Four conservation groups that have been working together for more than a year announced on Monday that they have successfully conserved 78,000 acres in western Maine. And plans for the land include creating a new public wilderness preserve in the area.
In early 2025, Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, Forest Society of Maine, Northeast Wilderness Trust, and The Nature Conservancy announced they were working together on a landmark project to conserve more than 78,000 acres in the Magalloway River Region of western Maine. The joint project was called the Magalloway Collaborative, and the groups were seeking to raise $62 million to fund the project.
On Monday, July 27, project officials announced they had secured enough funds and reached an agreement to conserve the land.
According to the project’s Magalloway.org website, the area glimmers with sweeping water features, including 170 miles of rivers and streams, over 2,400 acres of wetlands and crystal-clear lakes. The conservation of the land effectively connects half a million acres of contiguous conserved lands to the east and west.
Project representatives said the multifaceted land conservation project maintains existing recreational access to the property’s lands and waters, creates new public preserves, restricts future development, and sustains the regional economy through continued forest management opportunities while creating buffers around key waterbodies.
The conservation groups involved in the Magalloway project negotiated the agreement in partnership with Wagner Forest Management, representing Bayroot, LLC, the property owner. Most of the property (over 62,500 acres) will continue to be managed by Wagner. Project representatives said it was important to both Wagner and the project partners that a substantial portion of the project lands continue to support the regional forest economy.
New Wilderness Preserve
One of the more exciting aspects of the project for outdoors enthusiasts is that plans include establishing a new wilderness preserve.
As part of the agreement, Northeast Wilderness Trust has acquired more than 11,200 acres of the land and have said they plan to establish a new wilderness preserve open to the public within the remote headwaters of the Magalloway River and the upland forests of Ledge Ridge and Rump Mountain.
Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust now owns and manages over 4,400 acres for recreation and wildlife habitat, including corridors along the Little Magalloway and Magalloway Rivers and a forest tract southeast of Route 16 near Cupsuptic Lake. Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust will conduct river restoration throughout the project area to improve water quality and reconnect native brook trout habitat.
A new permanent conservation easement held by Forest Society of Maine restricts future development while allowing continued timber harvest and forest management, securing substantial forested buffers around key streams, and continuing to allow public access for hunting, fishing, boating, and other recreational and cultural uses.
The project’s partners expressed their appreciation to the foundations, federal grant sources, and hundreds of individuals for the support they provided to the Magalloway project. Lead grants were received from MathWorks, EJK Foundation, Richard King Mellon Foundation, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through Walmart’s Acres for America Program, and North American Wetlands Conservation Act funds.
