A Maine land trust recently acquired 1,400 acres of land in western Maine, and it plans to begin building new hiking trails on the property this year.
The Greater Lovell Land Trust (GLLT) recently announced the conservation of 1,411 acres along Maine’s Kezar River.
It adds to the 1,315 acres GLLT conserved along the Kezar River in 2022 and 2023, bring the group’s total conserved area in the communities of Lovell and Sweden to more than 2,700 contiguous acres.
Together, these lands conserve seven miles of the Kezar River, a mostly forested corridor that also features steep riverside bluffs, hilltop vistas, beaver ponds, and nearly 100 acres of wetlands.
The newly-conserved properties provide wildlife connectivity and link key conservation areas, including the Upper Saco River/Kezar Pond region and Caribou and Speckled Mountains within the White Mountain National Forest.
The new conservation property will be open to the public for a variety of outdoor activities. Starting in 2025, GLLT will begin developing trailhead parking areas, hiking trails, and other access infrastructure.
The acquisition marks the largest land purchase in GLLT’s history. A $1,035,000 grant from the Land for Maine’s Future Program in the early stages of fundraising helped jumpstart the project. The Open Space Institute’s Appalachian Landscapes Protection Fund also contributed $200,000.
Additional funding was provided by community members, the Nature Conservancy in Maine, the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, the Maine Community Foundation, and private foundations.
The public will get an opportunity to explore the new property in early March. GLLT is inviting the public on a snowshoe sneak peek on Saturday, March 8, at 1 p.m., to explore the newly-acquired property.