AREA – Only 15 miles from Bethel, up Route 26, Grafton Notch State Park and the adjacent Mahoosuc Public Lands are a premier recreational destination for locals and visitors alike.

The Forest Society of Maine (FSM) and Northeast Wilderness Trust (NEWT), working with
Wagner Forest Management, the state Bureau of Parks and Lands, and many groups in the Bethel region, have permanently conserved an additional 21,300 acres known as the Grafton Forest Project. Their goal is to promote sustainable forest management, create new wild lands, and safeguard a treasured recreation haven.

With the recent completion of the Grafton Forest Project, announced last week, the conserved area – which encompasses some of the most spectacular scenery and finest remote hiking in Maine – is now more than 50,000 acres, or slightly larger than Acadia National Park.

Together these lands fill what had been an unprotected gap in a conservation corridor and connect hundreds of thousands of acres in the western Maine mountains to New Hampshire conservation lands.

An aerial view of York Pond looking towards Grafton Notch in Grafton Township, Maine. Jerry and Marcy Monkman

According to Karin Tilberg, FSM president/CEO, “The Grafton Forest easement brings
permanent conservation to a working forest that supports local economies, provides important fish and wildlife habitat, and hosts well-known recreation destinations. It will now remain a forest forever.”

NEWT acquired sensitive high-elevation lands adjacent to the Appalachian Trail, west of the notch, and a significant lowland forest that forms the headwaters flowing into the Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge (east of Route 26 above the notch). The lands will be managed as wilderness, beginning a process of re-wilding. NEWT’s focus was on the Grafton Township lands that contain elevational variability that make them highly resilient to climate change and a grand stage for rich biodiversity over time.

“Rewilding is a way to help nature heal by giving it space and time to rest,” says Jon Leibowitz, Executive Director of NEWT. “Wild places are essential to ecological health and at the same time, store and sequester amazing amounts of carbon, making them wildly beneficial to people, too.”

A portion of the conserved Grafton forestlands fall within the U.S. Congressionally authorized acquisition boundary for the Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge (an adjacent 20,000 protected acres just over the New Hampshire border).

“The Grafton conservation project, a truly collaborative effort, has helped us meet our
conservation objectives for the Refuge, benefiting fish, wildlife, and the woods we all cherish,” says Refuge Manager Paul Casey. “I am so pleased that the Forest Society of Maine and the Northeast Wilderness Trust have conserved the headwaters of the Swift Cambridge River, which flows through Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge. This is a great example where working at a landscape scale can help achieve multiple local, state, and federal goals.”

View of Mount Washington and the Presidential Range in the White Mountain National Forest as seen from the northwest side of Mahoosuc Arm in Grafton Township, Maine. Jerry and Marcy Monkman

Aware of how important these lands are for the nearby communities, Wagner Forest Management initiated the project years ago, approaching the Forest Society of Maine to explore a conservation easement.

It was clear that the area merited conservation, said FSM’s Tilberg. “The lands are fairly close to Sunday River Ski area and development pressure in the region for second homes is strong and getting stronger. If this forest was not conserved, it is likely that over time, the lands would have been developed.”

The 15,000 acres on FSM holds a conservation easement are still owned by Bayroot LLC and managed by Wagner Forest Management, explains Tilberg.

“The goal is to keep things the way they are now, and to prevent the land from being divided, developed, or have highways or utility corridors created on the lands. A very important aspect of the easement’s assurance of vehicular access on the Success Pond Road to access the side trails to the Appalachian Trail (AT), is that search and rescue rely on that shorter route to the AT for emergency rescue purposes.”

Grafton Forest Project.

The Appalachian Mountain Club also uses those access routes for AT trail maintenance. The side trails that cross the easement are also recognized in the easement, and there is permanent public pedestrian access across the entire easement. The key is that the lands cannot be developed or gated to the public on a permanent basis (but can be seasonally closed for mud or active timber harvesting).

“Grafton Forest is one of the most important conservation projects to be completed along the entire AT in recent years,” said Simon Rucker, executive director of the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust (MATLT). MATLT tracks data metrics for all of the land along the trail in Maine, like climate resilience, scenic views, miles of trails, and even historical sites.

“Grafton Forest is one of the highest-ranking parcels in many of these categories,” he said. “But what most people will see is that the project protects two official AT side trails – the Speck Pond Trail and the Notch Trail. Before now, these were on private land and could be closed at any time. Now they are permanent.” Moving forward, the NEWT will convey a conservation easement to MATLT in order to ensure that certain areas have the highest level of conservation protection.

A number of other local groups were consulted about the project, including Bob Baribeau with Mahoosuc Mountain Rescue, Kirk Siegel with Mahoosuc Land Trust, Tim Healey with Grafton Notch State Park, Julie Evans with Northern Forest Center, and Gabe Perkins with Inland Woods & Trails.

Established in 1984, the Forest Society of Maine has helped landowners, families, and
communities to conserve more than a million acres of forestland across the state for sustainable forest products, recreation, habitat for fish and wildlife, and historic and cultural values.

Founded in 2002, the non-profit Northeast Wilderness Trust safeguards more than 64,000 acres of wild lands in six states, focusing on re-wilding landscapes for biodiversity and climate resilience while also celebrating the benefits of wild lands to people.

To complete this project, FSM and NEWT jointly raised $10.7 million in private funds. The help of numerous supporters made this project successful. Essential funding included leadership grants from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Wild East Action Fund, Bailey Wildlife Foundation, The Betterment Fund, The EJK Foundation, Maine Community Foundation Funds, Open Space Institute’s Appalachian Landscapes Protection Fund, Sweet Water Trust, and The Nature Conservancy.

FSM and NEWT also recognize the critical support provided by more than a dozen other foundations and organizations and more than 100 individuals.

Governor Mills endorsed the project, saying, “I thank The Forest Society of Maine and Northeast Wilderness Trust for continuing Maine’s proud history of conservation and environmental stewardship. The State will continue to do all we can to support public and private partnerships like these that protect our precious natural resources for the benefit of all Maine people.”