Trust for Public Land North Woods Projects August 26, 2015 Gregg Caporossi, Project Manager Diano Circo, Project Manager JT Horn, Senior Project Manager Wolfe Tone, Maine State Director Redington Forest, Redington TWP 9,984 Acres Amount Requested: $200,000 • • • • • TPL is working with the U.S. Navy, Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands and local constituents to purchase a conservation easement. Large contiguous block of working forest located in a State designated Focus Area for Conservation Over 3,100 acres of high elevation forest, modeled as potential Bicknell’s thrush habitat Habitat for several threatened and endangered species, including: Canada lynx, Atlantic salmon, Northern Bog lemming and Roaring Brook Mayfly. Key trail segment for Moose Loop motorized rec trail. Total Project Costs: $2,100,000 Total Committed: $1,800,000* Need: $300,000 Lone Mountain, Mt. Abram TWP 1,155 Acres Amount Requested: $100,000 • • • • • TPL is working with the U.S. Navy and local constituents to purchase a conservation easement abutting Crocker Mountain, Mt Abram Ecological Preserve and the Redington SERE base. Entire property is high elevation spruce-fir forest, modeled as potential Bicknell’s thrush habitat. Entire property is federally designated critical habitat for Atlantic salmon. Key linkage for Canada lynx Key linkage in future recreational trail corridor and protects 1.3 miles of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail Total Project Costs: $600,000 Total Committed: $500,000 Need: $100,000 Perham Stream 6,400 Acres Amount Requested – Year 1: $120,000; Year 2: $380,000 • • • • • TPL is in negotiations with the landowner to purchase 6,400 acres in fee adjacent to Orbeton Stream, Mount Abram and the Redington SERE base. Both mid-elevation and high elevation forest provides critical connectivity in changing climate 11 miles of Atlantic salmon habitat – 8 consecutive years of returning salmon Buffers 1.5 miles of the A.T. and several miles of A.T. viewshed Key hunting area for region Total Project Costs: $4,200,000 Total Committed: $1,500,000 Need: $2,700,000 Cold Stream Forest, The Forks 8,159 Acres Amount Requested: $120,000 • Fee Purchase to be owned by Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands and managed for wild brook trout and deer wintering area. • Contains nine undeveloped ponds and 30 miles of streams providing exemplary wild native brook trout habitat. Half the property designated critical habitat for the federally threatened Canada lynx. • Will conserve more intact wild brook trout pond populations than exist in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire combined along with more than 3,000 acres of important deer wintering areas. Total Project Costs: $7,270,000 Total Committed: $7,152,500 Need: $117,500 Bald Mountain Pond, Bald Mountain Pond TWP 2,748 Acres Amount Requested: $200,000 • • • • Adjacent to the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, the acquisition would protect the trail from incompatible development and preserve the unobstructed viewshed. The project would protect the the virtually undeveloped 1,200-acre lake that is one of only a dozen sites in the State of Maine for the landlocked arctic char (also known as blueback trout). Maine is one of only two states in the U.S. that support this species (Alaska is the other). A late-successional spruce forest covers 1,000 acres of the property and extends to another 500 acres onto A.T. lands. This is ranked as an “exemplary natural community” by the Maine Natural Areas Program. The site hosts a wild (non-stocked) population of Eastern Brook Trout in the lake and tributary spawning streams. Total Project Cost: $3,900,000-$5,200,000 Need: $1,700,000-$5,200,000 September 11, 2015 AMC Natural Resource and Conservation Funding Proposal ($325,000 request) The Appalachian Mountain Club has conserved over 70,000 acres of land in the 100 Mile Wilderness Area over the past 10 years. Our goal has been to protect this valuable resource and open it up the public by building trails, campsites and lodges in a thoughtful and deliberative way. We have set aside over 20,000 acres as “forever wild” reserves, built over 80 miles of trails and renovated two sporting camps and are in the process of renovating a third. In addition we have built a number of wilderness canoe campsites and a backcountry shelter. Our work however is not done. There is still much to be accomplished to protect and restore this valuable natural resource that has been described by a retired Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife biologist as an ecological treasure trove. To further our conservation and natural resource protection of these lands and facilitate public access to them we have the following requests. 1. Habitat and Resource Conservation on AMC Lands – ($100,000) – Funding to match and complete efforts planned for summer 2016 and 2017 on the north slope of White Cap Mountain and the Roach Ponds region to restore native brook trout habitat on AMC lands. The AMC land encompasses one of the most prized native brook trout fisheries in the state, with chains of remote ponds and connecting streams. The project includes removing multiple culverts that block stream passage and replacing them with bridges or arch culverts that restore natural stream channels. This funding will allow completion of three stream crossing projects in 2016 and five projects in 2017. Together these projects will reconnect three miles of stream habitat for native brook trout. 2. Creating public recreational access on the Medawisla/Roach Ponds Conservation lands – ($125,000) – Conserving the land and making it accessible to the public are twin goals of AMC. Opening the land up to the public requires developing the appropriate infrastructure to ensure that resource is protected and enhanced for the long term. We will be laying out and building new trail networks for skiing, hiking, and mountain biking around Medawisla and the remote Roach Ponds area in the next two years, as well as paddle-to campsites and water access points. This trail and campsite network will be open for public use and represents a significant expansion of outdoor recreation opportunities in the Moosehead Lake/100-Mile Wilderness Region. 3. Securing Access to Conservation Lands. – ($100,000) – Reconstruction in 2016 of an important and widely used trail bridge that is critical for recreational access to AMC conservation lands, and for connecting the Chairback Mountain Range to a planned yearround trailhead and trail system over Blue Ridge to the town of Greenville. This is a significant and complicated bridge at the outlet of Long Pond and a critical piece of recreational infrastructure that will be used for hiking, skiing, mountain biking, and snowshoeing. The bridge is a critical link in the trail system that connects Plum Creek’s Moosehead Conservation Lands with AMC’s trail network. 1. Redington Forest Project ($110,000). A cooperative project with The Trust for Public Land and the U.S. Navy/Department of Defense, Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust will hold a conservation easement jointly with the U.S. Navy over this critical parcel. Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust will have full stewardship responsibilities. The parcel is a 10,000-acre working forest which has public access for recreation, habitat for several threatened or endangered species (including Bicknell’s thrush), viewshed protection for 35 miles of the Appalachian Trail, and a +725-acre ecological reserve component adjacent to the Crocker Mountain Ecoreserve. 2. Gulf Hagas – Whitecap ($50,000). This project, which will be completed in conjunction with the Forest Society of Maine and other conservation partners, aims to protect approximately 14,000 acres of riverfront land, sustainably managed forest and high-elevation land along the Appalachian Trail. Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust’s component will be to acquire the +5,425-acre parcel of land along five miles of the A.T. corridor. This parcel includes the White Brook Trail (an official A.T. side trail to the summit of White Cap Mountain, the highest peak in the 100 Mile Wilderness), documented Bicknell’s thrush habitat, a maintained snowmobile trail, and three mountain peaks above 3,000 feet in height. 3. High Peaks Initiative ($15,000). Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust has continued to work with our partners (High Peaks Alliance, The Wilderness Society, Sandy River Land Trust, Northern Forest Center) to further land conservation efforts in the 230,000-acre designated area, and all are involved in projects that are in different stages of completion under this Regional Conservation Partnership. Funding for HPI enables the land trust to draw our partners into collaborative efforts based on individual organizational missions. One HPI goal is more public access via hiking trails in connection with the Appalachian Trail, including one to be constructed over the land trust’s Saddleback Mountain property this summer and a possible loop trail between Sugarloaf and Mount Abraham. 4. Community Hike Program ($10,000). One of the most important issues in land conservation today is connecting with the next generation of conservationists. Without people recreating on trails like the A.T. in Maine, public interest wanes and you have "conservation in a vacuum". Under this ongoing program, Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust offers one to two hikes per month, free of charge, for the public or groups that request a trip leader. The other component is public outreach at official events (Sea Dogs game, festivals, presentations at schools, monthly meetings of hiking clubs, etc.). The board of directors consider this an integral part of our conservation mission. September 4, 2015 Atlantic Salmon Federation Maine Headwaters Project Proposal of $50,000 The Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) has been working in Maine for 30 years to restore Atlantic salmon and their aquatic environments. Our work is focused on restoring the native assemblage of migratory species including Atlantic salmon, Eastern brook trout, and river herring as these species co-evolved and depend on each other. Our Maine Headwaters Project (MHP) targets key spawning watersheds for migratory fish. Over the past decade, this collaborative approach has resulted in the completion of twenty-one fish passage projects restoring access to 18,500 acres of lakes and ponds and almost 400 river miles, providing benefits for native and migratory fish in the northern forests of Maine. In the fall of 2015, ASF will replace an undersized 12 foot box culvert with a 42 foot prefabricated steel bridge on Blackstone Brook in the Piscataquis River watershed. This will open up nine miles of coldwater stream to Atlantic salmonand Eastern brook trout. The total project costs are approximately $370,000. A grant of $50,000 would help ASF complete the project in 2015. Improving stream connectivity and fish passage in the Piscataquis watershed is a high priority objective within the State of Maine’s 2009 “Operational Plan for the Restoration of Diadromous Fishes to the Penobscot River Basin” and is a major component of the ongoing work being done across the geographic range of federally protected Atlantic salmon in Maine to recover the species. The Piscataquis system and Blackstone Brook are designated as critical habitat for endangered Atlantic salmon and the area upstream and downstream from the project site has very high-quality Atlantic salmon spawning and rearing habitat. This has been a focus area for salmon restoration efforts for many decades. Fort Andross, Suite 406 14 Maine Street Brunswick, ME 04011-2030 Tel 207 725 2833 │ Fax 207 725 2967 │ www.asf.ca 115 Franklin Street, 3rd Floor Bangor, ME 04401 207-945-9200 tel 207-945-9229 fax www.fsmaine.org info@fsmaine.org September 10, 2015 Forest Society of Maine North Woods project: The Gulf Hagas - Pleasant River Project ($150,000) will provide permanent protection of approximately 18,000 acres that includes 5,500 acres of high elevation land associated with Whitecap Mountain and three other mountain peaks bordering 11 miles of the Appalachian Trail corridor. It will also protect 17 miles of the West Branch of the Pleasant River and cold water tributaries arising in the peaks to be conserved and that are vitally important to brook trout and Atlantic salmon. A significant older growth floodplain forest and wetland complex, miles of undeveloped stream and lake shore, and thousands of acres of productive forestland will be conserved. The lands provide important habitat for multiple species of birds and wildlife including Bicknell’s thrush, Canada lynx, wood turtle, long-eared bat, and rare plant communities such as Fir-Heartleaf Birch sub-alpine forest. The project lands also provide camping, hiking, snowmobiling, fishing, hunting, and other similar recreational uses for more than 10,000 people every year. The Forest Society of Maine is working with two landowners, Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, and other organizations to successfully conserve these lands through a combination of fee and easement purchases. (Total project costs: $8,000,000) A statewide land trust working to conserve and maintain the many values of forestlands in Maine MAHOOSUC LAND TRUST ELLIS RIVER TO WHITECAP THE PROJECT In 2007 the Mahoosuc Land Trust, with your help, acquired 750 acres of land on Rumford Whitecap and established the Rumford Whitecap Mountain Preserve. The Preserve includes part of the bald peak with 360 degree views, two trails to the summit and the Black and White Trail linking Black Mountain of Maine to Rumford Whitecap. Presently the Mahoosuc Land Trust has entered into options and agreements with two landowners to conserve lands which would expand the Whitecap Preserve. The project includes the purchase of 227 acres and a donated conservation easement on 180 acres. The land includes over two miles of frontage on the meandering Ellis River, then rising from the river valley up the slopes of Whitecap Mountain and abutting the 750 acre Rumford Whitecap Mountain Preserve. CONSERVATION AND RECREATION The Rumford Whitecap Mountain Preserve is a community asset. It provides outstanding recreational opportunities, supports sustainable and natural resource based economic activity, protects wildlife habitat, sustains the viability of local food systems, and conserves outstanding natural features. The project will protect and connect two Focus Areas of Statewide Ecological Significance that contain unusually rich concentrations of at-risk species and habitats, by linking the State’s largest red pine stand on the summit and the rich biological diversity of the Ellis River Valley. Individually the conservation values on these properties are significant; connecting them amplifies their value and potential substantially. The Preserve will have a scale and diversity of elevation and habitat that will contribute to climate change resilience for important species. In addition to protecting natural resource values, the project will provide important public access and significant recreational values. The project will secure the trail head and an important section of the trail to the summit of Whitecap Mountain, provide public access to the Ellis River, and create the opportunity for an expanded loop trail which will link the trail to the summit with an existing trail along the river. THE CHALLENGE To expand the Rumford Whitecap Mountain Preserve, our current goal is to raise $408,000 to purchase the land and set aside an accompanying stewardship fund. The project has already received a commitment of $200,000 in matching funds from the Land for Maine’s Future Program, which ranked the project first among over 30 projects from across the State.