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Contents Remote Shedd Pond and Surrounding Gannett Woods Permanently Protected President's Message Welcome To Our Newest Members Board of Directors Advisory Board Reynolds Forest - A Year of KLT Activity Invasive Plant Control Project Notes from Main Street Art and Nature on KLT Lands The Paintings of Ellen T. Vaughan Tax Law Revision on Charitable Donations Thank You for Supporting KLT Thank You Jamies Pond Campaign Donors KLT Annual Meeting 2005 KLT Winter Calendar of Events

KLT Wish List 35 mm camera for taking slides ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Monetary donations for a new computer, monitor, software and ergonomic desk for the KLT office ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Volunteers with surveying or GPS and GIS skills

Save the Dates 2006 Kennebec Land Trust Lyceum The Geology of KLT Lands and Stone Walls March 16th and 23rd Lectures / Spring and Summer Field Trips Co-sponsored by the Vaughan Homestead Foundation Supported by Robert, Gloria and Lincoln Ladd

Spring and summer have seen a series of exciting events around the otherwise quiet waters of Shedd Pond in Manchester. The 120-acre Gannett Woods, including forty-eight acre Shedd Pond, with more than a mile of undeveloped shoreline, was recently donated to the Kennebec Land Trust by John and Pat Gannett of Manchester, so that it may remain undeveloped and open to the public.

When we become stewards of a new property, we often inventory plants and bird life and plan for possible trails. In early June, Ron Joseph of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helped with an early morning birding inventory. We saw loons, mergansers, a red-shouldered hawk, a pileated woodpecker, and a variety of warblers, vireos, and flycatchers - 48 species in all. Ospreys and great blue herons have also been observed repeatedly, along with nesting loons with one chick.

In late June, Maine botanist Arthur Haines led a walk on the property. We focused on the eastern side of Monk’s Hill, a mixed hardwood forest sloping down to the pond. Our primary goal was to find the rare broad beech fern so we could be sure that a new trail would not negatively impact these plants. We found many of these ferns in this rich and interesting habitat, along with a variety of uncommon sedges. Several invasive species were also identified, and a plan of control is being put together.

This year KLT has also been working closely with the Manchester Long Range Planning Committee trails subgroup and the New England Forestry Foundation, owners of 700 adjacent acres of protected working forest, to coordinate trail planning and usage. A trail hub is planned at the North Manchester Meeting House, with access to Shedd Pond and miles of other multi-use trails. At this initial stage, KLT is planning to continue existing uses of Gannett Woods, including snowmobiling, hunting, and hiking. ATV and other motorized vehicle usage will be banned, as it is on adjacent NEFF properties. We are considering additional trail options, including a potential connection to KLT’s Wyman Forest on Monk’s Hill.

On a warm August afternoon, KLT board members, staff, and stewards, along with volunteers Dallas and Jan Folk, had the honor of escorting Pat and John Gannett to the pond. We had a wonderful walk together. We encourage you to visit this hidden pond just a few miles from our state capital, and to participate in planning and developing trail resources in the area. Please send us any news or notable sightings from your visit. Jeff Jane/i, Shedd Pond Photograph: Norm Rodrigue

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I Dear fellow KLT members,

If you want to be surrounded by nature and feel good about your local land trust, go out for a walk on a KLT property this fall. Discover Jamies Pond, the focus of this year’s annual appeal, with dark trees contrasted against Maine-blue skies and the sparkling water of the pond. We have other great trails as well, including new ones on the Reynolds Forest in Sidney, Macdonald Conservation Area in Readfield and Wayne, the Curtis Homestead in Leeds, the Tyler Conservation Area in Readfield and Gott Pasture in Wayne. Check out our awesome website, www.tklt.org, for a map and directions to our properties.

KLT’s success at conserving land and offering recreational opportunities is due to a huge amount of volunteerism. Lawyers, geologists, ornithologists, accountants, engineers, carpenters, writers, jewelers, farmers, photographers, artists — if you have a talent or skill, there’s a good chance it will get tapped. And if you don’t think you have one, we offer training, plus there’s always hands-on work to be done.

Our challenge now is to maintain high standards for stewardship of an ever-growing list of properties. A volunteer steward works with the Trust to develop a plan for each parcel. This may entail opening the property to the public, although some properties have sensitive plant and wildlife habitats that remain undisturbed. We do a fair amount of trail building and monitoring. Other projects include creating brochures and doing botanical and bird inventories for each property. These time-consuming, labor-intensive activities make our properties more accessible, welcoming, and educational. I cannot say enough about our stewards - I hope they know how much we appreciate their work. If you are willing to get involved, make sure to contact Theresa Kerchner, Stewardship and Education Director.

Getting to know more about land trusts in general and Kennebec Land Trust in particular has been my “adult ed” project over the past few years. It’s been a lot of fun and remains a challenge, and the people I have met along the way have earned my utmost respect. Outgoing President Glenn Hodgkins has generously shared his expertise and insights; I’d like to take this opportunity to thank him on behalf of the organization for his leadership and for setting a wonderful example of volunteerism, KLT-style.

Our volunteers are amazing. Please consider becoming one — you’re very likely to learn something and meet some great people, and even more likely to get some fresh air and visit some beautiful places.

In Trust,
Deb Sewall

If you passed the entrance to the Reynolds Forest on the River Road this year, you might have noticed that it was a busy time for KLT in Sidney. Steward George Viles and many other volunteers opened new trails in the thirty-five acre preserve, held a sign and trail dedication program, created a map of the property, and initiated an invasive control project. Many thanks to everyone who worked with George this spring, and a warm thank you to the members of the Reynolds Family who attended the June dedication program.

The Reynolds invasive control project is funded by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and aims to control invasives without the use of herbicides. Focused on the floodplain and upland forest, this multi-year ecological and educational project is a small but important effort that will highlight the importance of biodiversity and the relationships between wildlife and native plants. Contract employees Brooke Barnes and Jeremy Pare used KLTs new brush saw (Thank you Kramer's Inc. of Sidney) to cut more than a quarter-acre of Japanese knotweed, honeysuckle, and black locust near the road and the brook. This summer, contract employees, Daniel Perkins and Beth Shattuck removed a great deal of non-native honeysuckle. KLT volunteer Kara Lanahan, a Colby College graduate, is helping KLT design a study that will document this project.

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A visitor approaching KLT’s Reynolds Forest in Sidney merely three months ago would have been appalled at the number of invasive plants that had taken over the property. Bush honeysuckle was everywhere: along the steep embankments, through the forest, and bordering the field. We were hired as summer contract employees by the KLT specifically to eradicate as much of the honeysuckle as possible. We removed approximately 239 plants of many different sizes. During hours spent at the Reynolds Forest we came across a variety of wildlife. The largest animal we saw was a deer; we also saw many deer tracks along the brook. We saw a snapping turtle in the brook, which is also home to many small fish, frogs, and crayfish. The skies were full of many species of birds. The removal of honeysuckle will be good for wildlife because it will allow native vegetation to return to the banks of the brook.

• BE SURE that you have correctly identified the plants that are to be removed.
• Hang all plants upside down so that the roots will dry.
• Tamp or stomp down the soil after removing plants, to hinder seed germination.
• Remove all roots, if possible, because those left will re-sprout.
• If plants prove to be too large to pull up, lop off all branches and retry.
• Rock the base of the plant back and forth to loosen the roots. If the plant is too large to remove at all, cut back its branches when they bear leaves, as this will eventually starve the plant of energy.

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Thoughtful stewardship of our 2,600 acres of conservation land is a high priority for KLT, and this has been a particularly busy year for us. Thanks to KLT’s stewards, board members, plein-air artists and field volunteers, we built trails, removed invasive plants, enjoyed field trips on our conservation properties, monitored and inventoried plant and animal life, and our more artistic members painted beautiful scenes of KLT lands.

I am very fortunate to work closely with forty dedicated property stewards, board members Andrew Fisk, Sarah Giffen and Sue Liebling, chairperson Diana McLaughlin and Stewardship Committee members Brooke Barnes, Beth Craigie, Jane Davis and Paul Johnson. Our committee focuses on long-term planning and policy development and stays in communication with KLT’s very active Lands Committee, chaired by Bob Mohlar. Brooke, Paul, Beth and Jane assist with many of our on-going responsibilities including baseline documentation, inventory and trail development and orientation for new stewards.

This year, several projects that had been in the planning stages at the Reynolds Forest, Gott Pasture Preserve and the Tyler Conservation Area were completed. In September, steward Charlie Jacobs and the Maine Conservation Crew, under the leadership of Karl Gilbert and KLT trails volunteer Paul Johnson, developed a beautiful 1.25-mile loop in the Gott Pasture Preserve. This path highlights impressive red oaks, white pines, glacial erratics and beautiful shoreline on Wilson Pond. Many thanks to the Fields Pond Foundation in Waltham Massachusetts and Bob, Gloria and Lincoln Ladd for funding the MCC work week. Gott Pasture is important wildlife habitat for osprey, herons, blue-spotted salamanders, wood frogs and many other creatures. (Due to sensitive wildlife, the Stewardship Committee made the decision not to allow dogs on the Preserve.)

Tyler Conservation Area steward Peggy Barnes worked throughout the year with former Stewardship Chair Jim Connors, neighbors in Readfield, volunteer sign maker David Kahl and the Augusta Unitarian Universalist youth group to plan trails, a parking area and a KLT sign. Last month, on an unusually warm and rainless Saturday, Peggy, KLT Board President Deb Sewall, Jim Connors and the Tyler Family welcomed the community to this conservation land and officially opened the trail.

As the year comes to an end I send a warm thank you to former KLT President Glenn Hodgkins for his two years of thoughtful and wise leadership. In addition, after many years, former Stewardship Committee Chair Jim Connors is now hard at work with the KLT Lands Committee. Thank you Jim and Glenn for your vision and leadership.

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Ellen T. Vaughan was born in 1853 in Boston and died in 1934 at the Vaughan Homestead after more than 50 years of marriage to William Warren Vaughan. She was a philanthropist who supported many causes and had a lasting impact on her family and friends. Her wonderful watercolors of Maine landscapes and plants lend a strong sense of place and natural history study to the Vaughan Homestead.

Ellen grew up in Boston high society at a time when it was thought to be both morally and physically beneficial to “rough it.” From the early 1870s through the first decades of the 20th century, Ellen and William took three-week trips into the Maine wilds with their friends and guides. A talented landscape artist, Ellen left a priceless record of what the Maine Woods looked like and how people of wealth and “society” vacationed along the lakes, ponds, and rivers of north-central Maine.

Ellen’s journals preserve vivid details of the trips, which required several trains and stagecoaches, and finally the steamboat waiting at Greenville. Preceding these well-to-do travelers were the skilled local guides, cooks, and Native Americans who had been hired to set up their camps, build their fires, and cook their meals. A trip in 1875 began like this:

“Traveled to Bangor. It was hot and dusty but we kept up a lively conversation. Arrived at 7 and squeezed into the hotel... We sat on the floors of our various rooms with the contents of our trunks strewed around, struggling to reduce our necessities to their smallest compass....very early breakfasts, the rest of the men came up in the night train....we were all in camping dresses and astonished the natives not a little. Left at 7:30 by train. The guides got in at Old-town...we finally got out at Abbott and by much pulling and hauling we and our ‘truck’, 14 people in all were got into stages and trotted off to Greenville through the heat. At 5 we got on board the steamer and sailed towards Kineo which was blue and beautiful against the evening sky...slept on the soft side of the steamer floor to be ready early in the morning. Aroused in the pale half moon light at 4:15, paddled through the mist to the wharf at the N. East carry...walked through two miles of bare stumps to the West Branch of Penobscot and saw at last our beloved canoes and the beautiful river....”

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The Land Trust Alliance has notified us that federal legislation regarding cash donations to charities is being enacted. The new provision exempts all cash donations to charities made by individual taxpayers from the 50-percent income limitation and the phase-out of itemized deductions, so long as the donations are made before January 2006. This applies to all charitable donations, whether or not they are working on hurricane relief. Although few donors of cash to land trusts run into the 50% of AGI limit, many will receive higher deductions for cash gifts because of the exemption from the phase out. Note: this applies only to cash donations, not to gifts of property of any kind.

Over the past 17 years member investment in KLT has conserved:

• 43 properties
• 2,600 acres of forests, fields, hills and wetlands, protecting wildlife habitat and water quality
• 6.8 miles of shoreline on lakes, rivers and streams, providing public access and protecting scenic views
• 16 miles of trails for hiking, skiing, snowmobiling & wildlife viewing

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At this year’s annual meeting at Maple Hill Farm in Hallowell, outgoing President Glenn Hodgkins and Stewardship and Education Director Theresa Kerchner described a year of incredible growth for the Kennebec Land Trust. Our income and membership were up substantially, allowing us to cover necessary expenses that increase as we acquire more property. More than half the increase in income was from our most generous members becoming even more generous. Our members and volunteers have allowed us to accomplish an amazing amount of conservation since our founding in 1988. KLT is now responsible for the conservation of over 2,600 acres in eleven towns, including about seven miles of undeveloped lake and pond shoreline and several large lake islands. We now have approximately sixteen miles of trails on fourteen properties.

There are many people volunteering extensive time to KLT; we thanked some of them at the annual meeting: Sarah Demers, Jennifer McLean, and Jodi Federle for their outstanding service as board members over the last several years; board member Norm Rodrigue for his energetic efforts in helping KLT reach new levels of success; and Mort and Barbara Libby, Advisory Board Members of the Year, for their work on and funding of the spectacular new Curtis Homestead brochure. George Viles, Jane and Stan Davis, and Beth Craigie received Outstanding Stewardship Awards, and Julie Mecham received our Outstanding Volunteer Award for her long efforts in creating and maintaining our website. If you see any of our treasured volunteers in the grocery store, please thank them again.

We’d like to welcome Jeff Pidot of Hallowell, who is coming back to the board, and Sarah Giffen of Chelsea, who is joining the board. We have a new slate of officers, with Deb Sewall as President, Bob Marvinney as 1st Vice President, Jean Grigsby as 2nd Vice President, Amy Trunnell returning as Treasurer, and Andy Fisk as Secretary.

We have been fortunate over KLT’s history to have many wonderful properties donated to us, including two in the last year. The first is Gannett Woods, a spectacular 120-acre parcel on the border of Manchester and Readfield with over a mile of undeveloped shore frontage on Shedd Pond. The property was donated by long-time KLT members and supporters John and Pat Gannett of Manchester, who had owned it for nearly fifty years. The acquisition is especially significant because it is adj acent to two other conservation properties. Our second acquisition this year is a conservation easement on the Vassalboro Wildlife Habitat, 167 acres of woods and wetland and our first property in Vassalboro. The donor of this easement, who wishes to remain anonymous, is very happy that the property will forever protect wildlife habitat and the water quality of Webber Pond.

Thank you to Everyone Who Assisted with our Annual Meeting

Ann Judd	Ron Giard	Maple Hill Farm Bed & Breakfast
Scott Cowger & Vince Hannan	Manchester Meeting House	Reverend Stan Moody
Jeff Janell	Richard Judd	Tom & Donna Mickewich
	Dallas and Jan Folk

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