Four conservation organizations recently announced they are working to permanently conserve 78,000 acres in western Maine.
The joint project aims to protect land in Maine’s Magalloway region, maintaining existing recreational access to the property’s lands and waters, while establishing forested buffers around rivers, lakes, and streams.
Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, Forest Society of Maine, Northeast Wilderness Trust, and The Nature Conservancy have come together as the Magalloway Collaborative, and they are seeking to raise $62 million to fund the project by May 2026.
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. When conserved, the project will effectively connect half a million acres of contiguous conserved lands to the east and west, a historic accomplishment for the region.
Project officials say the plan will help sustain the regional economy by continuing opportunities for active forest management on 62,500 acres, and in addition, designate a 11,200-acre wilderness preserve that will enhance forest and biological diversity within its boundaries.
The Magalloway project’s conservation approach was negotiated in partnership with Wagner Forest Management, representing Bayroot, LLC, the property owner. Most of the property (62,500 acres) will continue to be owned by Bayroot and support the regional forest and recreational economy.
A new permanent conservation easement held by the Forest Society of Maine will restrict future development, secure substantial forested buffers around streams and lakes, allow the lands to be managed for forest products, and continue allowing public access for hunting, fishing, boating, and other recreational and cultural uses.
Northeast Wilderness Trust will acquire more than 11,000 acres of the property to establish a new wilderness preserve within the headwaters of the Magalloway River and upland forests of Ledge Ridge and Rump Mountain.
This area expands upon adjacent ecological reserves in New Hampshire’s Connecticut Lakes Region.
Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust will own and manage over 4,000 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.