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1999 Annual Report 1999 Annual Report C ELEBRATING OUR 30th A NNIVERSARY 2000 1999 MCHT assists with the largest conservation easement in Maine history (20,268 acres) on Nicatous Lake. Land protected by MCHT exceeds 100,000 acres and 300 entire islands. The Trust receives a landmark waterfront B. SILLIKER, JR. © property, Aldermere Farm in Rockport. 1997 1971 TheTrust’s first project: a conservation easement, on Buckle Island (off Swans), MCHT purchased Calderwood is granted to Acadia Island, its largest island preserve. National Park. 1995 P. RALSTON © Four hundred supporters joined with 1982 MCHT and the Town of Grand Lake Stream to conserve Maine’s premier land-locked salmon fishing river. CIRCA 1989 GEORIGIA PACIFIC 1970 1988 Peggy Rockefeller (L) and Tom Cabot (R) establish Coast Heritage MCHT accepts its first easement Trust (the name was changed to (on Fog Island off Isle au Haut) Maine Coast Heritage Trust in and serves as one of four founding 1975). The Trust helps secure sponsors of the national Land Trust passage of a law that allows use of Alliance. conservation easements for land protection in Maine. C. AYERS © 1985 1983 Bold Coast Campaign conserves stellar properties in eastern Maine, assuring protection of Boot Head, Western Head & Great Head (1988); Hearst Lands in Cutler and Whiting (1989); Jim’s Head (1990); Martin Preserve (1993); and Hamilton Cove (1998). The City of Belfast receives the Trust’s Years of first Land Heritage Award for its 30 conservation of Belfast Heritage Park. Land Protection Hatch Natural Area in MCHT holds its first Conference of Castine becomes Maine Land Trusts. MCHT’s first preserve. LAND CONSERVATION: THE WORK OF VISIONARIES The individuals who joined forces to found Maine its vision – acre by acre and mile by mile. Gifts from Coast Heritage Trust, three decades ago, shared a vision committed donors helped the Trust grow, expanding its of sustaining the rugged beauty, natural integrity and rich capacity as the need for land conservation increased. heritage of the Maine coast. They knew that Maine’s long What began – three decades ago – with the vision of and varied shoreline – quiet and remote as parts of it seemed a few energetic and resourceful people has blossomed into a then – would be discovered in time and subjected to intense powerful movement. Growth in Acres Protected by MCHT development pressure. As a defense against that future, 2,000 There are now 81 land the Trust designed a strategy to encourage island and 1995 trusts in Maine, driven coastal landowners to consider conservation options in 1990 by a devotion to the their planning. 1985 land that has marked 1980 MCHT’s mission – to conserve Maine’s most distinctive the Trust’s work since its 1975 lands – may have seemed naïve to observers during the Trust’s 1970 founding.Throughout early years. How could 0 9,000 17,500 21,270 44,247 72,205 105,000 the years, MCHT has a small board and Total Acreage led the land trust handful of staff make movement – developing creative new approaches to conser- any significant headway vation, fostering the growth of local trusts, and protecting toward such a lofty the places that make Maine exceptional. goal? Yet the vision As pressures on the land intensify in coming decades, that motivated board the power and vitality of that founding vision will continue and staff left no room to guide the Trust’s work. MCHT for skepticism. From On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to thank the MCHT board members review a land project the outset, MCHT many individuals, foundations, and corporate donors who on a 1983 field trip. developed a habit have helped to assure the success of our efforts. of thinking big – tackling ambitious projects that seemed improbable if not impossible. And with each notable success – from MCHT’s first easement on Buckle Island to the ambitious Harold E. Woodsum, Jr. Chairman Bold Coast campaign (that part of coast from Cutler to Lubec)– we gained confidence in the value of setting sights high. We drew inspiration from the foresight and generosity of the landowners with whom we worked. These individuals and families demonstrated a remarkable capacity to look beyond their own lives and experience, translating their love for the land into a commitment to secure its future. We also derived support – both moral and financial – VINALHAVEN LAND TRUST “I know of no movement as convincing, as effective, as compassionate from donors who had the wisdom to recognize that as the land trust movement. It is like water, seeping into the most investments made in land conservation pay incalculable unexpected places; filling the basins of the human heart.” returns. Their steadfast support allowed the Trust to pursue – Terry Tempest Williams, author 4 Maine Coast Heritage Trust Maine Coast Heritage Trust 5 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: MAINE’S CHANGING LANDSCAPE The essence of MCHT’s work – saving the places that buyers in land transactions, and forming alliances with a make Maine unique – has not changed in 30 years, but broader range of groups than ever before. The Trust is also realizing that vision now requires more resources and creativity. developing new sources of funding to compensate for the In the Trust’s early years, development pressures along increased costs of conservation. Maine’s coast were just beginning to build. Few properties faced imminent threats and most people conserved their lands through outright gifts or donated easements. The pace of change has quickened during the intervening decades, transforming both the culture and landscape. According to Evan Richert, Director of the Maine State Planning Office, “as much land was converted to urban and suburban use between 1970 and 1990 as had been converted in all the previous history of the state.” As more people “discover” Maine’s coast, changes that may D. MACDONALD The work of land conservation has become more urgent and challenging as the seem minor in isolation have a dramatic cumulative effect. recent Frenchboro Long Island project demonstrates. The work of land conservation becomes – at once – more urgent and more challenging as development pressures Nearly all of these creative approaches came into play in intensify. Coastal property values are soaring, making the the Trust’s recent work on Frenchboro, the largest single cost of conservation rise. MCHT continues to rely on land acquisition in our 30-year history. This eight-month long and easement donations, but many landowners can no project – which began in 1999 and carried into 2000 – longer afford to protect their properties without some demonstrated how quickly MCHT must respond to complex compensation. Negotiations to conserve land frequently conservation challenges. By collaborating with the Island occur under the gun, pressured by the threat of imminent Institute, Maine Seacoast Mission and community members development. Patterns of land ownership grow more on Frenchboro, and by mobilizing support from committed complex, with major transfers of corporate holdings and donors, the Trust was able to secure 950 acres and five miles multiple generations of families sharing title to private lands. of rugged shoreline – one of the most significant wild parcels All these changes are set against a dynamic backdrop remaining along Maine’s coast. of shifting tax laws, governmental programs and funding We could not attempt projects of this complexity and sources. Land conservation no longer has the luxury of magnitude without the generosity and commitment of our operating apart from the political sphere. As Maine’s supporters, and the landowners and partner groups with successful two-year public land bond campaign demonstrated, whom we work. Your remarkable dedication over the past 30 it is now essential to build coalitions and generate bipartisan years gives me confidence that MCHT can address the major support for land protection. challenges we will face in the coming decades. MCHT is meeting this array of challenges with creative and collaborative approaches. We are pioneering new conservation techniques, involving more conservation James J. Espy, Jr. President 6 Maine Coast Heritage Trust Maine Coast Heritage Trust 7 32 Eastport 31 Bangor 26 Machias 29 25 30 Ellsworth 22 23/24 Frenchman Bay 14 13 20/21 15 17/18 Augusta 19 7 16 11 Rockland 8 9 Penobscot Bay 10 12 Brunswick 27/28 6 Muscongus Bay 4 5 ATLANTIC OCEAN Portland 3 Casco Bay YEAR IN REVIEW 3 Cumberland Summary of 1999 Conservation Projects An easement to Cumberland Mainland and Islands Projects Acres Shorefront Miles Trust maintains the unspoiled character of a 15-acre Gifts of conservation easements 16 944 8.5 peninsula on Chebeague Island. The easement, crafted by Gifts of land 4* 4 0.4 MCHT in cooperation with 29 family members, provides Purchases of land 12 792 10.6 shore access for clammers and residents who enjoy walking Purchases of easements 0 0 0 out the adjoining tidal bar to Little Chebeague Island, a Total 32 1,740 19.5 state-owned property. *3 of the “fee gifts” involve properties previously protected, thus their acreage is not counted in the gain for this year. SOUTHERN COAST 1 York With assistance from MCHT, family members donated an easement on their tidewater farm to York Land Trust. The historic property, with 49 acres of hayfields, mixed woods and tidal flats, complements an adjacent conservation property. 2 York Farther upstream along the York River, another landowner F.DILLON donated a 46-acre conservation easement, protecting open A York saltwater farm provides permanent open space and pastoral river views hayfields, wetlands and salt marsh. The easement, drafted by in a region under intense development pressure. MCHT and held by York Land Trust, maintains the rich ecological values of this tidal corridor.