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Contents Planning Begins June 6th for Curtis Homestead Conservation Area President's Message Welcome To Our Newest Members Board of Directors Advisory Board Registration Boxes Constructed 5 More Acres Protected on Horseshoe Island KLT's Business Partnership for Conservation Successfully Launched to Help Purchase the Kennebec Highlands Notes From Norris Island Annual Fund 2000 - Many Thanks

View from Vienna Mountain, Kennebec Highlands

We're growing! Acre by acre & member by member!

We now are almost 400 members who are the stewards for over 1,300 acres in Kennebec County. The more land we protect the more members we need. Please tell your friends and neighbors about what we do. Take a minute and ask a friend to join.

Efforts are underway to prepare a Conservation Plan for the Curtis Homestead Conservation Area in Leeds. Many thanks to volunteer Andy Bosworth for organizing the June 6th community meeting at the Leeds Elementary School. Come join us and the area community at 7:00 pm to discuss what will become another of our well-managed and well-used properties.

The Curtis Homestead Conservation Area is a 360-acre property of fields, woods, and wetlands given to the KLT by former Governor Kenneth Curtis and his sister Rebecca Merideth in order to protect the family homestead from development. The family wants the property to be available for a range of outdoor recreational and education activities. In addition, in transferring the property, the family encouraged the KLT to manage the woodlot for timber. The Board has begun to develop a forest management plan with the green-certified Two Trees Forestry consulting firm that protects the property's special values and enhances the existing timber stand.

The Board would like to see the property widely used and appreciated by the public. In order to find out ways that we can appropriately use the property, we need to hear from local residents and members. We hope to come away from the June 6th meeting with many good ideas that the stewards and the Board can use to develop a management plan.

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Dear Members & Friends,

One of my tasks as President is tending to organizational vitality and longevity. In January, Board and advisory members gathered in a retreat to consider the organizational development of the KLT. Why? As the Trust grows, the magnitude of its responsibilities also grows, putting a strain on the capacity to maintain functions and meet obligations, especially as a volunteer organization. We reviewed our past accomplishments and discussed frankly how we can continue to meet our growing new ones.

I can report that the organization is alive and well, still burning with the fervor of volunteerism, but limits remain to what we can get done. There clearly is need for more volunteers, and the question of hiring professional assistance or staff is open for discussion. The Board will continue to discuss how we grow. As always, we welcome your input.

I always enjoy reporting on land conservation activities, and this edition is no exception. John and Mary Perkins have acted to protect a visually prominent section of the shoreland of Androscoggin Lake in Wayne. Discussions between the KLT and the landowner unfolded over a period of almost ten years, culminating with the land owners generous decision to keep this land in its natural condition to maintain its scenic and open space values.

And the mother of land projects, the 6,100-acre Kennebec Highlands project, which the KLT has been supporting and assisting, is flow coming together. This project is nothing short of a miracle, from the inspiration of its inception, through many tests of faith in arranging and funding multiple land purchases. We are finishing up our fundraising campaign with local businesses to help provide the private funding needed to bring this project to final reality.

The Stewardship Committee is hard at work revitalizing our stewardship procedures to insure that basic stewardship responsibilities are being carried out in a professional and organized way. This year we began the stewardship of the Curtis Homestead Conservation Area in Leeds by working with the local community on a management plan. Stewards have also been busy getting Norris Island ready for another season of camping, a new sign will be placed on the Mathews Conservation Area in Fayette, and a variety of other activities are planned for other properties.

In the area of education and outreach, on April 12th the Trust sponsored an evening program for municipal officials from the towns served by the KLT to share new research and experience on the value of conserved lands at the town level.

And as always, all of this good work does not get done without the financial help of members and supporters. We are very pleased to acknowledge in this issue the support provided by all of you who responded to the annual appeal. I always run out of space in these messages to recap all of the great things being accomplished, but I hope you can see that the common denominator in all of our activities is volunteerism. As loyal and supportive members, stay involved, there is a lot to get done.

In Trust,
Jim Connors

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The Trust greatly appreciates the generosity of the Peck donation. This parcel adds to our work of protecting Cobbossee's unique islands. The Trust has protected 23 additional acres on adjacent Perry and Hodgdon Islands. We continue to work with interested landowners to preserve these special places.

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"As Will Rogers said, 'Buy land, they aren't making any more of it.'" So began the opening line of the Kennebec Land Trust's first letter to area businesses announcing its Business Partnership for Conservation program.

Last summer the Trust met with a group of business leaders to explore ways to increase business participation and support for conservation. That exploratory meeting led to the Trust's first Business Partnership for Conservation campaign to raise money for the 6,000 acre Kennebec Highlands project. Many of you have already heard of or read about the Kennebec Highlands project. The KLT, early on, recognized the incredible conservation, wildlife, recreation and economic values associated with this project and signed on to help the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance reach its goal of raising $3,000,000. The campaign recently expanded its scope through a mailing to several hundred businesses which are members of the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce. Contributions from this solicitation were being received as this newsletter went to press, with over $43,000 raised to date.

As the February 20th KJ editorial states, "Most fundraisers will admit that the most difficult part of achieving a financial goal is not the first dollar, but the last." As the Belgrade Regional Conservation Association and we near the end of this vitally important conservation project, finding those last few dollars will be difficult. But find them we will. The opportunity that Kennebec Highlands presents is just too important to the future of our communities to let it slip away.

Norm Rodrigue
Chair, Development Committee

Dave, Diana and Steve at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The KLT Stewardship Committee is happy to announce an addition to Norris Island's resources: two new outhouses now located near the beach and the cabin. On a cool, gray day last September, a team of four, ferried the two disassembled outhouses to the island and completed the onsite reassembly. Thank you to Howard Lake, Dave Stevenson and Steve and Diana McLaughlin for this successful effort. Extra thanks are owed to Dave who transported materials in his boat and to Steve, who designed and built the outhouses.

The two beachside campsites will again be available to the public this year. If you wish to reserve a campsite you may leave a message with the Ladd Recreational Center in Wayne (207-685-4616) and a KLT member will contact you to finalize your reservation request. For the time being the cabin is not available for use. We hope to have it back in shape after some repairs and cleanup.

If you have not yet visited the island, plan a trip. It is great spot to visit for an hour or for an overnight. KLT is committed to providing public access to the Island so that everyone can continue to enjoy its unique black-sand beach, vegetation (look for the Tupelo when you go), and views.

We will be scheduling a "work party" later this spring to tackle some important spring clean up and maintenance activities for the cabin. If you would like to visit the island and join in KLT's stewardship efforts, we want you!

For more information about this spring's Norris Island "Workday," you may contact Dave Stevenson, Norris Island Steward, at 207-685-4407. Back to top

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