Lafcadio’s Woods was very generously donated by Martha Fuller Clark, Emily Fuller Hawkins, and Henry W. Fuller (left to right).
July 2023
We are delighted to announce that York Land Trust recently acquired 35 acres of oak forest on Bartlett Road, across the street from our 220-acre Fuller Forest Preserve. By keeping this parcel undeveloped, we have protected vital wildlife habitat, water quality within the York River watershed, and public access to the natural beauty of this part of town.
The property was very generously donated by Emily Fuller Hawkins, Martha Fuller Clark and Henry W. Fuller, members of the Fuller family, in honor of a beloved family member, Lafcadio Cortesi, who passed away in 2022 at the age of 60. Lafcadio was a highly ambitious and visionary conservationist and community organizer who spent his career working to protect forests around the world, including in Canada, Indonesia, and elsewhere in the Pacific. Through positions with Greenpeace, the Rainforest Action Network, and other conservation organizations, he tirelessly advocated for communities grappling with deforestation and was ultimately successful in swaying where companies such as Staples sourced their products.
At the request of his family, we have named the property Lafcadio’s Woods in honor of this incredible advocate for the environment. “We lost him too soon, and this is a way for everyone to remember him and to remind current and future generations about the necessity of preserving our forests,” says Lafcadio’s mother, Alexandra Fuller Cortesi Anderson.
The property originally belonged to Lafcadio’s grandparents, Marion Fuller Brown and Henry M. Fuller, who were visionary conservationists in their own right. Marion became a founding director of York Land Trust in 1986, and was involved in a number of other statewide environmental efforts through work with the Land For Maine’s Future Program and as a member of the Maine House of Representatives.
Marion passed on her deep love of the environment to her children and grandchildren, and was a source of inspiration in Lafcadio’s career. “We learned as kids, with our grandmother, that we all have access to transformative experiences in nature,” says Genevieve Morgan, one of Lafcadio’s three siblings, “even in a public park or a small area of a nature trail.” She hopes that Lafcadio’s Woods will become a place where young children can develop the same passion for the woods and waters of York that her grandmother instilled in her and her siblings when they were kids.
Work is now underway at York Land Trust’s eighth Public Preserve to develop a network of trails, an educational kiosk, and public programming at Lafcadio’s Woods. A grand opening of the new preserve is planned for this fall. Stay tuned for updates!