News & Events

Kennebec Estuary Collaboration Launched

BATH- The Lower Kennebec Regional Land Trust and the Phippsburg Land Trust are pleased to announce a new partnership, the Kennebec Estuary Collaboration. This collaboration will focus on conserving the unique land and water resources of the Kennebec Estuary.

The trusts believe that this partnership will enable them to thrive individually while a strong regional conservation entity will build a lasting stewardship presence, proactively tackle complex land conservation projects, develop a broader public awareness of conservation, and manage the increasingly complex aspects of a non-profit organization. The new entity will attract new people with a variety of talents needed by the land trusts. A larger organization with a broader regional vision will attract substantially larger private and public gifts to support conservation of the Estuary.

The Kennebec Estuary Collaboration is the recent recipient of a Capacity Building Grant from the Maine Coast Protection Initiative with matching grants from Merrymeeting Bay Trust and the Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. The grants totaling $177,500 provide support for two years and will be used with funds from the land trusts to hire a full time Executive Director and a part time Administrative Coordinator. Having staff will enable us to streamline the business and administrative functions of the two conservation organizations. Each land trust will retain their own identities as well as a personal and local approach to the protection of open space. The new director will work with both of the land trust boards and other conservation organizations to develop a shared vision for land conservation in the Kennebec Estuary.

The Kennebec Estuary extends from Merrymeeting Bay to the Atlantic Ocean. The estuary has long been recognized as an area of special significance for its array of rare plants and animals as well as important habitat for migrating fish and coastal wading birds and waterfowl. The Kennebec intermingles with the Sheepscot River Estuary and in combination with the New Meadows River system creates an ecosystem on par with Chesapeake Bay and the Hudson River.

This area is habitat for a wide diversity of wildlife species. Otter, mink, ospreys and bald eagles are seen in many locations around the estuary. Over 50 species of freshwater fish use Merrymeeting Bay, ten species of anadromous fish, including the rare Atlantic salmon, shortnosed sturgeon and Atlantic sturgeon utilize the estuary. The freshwater and brackish tidal marshes support some of the best habitat for a variety of rare plant species anywhere in the northeast.

The need for greater capacity to facilitate land protection is obvious to some. A recent study by the State Planning Office is troubling to those who love Maine as it is. The study predicts that, if current trends continue, the majority of Maine’s coast will be classifiable as “suburban/urban” by the year 2050. MCPI was initiated to give conservation communities a leg up in protecting Maine’s most defining landscape before it is too late.

The Maine Coast Protection Initiative is a public-private partnership designed to increase the pace and quality of land protection by enhancing the capacity of Maine’s conservation community to preserve the unique character of the Maine coast. This collaborative effort is led by the Land Trust Alliance, NOAA Coastal Services Center, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, the Maine State Planning Office, and a coalition of supporting organizations in Maine. The goals of the Maine Coast Protection Initiative are to increase the pace and quality of land protection by enhancing the capacity of Maine’s conservation community to preserve the unique character of the Maine coast for the benefit of the people of Maine and beyond. This format for land protection has become a model for the nation.

Grants from Merrymeeting Bay Trust and the L.L. Bean - Maine Land Trust Network Grant Program funded the initial meetings, facilitators, assistance with grant writing, and legal advice. Early participants included Brunswick Topsham Land Trust and Friends of Merrymeeting Bay and assistance was provided throughout the process by Maine Coast Heritage Trust and Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

Lower Kennebec Regional Land Trust is a non-profit organization founded in 1989 dedicated to the preservation of open space and the natural environment of our region. LKRLT currently holds conservation easements on 705 acres and has outright ownership of an additional 700 acres in the area encompassed by the towns of Arrowsic, Bath, West Bath, Georgetown, Woolwich and Westport Island.

Phippsburg Land Trust is a non-profit organization active since 1989 dedicated to protecting special Phippsburg wild places for our children, grandchildren, and future generations, forever! PLT currently protects over 800 acres in Phippsburg.

For more information, contact Jack Witham (LKRLT) at 442-8400 or Mary Jo Steiner (PLT) at 442-8837.