Maine

We believe that community forests should reflect local values and fulfill residents’ vision for the future. The people who rely on the land are the same people who should make the decisions about how the land is used. That’s how 980-acre Bethel Community Forest came to be.

In 2006, TPL acquired an option on an eight-acre former lobster pound at Black Duck Cove that will be used for applied marine research, a public hatchery, a business incubator and a marine education facility.

This 13 acres of woodland in Portland's Back Cove neighborhood has been used for decades by the public. The Trust for Public Land helped protect the land as a new park for Portland.

For over a hundred and fifty years, the people of The Forks region have based their livelihood on working forests.  Cold Stream Forest is now part of Maine's Public Reserve Lands system.

Descending to the southeast from the 4,180-foot crest of Old Speck
Mountain, one of Maine's highest peaks, the Grafton Notch project
forever protects 3,688 acres of stunning landscape in one of New
England's premier hiking areas.

When the lone public access point to popular Higgins Beach in Scarborough was up for sale, TPL negotiated agreements with the landowners, purchased the properties, and conveyed both to the Town of Scarborough.

For almost 150 years, Holbrook's Wharf has helped define the community of Cundy's Harbor, Maine. When the wharf's longtime owners needed to sell, the community feared loss of waterfront access for local fishermen, and the demise of the local gathering place.

In 2003, TPL assisted the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) in purchasing the Katahdin IronWorks property as the first project in AMC's MaineWoods Initiative.

As traditional industry changes in rural Maine, communities across the region are working hard to diversify their economies and create places for neighbors to join together. That’s the case in Kingfield, where residents have teamed up with The Trust for Public Land to open a community forest that will advance a new “triple bottom line” as it grows their economy, protects the environment, and connects the community around a special place.

Our Maine CommunityScape Initiative seeks to break down barriers that have traditionally kept neighboring towns and cities from working together to protect and enhance the state's "quality of place."

In March 2011, The Trust for Public Land protected two working forest properties totaling more than 7,000 acres in the Millinocket region of Maine, just east of the iconic Baxter State Park, where TPL protected Katahdin Lake in 2006.

We helped protect the 6,000-acre Orbeton Stream property with a conservation easement ensuring a continued source of sustainably managed and certified forest products and safeguarding public access for fishing, hiking, paddling, and hunting.

Between March 2007 and June 2009, twelve Penobscot Valley communities collaborated to address land use and conservation on a regional scale.

Located along 50 miles of coastline in York and Cumberland counties, the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most significant networks of conservation land in southern coastal Maine.

The Sebago Lake Region Community Greenprint identifies the places most important to quality of life in Bridgton, Casco, Denmark, Harrison, Naples, Raymond, and Sebago.

By helping protect land around the south section of Seboeis Lake, The Trust for Public Land has protected  99 percent of the 45-miles of lakeshore and created an anchor to Maine's largest contiguous block of conservation land—more than half a million acres.

Think of community forests as rural New England’s neighborhood parks, they serve as places of inspiration, community gatherings, experiential learning, active stewardship and creative economic endeavors. In the summer, Sebago, Maine and the surrounding towns swell with thousands of tourists visiting Sebago Lake. It’s become a popular place for second homes. The increased population growth and tourism presents challenges to protecting the town’s natural beauty and sense of community.

With help from The Trust for Public Land, Maine's Department of Conservation permanently protected roughly 11,800 acres around Tumbledown Mountain in December 2002.