Visitors from throughout Maine and beyond have enjoyed hiking up Tumbledown Mountain (3,068 feet) and surrounding peaks for the better part of a century, most of them never knowing that they were crossing private land. Hikers assumed that the land was part of nearby Mt. Blue State Park in Weld, a highly popular park that Read More
Land for Maine's Future Places
The Land for Maine’s Future program has conserved special places throughout the state that have exceptional natural or recreational value and should be permanently protected. LMF has played a vital role in the acquisition of more than 490,000 acres from willing sellers. These lands include more than 1,000 miles of shorefront and 158 miles of rail-trails, and habitat important for wildlife for breeding, wintering, and migration. LMF-protected lands also include entire islands as well as working forests and farms. NRCM continues to help lead efforts supporting the Land for Maine’s Future program to protect public access to Maine’s most beautiful and significant natural areas.
Mount Kineo
Mount Kineo, with 700-foot cliffs rising straight up from Moosehead Lake, is an unforgettable setting that has lured people for centuries. Indigenous peoples once traveled great distances to Mt. Kineo, relying on its flint-like rhyolite to make stone tools. In recent centuries, Kineo’s spectacular scenery and the amenities of Moosehead Lake drew “rusticators” and summer Read More
Nahmakanta Public Reserve
Nahmakanta, the State’s largest Public Reserve at more that 43,000 acres, offers backcountry visitors a roadless forest of more than 8,000 acres, a 12-mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail, lakeside and remote campsites, and 24 lakes and ponds with more than 50 miles of combined shore frontage. In 1990, the Land for Maine’s Future program Read More
Narraguagus River—Little Falls
Straddling a half-mile along the Narraguagus River, the 221 acres surrounding Little Falls supports some of the highest densities of juvenile Atlantic salmon found in the river’s lower reaches. The Narraguagus still supports a run of native Atlantic salmon, and is one of eight rivers where the species is federally listed as endangered. With support Read More
Newport/Dover-Foxcroft Rail Trail
When rails and ties were pulled up along the old Maine Central Railroad line between Newport and Dover-Foxcroft in 1993, area residents began to claim this rail trail (Four Seasons Adventure Trail) for their own. There are no other public lands in the area and people were eager to have a convenient site for outdoor Read More
Nicatous and West Lakes
By combining conservation easements on working timberland with public land acquisition, the State protected 22,370 acres of contiguous forest with 30 miles of undeveloped shoreline on two lakes and five ponds. The centerpiece of this property is 5,100-acre Nicatous Lake, widely considered to be one of Maine’s most beautiful water bodies with its pristine sand Read More
Noble Farm
Lying a half-mile from Merrymeeting Bay, one of the Eastern seaboard’s largest and most productive estuaries, the open fields of this working dairy farm are a popular stopover for Canada Geese and other migratory waterfowl. Grants from the Land for Maine’s Future program and the USDA Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program enabled the Maine Read More
Orbeton Stream
Located in the towns of Madrid and Phillips, the Orbeton Stream Project secured a conservation easement in December 2015 on nearly 6,000 acres surrounding Orbeton Stream. The easement ensures sustainable forest management and allows public access for hiking, fishing, paddling, and hunting. The Orbeton Stream Project follows a portion of the Appalachian Trail (AT). The Read More
Packard-Littlefield Farm
This working farm was conserved in 2004 through funding from the Land for Maine’s Future program and the Farmland Ranch Protection Program. In 2007 and 2010 the landowners, Bob and Ella Mae Packard, generously donated two additional agricultural conservation easements to the Androscoggin Land Trust, bringing the total conserved acreage of this farm to approximately Read More
