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Conserving the lands and waters of the Magalloway
By Mark Taylor
Four conservation organizations have joined forces to purchase and permanently protect a massive tract of wild forestland in Maine’s north country, and some Trout Unlimited stream champions are doing their part to help seal the deal.
The Magalloway Collaborative is working to raise $62 million to conserve 78,000 acres in the Northern Appalachians, hard against the New Hampshire border just a short distance from Canada.
TU’s Coldwater Land Conservancy Fund, managed by the National Leadership Council’s Land Conservancy Work Group has made a grant of $50,000 to the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust to demonstrate TU’s support.
The gift can grow with additional support from TU members, chapters, councils and supporters.
A champion is leading the effort, but he can’t do it alone
Paul Doscher, a longtime TU volunteer leader and current member of the Board of Trustees, was inspired to spearhead TU’s support after talking with David Miller, the Executive Director of the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, which is a member of the collaborative of conservation organizations working to protect the Magalloway.
The property, Miller told Doscher, will provide additional opportunities for TU to expand restoration work that’s been ongoing elsewhere in Maine, for example in the Kennebago watershed.
The collaborative, which also includes The Nature Conservancy in Maine, the Forest Society of Maine and the Northeast Wilderness Trust, has already raised the vast majority of the funding. The target closing date is in June, with TU’s fundraising effort wrapping up at the end of May.
Doscher said reaching TU’s ambitious fundraising goal would require reaching outside of Maine.
“Let’s open it up to anybody,” he said. “A lot of people from all over the country have been there and might be interested in participating and helping to preserve that amazing area.”
Read the full article. If you’re a TU member and want to make a matching contribution (up to $50,000), donate here and check the box “Contribute to a Trout Unlimited Matching Gift” and write in who you would like to recognize.