Active Campaigns
Coastal Mountains Land Trust does not attempt to protect all land from development. As a community organization, we clearly understand the need within our communities to have places where people can live and work. Instead, our goal, as a land conservation organization, is to identify and protect those areas within our service region that possess the highest conservation values and therefore yield the most public benefit. To this end, we work proactively to identify the areas of highest conservation values within our service region and target the time and resources of our organization to conserving lands within those area, which we call conservation focus areas.
Currently, the conservation focus areas of Coastal Mountains Land Trust include:
Planned Giving Campaign
Planned Gifts include a set of options that can be crafted to best fit the donor's family and financial circumstances while endowing the capacity of the Land Trust to forever care for its conservation lands. As is the case with all qualified donations, significant tax benefits can result, reducing income and estate taxation.
Download the Planned Giving brochure for more details (661k pdf)
Beech Hill
Beech Nut, early 2007
Background
Alone among all of the hills rimming western Penobscot Bay, Beech Hill's summit, covered by blueberry barrens, opens to the full scope of the horizon. And what a horizon. . . the mountains of Acadia, Isle au Haut, the spruce-treed islands of the bay, the shimmering Gulf of Maine, forested Camden Hills, and St. George River valley . . . all of this extraordinarily scenic land- and bay-scape lies before you when you stand atop Beech Hill.
Beech Nut, the historic stone house on the summit, was created in the early 1900's by the Rockport landscape designer Hans O. Heistad, an associate of the famed Olmsted Brothers company. The sod-roofed, stone-walled building offers a rugged, stalwart complement to the wind-swept Beech Hill. Sadly, weather and vandalism have deteriorated its structure, which is in dire, urgent need of restoration.
Donate now to the Beech Hill campaign.
The blueberry barrens are actually anything but "barren. " They are cultivated as one of the largest organic blueberry operations in the state of Maine, a demonstration of innovative agricultural practices for one of the state's most emblematic crops. The organic culture also provides habitat for several uncommon grassland birds--vesper and savannah sparrows, kestrels, bobolinks, northern harriers--that need large, open, fields with diverse vegetation.
This landscape is recognized on the National Register of Historic Places as the Beech Nut Historic District, a whole place comprising the open barrens and stone house. It is a place dear to generations of people who have seen it as a landmark for sailors, have picked blueberries on its fields, or have taken an easy walk to enjoy the spectacular scope of its vistas and wondered at the simple beauty of the sod roof gracing rugged Beech Nut. It is the essence of the 295-acre Beech Hill Preserve owned and managed by Coastal Mountains Land Trust.
As stated in the recent report, Charting Maine's Future: an Action Plan for Promoting Sustainable Prosperity and Quality Places by The Brookings Institution: "First, the state should continue to invest urgently in protecting and enhancing its top-notch quality of place, for that is its 'calling card,' its brand, and its truest source of prosperity" (page 99).
The Beech Hill Preserve is a legacy element of our natural and cultural landscape--sustaining it will help sustain our quality of life in western Penobscot Bay.
Beech Nut, circa 1920
The History of Beech Nut
The stone building that crowns Beech Hill in Rockport was designed by Hans O. Heistad, a noted Norwegian-born landscape designer and gardener who immigrated to the United States in 1905. He initially came to Maine in 1910, employed by the Olmsted Brothers company, and eventually settled in the Camden area. In 1913, he was commissioned by John Gribbel of Philadelphia to improve the grounds of "Weatherend," the Gribbel family summer cottage on Deadman Point in Rockport.
In order to keep the Weatherend work crews employed during the winter months, Gribbel instructed Heistad to design and build a day lodge, dubbed "Beech Nut," on his Beech Hill property. The lodge, constructed during the winters of 1913 through 1915, was to serve as a shelter for picnics and afternoon tea. Heistad's design, which included furnishings and lighting fixtures, was inspired by the traditional mountain hytter (cottages) of Norway. Like the hytter, which originated from medieval designs, Beech Nut has a heavily-timbered, sod roof and a svalgang (long protected porch) that shelters the entrance to the main hall. Heistad departed from the Norwegian design, however, by using stone masonry walls instead of limiting stone to the foundation and fireplace. It is probable that he chose stone masonry because the men working on Weatherend during the summer were skilled in the construction of stone walls. In addition, the intended summertime use of the structure did not require the insulation provided by the wood used for walls of the typical hytter in the sub-arctic climate of Norway.
Although the lodge has suffered from years of neglect and vandalism, the fact that it is still largely intact is a testament to the care with which it was constructed and the soundness of its design. Beech Nut stands as one of the few largely intact works by one of Maine's most noted landscape designers and, similar to the former Jordan Pond Tea House of Mt. Desert Island (destroyed by fire in 1978), serves as a reminder of a bygone era of American history.
Beech Nut Historic District
The Goal
Coastal Mountains Land Trust has launched the Campaign for Beech Hill to:
- restore Beech Nut before it crumbles into irretrievable disrepair;
- inform the public about the value of this important community asset and about the process conducted to restore Beech Nut and its landscape;
- secure stewardship of the stone house and the barrens that surround it; and
- provide public enjoyment of this historic legacy for all future generations.
The Strategy
In 2004 the Land Trust engaged an historic preservation architectural firm, Barba & Wheelock, to complete an historic conditions and cultural landscape report on the Beech Nut Historic District. This is the first step toward a proper restoration program. They reported in 2005 that the building's stonework, though remarkably durable, needs significant repairs. In addition, water leaking through the sod roof has rotted the roof timbers and the interior floor and is damaging the mortar in the stonework. They advised promptly commencing a program to restore the exterior of the building to secure it from further degradation.
The Land Trust's Board of Directors decided to initiate the first phase of the restoration of Beech Nut: restoration of the entire building exterior -- the sod roof, stone walls, and replacement of the terrace, windows, doors, and interior floor. We engaged a local architectural firm, Scholz & Barclay Architects, to prepare final plans, specifications, and bid documents for contractors, and to oversee the construction process. Contractors are bidding on the job, and we expect to engage a contractor in April. We anticipate completing the restoration construction by the end of 2007.
During the restoration work, we will place a set of storyboards on the site that describe the history of Beech Nut, the public values of restoring historic structures and landscapes, and the construction techniques that will be done to restore Beech Nut. When the restoration phase is complete, we will install a set of permanent displays on the Preserve that present information about the Beech Nut Historic District for the people who will visit the site and want to better understand its cultural context.
Project Budget
This budget is an estimate, prepared by the architects and the Land Trust staff, and will be finalized when the contract is settled with the builder.
Item |
Estimated Cost |
|---|---|
Restoration of the exterior of Beech Nut |
$410,000 |
Restoration and improvements to Historic Landscape |
100,000 |
Endowment necessary to sustain Beech Nut and its Landscape |
$280,000 |
Estimated costs to implement Campaign |
30,000 |
Total |
$820,000 |
Item |
Support |
|---|---|
Funds raised to date from individual donors |
$273,000 |
Grants awarded --Anonymous foundation, challenge grant (1:1 match required), $200,000 --1772 Foundation, $25,000 --Messler Family Foundation, $10,000 --Otter Island Foundation, $1,000 |
236,000 |
Proposals pending with private foundations |
20,000 |
Additional funds needed from local donor support |
291,000 |
Total |
$820,000 |
Conservation Benefits of Beech Hill Preserve
Public Access
A half-mile walk to the 533' summit of the Beech Hill Preserve provides easy, yet secluded, access to one of western Penobscot Bay's most spectacular viewpoints to the public. The scenery is panoramic, offering the full scope of Penobscot Bay and its hundreds of islands, from Islesboro to Monhegan. Mountains punctuate the horizon, from Blue Hill and Cadillac Mountain, past Isle Au Haut, and around to Bald and Ragged Mountains and Camden Hills State Park. Beyond the summit, a loop trail more than two miles in length leads hikers through the forest and around the edges of the blueberry barrens.
Historic Preservation and Education
Restoration of Beech Nut will preserve a regionally important historic building, unique in the state for the combination of its rustic architecture and landscape of barrens above the bay. Though the stone structure and its sod roof have suffered the rigors of a century of weather and some vandalism, the stonework has endured, though it is increasingly at risk as the roof degrades and leaks water into the mortar. Serious cracks have appeared in several places, so it is critical to restore the building now, before further deterioration can take an ultimate toll. In addition, the project and its result will provide an unusual opportunity to integrate information about historic restoration with conservation of the western Penobscot Bay landscape.
Organic Blueberry Culture
The organic blueberry operation on Beech Hill is one of the largest in Maine, with about 50 acres in production. It demonstrates the feasibility of organic methods of blueberry cultivation, methods that are becoming more important for sustaining this traditional Maine crop. Increasing residential development adjacent to blueberry fields is making it difficult for farmers to continue managing with the herbicides and insecticides typically sprayed on their fields.
Grassland Bird Species and Wildlife
Due to its large, relatively isolated open blueberry barrens, the Beech Hill Preserve offers habitat for a group of grassland bird species whose numbers are declining due to habitat loss throughout New England. The organic blueberry culture of the barrens provides a richer diversity of insects and plants for food and cover than occurs on chemically managed blueberry barrens. In addition, the forests of the Preserve, about 150 acres in area, have a wide variety of stand ages and species composition, providing diverse habitats for a broad range of wildlife typical of the region.
How You Can Help
We need the community's help to complete this Campaign and ensure that Beech Nut and Beech Hill can be a legacy for all generations of residents and visitors, now and into the future.
Please make your most generous donation. Gifts can be made by check or by transfer of appreciated securities--both offer significant tax benefits to the donor while supporting the Campaign. Please contact Scott Dickerson, Executive Director of Coastal Mountains Land Trust, to arrange for transfer of securities. If you wish, payment of your gift may be pledged as annual contributions over the next two years. If you have any questions, please call our office.
Coastal Mountains Land Trust is a Maine non-profit corporation and is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, making all contributions to the Campaign for Beech Hill tax-deductible to the fullest extent established by law.
Campaign Update: Progress as of November 30!
Progress on the rehabilitation of Beech Nut is clear in this front view, photographed around the time of our open house in November 2007. The new windows and doors are in place, the roof has been replaced and resodded with sod from the surrounding fields, the stonework has been repointed, and the outdoor patio restored. Please visit the preserve and see for yourself how donor support is being put to immediate and direct use in restoring Beech Nut and the surrounding landscape to its old glory!
Beech Hill Blueberry Pick, 2006
For more information about the Campaign for Beech Hill, please contact:
Scott Dickerson, Executive Director
Coastal Mountains Land Trust
101 Mount Battie Street
Camden, ME 04843
telephone: 207-236-7091 scottd@coastalmountains.org
View the full Beech Hill campaign brochure (791k pdf)
Bald and Ragged Mountains
We can make choices: outdoor recreation in scenic mountain landscapes, naturally pure drinking water, and abundant wildlife
A drive through the countryside around western Penobscot Bay quickly confirms that our natural landscape is being changed forever by rapidly escalating residential development. This trend is also driving the cost of land to unprecedented heights. Our response to this challenge means everything to the future character of our communities--we have a brief window of time to protect our very special places like the Bald and Ragged Mountains. All of the data testifies for action:
- from 1991 to 2000 the population of Knox County increased 8.3%
- most of this growth is occurring outside of our traditional village centers
- assessors and appraisers inform us that undeveloped rural land in the Camden Hills region has increased in value at least 50% during the past 5 years
- conversion of rural land to subdivisions and houses blocks public access to natural land, degrades our natural scenery, diminishes biodiversity, removes agricultural and forest assets from production, and damages water quality
- once land is developed, the opportunity to conserve its benefits for human and natural communities is lost for generations, if not forever
Please Help With Your Generous Donation
We need $3.6 million of local support to match $5.4 million that we expect to secure from private foundations and state and federal programs. Raising these funds is necessary to assure that the Bald and Ragged Mountains will remain beautiful, rich in opportunities for outdoor recreation, and productive habitat for a bountiful diversity of wildlife.
The Opportunity
This is our opportunity to save the 4th and 5th highest mountains on the east coast of the United States. One of the most striking landscapes in western Penobscot Bay is that of the Bald and Ragged Mountains. These bold summits and their shoulders, 3,500 acres of dramatically scenic cliffs and forests, offer a broad diversity of community and conservation benefits. However, there is no assurance that these values will be protected for future generations unless we act now and act vigorously.
- Conservation of the Bald and Ragged Mountains will permanently:
- provide new opportunities for outdoor recreation based from the Camden Snow Bowl
- permanently protect and expand existing trails, many of which are currently on private land by permission, to assure continuing public access
- preserve the dramatic scenery of this mountainous terrain that frames the horizons around our towns
- conserve rare plants, exemplary natural communities, and large, unfragmented areas of wildlife habitat
- protect undeveloped, forested land on Ragged Mountain that is in the watershed of Mirror Lake, part of the drinking water supply for our community
photo: Fred Ribeck
These are our opportunities now. . .but they will steadily diminish in the next few years, and ultimately vanish, in the face of development trends that threaten this natural legacy.
Coastal Mountains Land Trust began conserving some of our most significant places in 1986. Since that promising beginning, we have conserved more than 5,800 acres of land. Our conservation successes have included some of the most singular landmarks in the area -- Mt. Battie, Rockport Harbor, Beech Hill, and the Ducktrap River -- as well as dozens of sites throughout the coastal mountains of western Penobscot Bay.
We conserve land for its broad benefits to the community:
- providing opportunities for outdoor recreation
- preserving the scenic resources that define our region
- protecting biodiversity, the foundation of life on Earth
- sustaining agricultural and forest assets
- protecting water quality in our lakes, rivers, and aquifers
Donate now to the Bald & Ragged Mountains campaign.
It is not our objective to place every piece of land in conservation, for we too are residents of the region and know that people need places to live, work, and prosper. Instead, we identify the truly special, exceptional places that offer the very highest community and conservation benefits. Then we work cooperatively with land owners to design mutually beneficial ways to conserve their property.
View the full Bald & Ragged Mountains Campaign brochure (9.5mb pdf)
Ducktrap River Campaign
Donate now to the Ducktrap River campaign.
The Ducktrap River Watershed:
A major project led by Coastal Mountains Land Trust
Turner Falls, Ducktrap River; Photo Credit: Corelyn Senn
The Ducktrap River Watershed is an extraordinary natural treasure and conservation opportunity. Located midway between the rapidly developing Camden and Belfast areas, the Ducktrap River runs for more than nine miles through wetlands and forests that are still undeveloped, quiet, and rich in wildlife and scenic vignettes of a wild landscape. The pristine habitat for spawning and young salmon make it one of only eight rivers in the United States that continue to support wild Atlantic salmon. To preserve this remarkable river, the Ducktrap Coalition, led by Coastal Mountains Land Trust, has launched a campaign to protect the critical river corridor. We envision that the lands beside the river will remain forever wild, permanently conserved, a legacy for future generations and for the salmon, white pine, scarlet tanagers, black cherry, otters, and all the other wild species that depend on the river corridor, riparian wetlands, and forested slopes. To realize our vision, we work on a strictly voluntary basis with river land owners to protect lands with conservation easements and parcel purchases. Thanks to the willingness of land owners to work with us and the generosity of our members and friends, more than two-thirds of the river corridor already has been conserved. We are confident that with your help, this entire river will soon be permanently protected!
The Ducktrap Coalition
Coastal Mountains Land Trust leads this collaboration of 20 diverse organizations, which includes municipal, state, and federal agencies, as well as conservation, environmental education, and citizens groups. The mission of the Coalition is the voluntary protection of the Ducktrap River, including its natural features and critical watershed.
Goals
- Preservation of the Ducktrap River Atlantic salmon and their habitat.
- Protection of the natural communities and rare plants and animals of the watershed.
- Stewardship of the natural and scenic features of the watershed.
- Creation and maintenance of a trail along the river corridor.
- Restoration of the ecological functions of land that has been degraded.
- Environmental education opportunities for the people of the Ducktrap watershed and nearby communities.
Passagassawakeag Greenway Campaign
The Opportunity
Just imagine . . . a public trail starting at the very edge of Belfast, meandering along the river and through two miles of beautiful river-bluff forests . . . The Passagassawakeag River flows between scenic, wooded bluffs before it merges with the tides in Belfast Harbor. Despite its proximity to the city, the landscape of the river's lower reaches remains remarkably pastoral and natural, presenting an exceptional conservation opportunity. Between City Point Road and Route 137, the bluffs above the southerly side of the river are largely undeveloped forests. Coastal Mountains Land Trust is working cooperatively with land owners to create the Passagassawakeag Greenway, a two-mile public trail surrounded by protected natural lands, along and overlooking the river.
The Goal
The Passagassawakeag Greenway will create a wonderful outdoor recreation experience for the people of Belfast and the region, providing people with a great place to hike, ski, snowshoe, and enjoy the scenic lower Passagassawakeag River area.
The Strategy
The prospects for creating the Greenway are very promising. Its proposed route passes through nine parcels that offer an undeveloped, forested corridor on the river bluffs. Two of these parcels have been secured:
- the Land Trust's Knowlton-Swanson- Stephenson Preserve anchors the southern end of the Greenway, and
- the Hall Conservation Easement protects one of the mid- Greenway parcels, including 650 feet along the river.
In addition, two other
parcels are in the process
of being secured:
- the Land Trust has an option to purchase the Stover Property, with a closing scheduled for June, 2004, and
- the Belfast City Council has approved use of the City's former ski slope property for trails to be constructed and maintained by the Land Trust.
The Land Trust has begun discussions with the owners of the other five parcels, and will work with them on a cooperative and voluntary basis to engage their interest in the Greenway.
Protection of the Greenway
When Ralph Stephenson donated the Knowlton-Swanson-Stephenson Preserve to Coastal Mountains Land Trust in 2000, he explained his extraordinary generosity by saying,
"I am giving this wooded area in Belfast to Coastal Mountains Land Trust as a gift to the community. It will be owned and managed by the Land Trust as a wildlife preserve, and a footpath for public use will be created. It will remain undeveloped. It may become a part of a larger 'green belt' surrounding the City of Belfast, which has been discussed for a few years. This gift is my way of saying 'thanks' for all that this town has given me. I hope that others will think of setting other properties aside for future refuge and recreation in this growing area on the coast of Maine. "
We could not have expressed the value of the
Greenway any better. Ralph's gift of eight acres
overlooking the river is a natural land gem that
features a sparkling brook bounding through
mature, riverbluff forest. In November 2002, volunteers
and the Land Trust constructed a public
footpath through the Preserve, offering opportunities
for hiking, snowshoeing, nature study, environmental
education, and other activities suitable
to the undeveloped, natural character of the land.
Ralph's leadership has encouraged other land owners to explore conservation options for their property. In 2003 the Land Trust purchased the Hall Conservation Easement, which protects 17.4 acres of the Greenway corridor, including 650 feet of frontage on the Passagassawakeag River. Funds for this purchase were raised from many local donors and two private foundations. The Belfast City Council has approved entering into a trail construction and management agreement with the Land Trust on the 19-acre site of the former ski slope, providing a new outdoor recreation future for this dramatic property.
In 2003 the Land Trust obtained an option to purchase the Stover Property at the northern end of the proposed Greenway. This 53-acre forested property features a beautiful reach of the river, more than 1,200 feet, passing through the overarching canopy beside banks rimmed with wildflowers and rushes. We are raising the funds now to complete this key purchase, due to close in June, 2004. We have communicated with the five other owners of parcels located in the Greenway corridor to encourage their potential participation. When the timing is right for their personal interests, we hope to develop a mutually agreeable conservation plan with each of them. There are alternative conservation options for each parcel, depending on their particular circumstances--some may wish to sell land that will become part of the Greenway, while others may prefer placing a conservation easement on their property.
Raising the Resources
Coastal Mountains Land Trust has
launched the Campaign for the
Passagassawakeag Greenway, led
by Belfast citizens, to raise the funds
necessary to complete this exciting
opportunity. Members of the Campaign
Committee work with local citizens,
private foundations, and government
programs that share our hope to create
the Greenway and recognize its benefits
for the Belfast community.
The Land Trust estimates that the cost of land and conservation easement purchases for the proposed Greenway and for trail construction will be $700,000, based on projected costs of land acquisition and trail construction. Because we need to respond quickly when land owners agree to conserve their land, it is critical to the success of the Greenway that we establish a working fund for its implementation. The Campaign is being conducted in two phases:
- Phase I: seeding the fund by raising $200,000 in 2003--4 for acquiring the initial Greenway parcels;
- Phase II: building on the successes of the seed projects, raising $500,000 during 2005--8 to complete the project.
Donate now to the Passsagassawakeag Greenway campaign.
Turning Opportunity Into Legacy
Coastal Mountains Land Trust began conserving some of our most significant places in 1986 when we completed our first conservation easement, protecting 572 acres on Beech Hill in Rockport. Since that promising beginning, we have conserved more than 5,000 acres of land. Our conservation successes have included some of the most singular landmarks in the area--the Ducktrap River, for instance, a project that is the subject of the nationally acclaimed book, To Save a River--as well as dozens of sites throughout the coastal mountains of western Penobscot Bay. In May, 2003 we were honored with the Land Heritage Award, the annual recognition by Maine Coast Heritage Trust for an exemplary conservation effort in Maine.
We conserve land for its broad benefits to the community:
- providing opportunities for outdoor recreation
- preserving the scenic resources that define our region
- protecting biodiversity, the foundation of life on Earth
- sustaining agricultural and forest assets
- reducing sprawl and its cost to town budgets
- protecting water quality in our lakes, rivers, and aquifers
It is not our objective to place every piece of land in conservation, for we too are residents of the region and know that people need places to live, work, and prosper. Instead, we identify the truly special, exceptional places that offer the very highest community and conservation benefits. Then we work cooperatively with land owners to design mutually beneficial ways to conserve their property.
Campaign for the Passagassawakeag Greenway: How You Can Help
The Campaign has already received more than $110,000 in individual and business donations, pledges, and grants. To create the Greenway, we need the broadest and strongest support from the Belfast region. We hope other local donors will make substantial, generous gifts. In addition, we will continue to seek matching grants from private foundations which will multiply the generous local donations we anticipate.
Your gift may be pledged for payment over two or more years, with contributions made annually.
Non-cash gifts of appreciated securities or real estate may offer significant tax benefits to the donor while supporting the Campaign. Arrangements for such gifts may be made by contacting Scott Dickerson, Executive Director, or Cate Cronin, Campaign Director, both of Coastal Mountains Land Trust.
Coastal Mountains Land Trust is a Maine non-profit corporation and is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, making all contributions to the Campaign for the Passagassawakeag Greenway tax-deductible to the fullest extent established by law.
Hatchet Mountain Campaign
The Opportunity
In the heart of Hope Village, Hatchet Mountain rises to an elevation of 1,103 feet. As the topographic center of town, Hatchet Mountain is an essential part of the town's scenery and provides exceptional recreational opportunities. A group of Hope citizens has partnered with Coastal Mountains Land Trust to purchase 27 acres on the southern slopes of Hatchet Mountain for conservation. This community-wide effort will:
- Make the magnificent view atop this property accessible for all to enjoy
- Provide Hope's first permanently protected public hiking path u Begin the process of rehabilitating the road
- Protect the water quality of Hobbs Pond
- Permanently protect the land from residential development
- Protect wildlife habitat
- Offer educational opportunities for local schools
Donate now to the Hatchet Mountain campaign.
Making Choices for Hope's Future
A drive along our rural roads reveals the rapidly changing landscape of Hope. Development has continued its inevitable reach into our more scenic farms and forests. While such increased growth is a positive reflection of a town's appeal, some conservation is needed to preserve Hope's traditional way of life. Through the Hatchet Mountain Campaign, we have a wonderful chance to take a proactive role in shaping Hope's landscape. And what a crucial opportunity this is.
- From 1991 to 2000 the population of Knox County increased 8%
- From 1991 to 2000 the population of Hope increased 29%
- In the past five years, the town of Hope has approved 7 new subdivisions and issued building permits for 119 new homes.
- While Hope's residential development is clearly on the rise, its land remains
relatively unprotected. Compare these local conservation percentages:
- Hope ~2%
- Rockport ~16%
- Northport ~17%
- Lincolnville ~32%
- Camden ~34%
We have a rare opportunity to conserve a portion of one of Hope's most significant geographical features. We must grasp it while it is still within our reach.