Northeast Wilderness Trust

THE PERMANENT FEE PROTECTION FOR MAINE WETLANDS PROPOSAL REQUESTS $2,386,000 IN NAWCA SUPPORT TO PERMANENTLY PROTECT FIVE WETLAND-RICH PROPERTIES IN THE NAWCA COASTAL ZONE THROUGH FEE ACQUISITION. GRANT FUNDS WILL LEVERAGE $4,772,692 IN PARTNER MATCHING FUNDS. TRACTS ARE LOCATED IN CUMBERLAND, LINCOLN, PENOBSCOT AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES, MAINE. FIVE FEE ACQUISITIONS WILL PERMANENTLY PROTECT 2,259.3 ACRES OF PRODUCTIVE FRESHWATER AND INTERTIDAL WETLANDS, BUFFERED BY 1,561.8 ACRES OF MOSTLY WOODED, INTACT UPLAND HABITAT IN LOW DISTURBANCE LANDSCAPES WITH HIGH LEVELS OF CONNECTIVITY AND EXISTING CONSERVATION. FEE ACQUISITIONS INCLUDE: TRACT 1 BIRCH STREAM WILDERNESS PRESERVE) FEE ACQUISITION OF 2,143.7 WETLAND ACRES AND 1,328.6 ACRES OF SURROUNDING FOREST IN THE LOWER PENOBSCOT RIVER SUB-BASIN, WITHIN A CRITICAL HABITAT WATERSHED FOR FEDERALLY ENDANGERED ATLANTIC SALMON. THE TRACT HAS OVER 9 MILES OF RIPARIAN FRONTAGE ON BIRCH STREAM, EAST BRANCH BIRCH STREAM, RAWLINS BROOK, TENMILE BROOK AND TRIBUTARY STREAMS. THE TRACT INCLUDES EXEMPLARY NATURAL COMMUNITIES THAT ARE RARE IN MAINE, INCLUDING A DOMED BOG ECOSYSTEM AND A SHEEP LAUREL DWARF SHRUB BOG. THE PROPERTY ALSO 746 ACRES OF STATE-DESIGNATED SIGNIFICANT WADING BIRD AND WATERFOWL HABITAT TRACT 2 SAND COVE) FEE PURCHASE OF 145.1 ACRES ON GREAT WASS ISLAND, A NATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT SEABIRD NESTING ISLAND ON MAINES DOWNEAST COAST, WHICH IS ALSO A CONTINENTAL STRONGHOLD FOR AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS. THE TRACT CONTAINS PRODUCTIVE INTERTIDAL WETLANDS, INCLUDING 1.5 ACRES OF SALT MARSH, 13.8 ACRES OF MUDFLATS AND 16.9 ACRES OF ROCKY SHORE WETLANDS. THE GREAT WASS ARCHIPELAGO HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED BY THE MAINE NATURAL AREAS PROGRAM AS ONE OF THE RICHEST INTERTIDAL MARINE SYSTEMS IN THE STATE, WHICH ALSO FEATURES ONE OF THE STATES FINEST ASSEMBLAGES OF COASTAL PLATEAU BOGS, COASTAL MAINES TWO LARGEST JACK PINE WOODLANDS, PRISTINE OPEN HEADLANDS, BLACK SPRUCE ROCKY WOODLANDS, AND MARITIME SPRUCE-FIR-LARCH FORESTS TRACT 3 WILD LILY) THIS GENEROUS FEE DONATION PROTECTS 1,207 FEET OF UNDEVELOPED SHORELINE ON PEMAQUID POND IN THE ACJV SOUTHWEST COAST WATERFOWL FOCUS AREA. THE TRACT FEATURES 22.1 ACRES OF FRESHWATER WETLANDS, 92% OF WHICH ARE NATIONALLY DECREASING TYPES TRACT 4 EXPANDING PLEASANT HILL PRESERVE) FEE ACQUISITION OF THIS 22.8-ACRE TRACT OF WETLANDS AND WOODED UPLANDS IS 1,500 FT FROM 497 ACRES OF MAPPED ESSENTIAL HABITAT FOR PIPING PLOVER AND LEAST TERN. THE TRACT IS IN THE ACJVS 2,800-ACRE SPURWINK FOCUS AREA FOR BOTH LANDBIRDS AND SHOREBIRDS TRACT 5 - NONESUCH RIVER CONSERVATION CORRIDOR) FEE DONATION OF A 62.6-ACRE TRACT WHICH IS 76% WETLANDS. THE PROPERTY INCLUDES 0.9 MILES OF RIPARIAN FRONTAGE ON THE NONESUCH RIVER, WHICH SUPPLIES FRESHWATER TO SCARBOROUGH MARSH, MAINES LARGEST CONTIGUOUS SALT MARSH AND HOME TO A NUMBER OF RARE AND ENDANGERED SPECIES. ALL PROPOSAL ACREAGE WILL BE OPEN TO PUBLIC ACCESS FOR NON-MOTORIZED LOW IMPACT USES COMPATIBLE WITH HABITAT CONSERVATION, SUCH AS HIKING WALKING, PICNICKING, WILDLIFE OBSERVATION AND SNOWSHOEING. HUNTING AND FISHING (WHERE OPPORTUNITIES EXIST) WILL BE ALLOWED ON ALL TRACTS. THE APPLICANT, NORTHEAST WILDERNESS TRUST, IS A NON-PROFIT LAND TRUST FOUNDED IN 2002 TO FILL THEVACANT NICHE OF WILDERNESS PROTECTION IN THE NORTHEAST. ITS BOARD AND PROFESSIONAL STAFF OF 15 ARE FOCUSED ON CONSERVING FOREVER WILD LANDSCAPES FOR NATURE AND PEOPLE. THE TRUST IS ACTIVELY WORKING TO ESTABLISH A LANDSCAPE OF CONNECTED, RESILIENT WILDLANDS SHARED BY A HUMAN CULTURE THAT RECOGNIZES THE BENEFITS OF WILD PLACES, PROTECTING OVER 78,000 ACRES ACROSS NEW ENGLAND AND NEW YORK TO DATE.

THROUGH THE ACQUISITION IN FEE OF A REMARKABLE 1,410-ACRE PROPERTY IN RUSSELL, NY, NORTHEAST WILDERNESS TRUST (NEWT) WILL CREATE THE GRASSE RIVER WILDERNESS PRESERVE. NEWT IS CONTRACTED TO PURCHASE THE PROPERTY AT THE END OF AUGUST 2022, AT WHICH POINT IT WILL BE PLACED UNDER A FOREVER-WILD CONSERVATION EASEMENT HELD BY THE ST. LAWRENCE LAND TRUST TO ENSURE THE PROPERTY S PERMANENT PROTECTION AS WILDERNESS. THE CREATION OF THE GRASSE RIVER WILDERNESS PRESERVE WILL ALLOW THIS PROPERTY S WETLAND AND OTHER HABITATS TO RECOVER FROM PAST DISTURBANCES, REWILD, AND MATURE, RESULTING IN NUMEROUS ECOLOGICAL BENEFITS, THE MOST NOTABLE OF WHICH WILL INCLUDE: HABITAT RESTORATION AND PROTECTION FOR THE PROPERTY S WETLAND AND STREAM ECOSYSTEMS, BUFFERING FOREST, AND OTHER HABITATS, RESULTING IN INCREASED BIODIVERSITY PREVENTION OF SOIL EROSION AND IMPROVEMENT OF WATER QUALITY IN THE GRASSE RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES INCREASED POTENTIAL CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN THE PROPERTY S FOREST PERMANENT PROTECTION OF ONE OF THE FEW STABLE POPULATIONS OF THE EASTERN PEARLSHELL MUSSEL IN NEW YORK STATE AND THE EXPANSION OF A LOCAL NETWORK OF PROTECTED LANDS, WHICH WILL PROMOTE LANDSCAPE CONNECTEDNESS ACROSS THE REGION. MORE SPECIFICALLY, THIS PROPERTY SHARES A 1.5-MILE BOUNDARY WITH ADIRONDACK PARK, THE LARGEST SINGLE PROTECTED REGION FOUND IN THE LOWER 48 STATES AT 6.1 MILLION ACRES. APPROXIMATELY HALF OF THE LAND WITHIN THE PARK IS STATE-OWNED, WHILE THE REST IS PRIVATELY OWNED BUT SUBJECT TO SUCH REGULATIONS AS TO MAINTAIN THE INTEGRITY AND CONDITION OF THE REGION AS A GENERALLY WILD STATE. THE PROPERTY ALSO ADJOINS DOWNERVILLE AND DEGRASSE STATE FORESTS TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH, WHICH TOGETHER COMPRISE OVER 2,5000 ACRES OF GAP 3 PROTECTED LAND. WITHIN THIS ALREADY WELL-CONNECTED LANDSCAPE, THE ADDITION OF A 1,410-ACRE CORE WILDERNESS AREA WILL BE OF SIGNIFICANT BENEFIT FOR MANY MIGRATORY SPECIES.