mt. Agamenticus and is the state’s most biologically diverse region.
The Mt. Agamenticus to the Sea Conservation Initiative (MtA2C) completed this most recent campaign through a series of 34 projects, a rate that equates to roughly one completed project every two months.
“This type of achievement doesn’t just happen,” says Doreen MacGillis, executive director of York Land Trust, a MtA2C partner. “This was a tremendous effort by local, state, and federal groups working together with towns to make this possible. It shows that when we work together as a community, we can accomplish so much.”
The completion of the campaign comes at a time when public use of nature preserves has skyrocketed as community members seek exercise and peace of mind out of their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve heard from so many visitors to our preserves who have expressed their gratitude for making these resources available,” says MacGillis. “It has really highlighted how much people value access to conserved lands, and how great the demand is to make even more land available to the public.”
Significant projects completed since 2014 include York Land Trust’s 220-acre Fuller Forest Preserve that is scheduled to open later this year, Kittery Land Trust’s 150-acre Brave Boat Headwaters Preserve that opened in 2016, and Great Works Regional Land Trust’s protection of the 118 acre Goodwin Farm in Eliot — with 34 acres remaining in active agriculture, and 84 acres available for public use. Other recent projects include Kittery Land Trust’s 84-acre Andrews Preserve off of Cutts Road and York Land Trust’s recent acquisition of 86 acres along Josias Brook in Cape Neddick. Support for the 34 cumulative projects came from federal, state, municipal and public funding sources, along with foundations and individual donors.
Aside from providing local residents and visitors with ample access to nature, these protected lands also preserve critical wildlife habitat across diverse landscapes including forests, streams, brooks, vernal pools, marshes, and meadows, along with working farmland that helps maintain the agricultural heritage of the region. An array of rare, threatened, and endangered plants and animals also make their homes in this area — a region that notably contains the most intact coastal forest anywhere between the New Jersey Pine Barrens and Acadia National Park. Since its inception in 2002, MtA2C partners have conserved more than 4,600 acres of land that include roughly 30 public preserves and about 50 miles of hiking trails. The MtA2C region now contains 14,667 acres of open space — 5,000 acres shy of MtA2C’s long-term goal of 19,000 protected acres in the region.
“We have a lot to be proud of, and are so thrilled to be able to offer our communities access to these lands that will continue to be available for future generations,” says Lisa Linehan, MtA2C Coordinator. “But we still have plenty more work to do to reach our 19,000 acre goal.”
The heightened interest and visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how important this work will continue to be moving forward in the future.
“This demonstrates more than any other time just how important these protected areas are,” says Paul Dest, executive director of Wells Reserve, another MtA2C partner. “Our work has proven its relevance.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Since 2002, The Mt. Agamenticus to the Sea Conservation Initiative (MtA2C, www.mta2c.org ) has worked toward a long-term goal of connecting 19,000 acres of conserved land in sections of Kittery, Eliot, York, Ogunquit, Wells, and South Berwick that together make up the MtA2C Focus Area. This area encompasses the largest unfragmented coastal forest between the New Jersey Pine Barrens and Acadia National Park and represents the most biologically diverse region in Maine. It boasts over 50 miles of hiking trails, protects drinking water for three towns and feeds clean water to rivers and popular beaches. To date, more than 14,500 acres have been conserved in the MtA2C Focus Area.
The 10 MtA2C partners include: Kittery, York and Great Works Regional Land Trusts; Wells Reserve at Laudholm; Maine Coast Heritage Trust; The Nature Conservancy; US Fish and Wildlife Service/Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge; Trust for Public Land; York Rivers Association and Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
CONTACT
Lisa Linehan, Coordinator, MtA2C
email: lisa@kitterylandtrust.org; phone: 207-439-8989