In our ongoing efforts to protect wildlife habitat across York, we often look for opportunities to acquire parcels adjacent to existing conservation land. In doing so, we aim to fill in critical conservation gaps and ensure that wildlife may continue to nest, forage and thrive without the obstacles posed by habitat fragmentation and development.
Our recent acquisition of 47 acres north of Third Hill achieves just this. Surrounded on three sides by conservation land, the newly protected property sits within a broader 5,441-acre block of undeveloped land in the Mt. Agamenticus region. Our stewardship of the land will help protect high-value wetlands and streams for wildlife including brook trout and turtles and preserves the rare Central Hardwoods Oak Forest Ecosystem. Existing trails on the property will be maintained for public access and are part of a vast network of trails in the Mt. Agamenticus region.
The property falls within the focus area of the Mt. Agamenticus to the Sea Conservation Initiative (MtA2C), which spans from Tatnic Hills of Wells to the coast of Kittery and York. Located at the confluence of northern and southern habitat ranges, this area contains more biological diversity than anywhere else in the state and, for this reason, is designated as high value conservation land of statewide ecological importance.
Protecting land in this region will prove ever more important as wildlife ranges shrink and shift with climate change, says Doreen MacGillis, Executive Director of York Land Trust. “By conserving land here, we’re supporting the future of native wildlife that need to adapt to a rapidly changing world,” MacGillis says.
York Land Trust received a grant from the Maine Natural Resource Conservation Program to fund the property acquisition. Other project costs were covered by a generous bequest from the late artist Patience Haley Ghikas who resided in Cape Neddick before passing away in 2020.
We are grateful to have been able to protect this special parcel of land and look forward to sharing it with you.