Why are these lands important?

On a visit to this property, you can walk through forests, along bold ledges, streams, and wetlands, and find your way to five remote ponds named Half-Mile, Partridge, Indian Camp, Ducktail, and Snowshoe. On a clear day, your view from Bald Bluff or Bald Mountain includes such landmarks as Cadillac Mountain and Mt. Katahdin. Yet this forested network of trails, ridges, and water, providing 5,000 acres of outdoor recreational opportunities for hiking, fishing, hunting, bird-watching, nature study, paddling, snowshoeing and snowmobiling, is not a far off destination. In fact, if you live in the town of Amherst, it is your backyard. Otherwise, you can be on these trails within a short drive from Bangor or Acadia National Park. These lands have been this way for as long as anyone can remember, but changes in ownership were making their future unsure until the Amherst Mountains Community Forest concept was developed to keep them intact for generations to come.    

Peregrine falcons hunt from these ridges and nest nearby; brook trout live in the waters; deer, bear, partridge and woodcock thrive here; and thousands of migratory birds arrive each spring to nest on these lands. Two exemplary natural communities, including old growth stands of timber have been identified by the Maine Natural Areas Program, and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has recently identified the property as a focal area of statewide significance including important deer wintering areas and waterfowl and wading bird habitats. The pristine waters of the ponds and streams at the core of this property have served as the basis for valuable long-term water quality research by the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research. With one of the longest running and most comprehensive water quality monitoring programs in the country, the Center has stated the ponds and research “are of national significance for national policy and long-term data records.” Added significance comes from a 2005 U.S. Forest Service report, Forests on the Edge, which ranks this region as the nation’s most threatened area for the potential conversion and loss of privately owned forests to development.

The Amherst Mountains Community Forest will protect all these remarkable features, and will tie into a network of conserved lands offering similar recreational and ecological values, that will connect to Sunkhaze National Wildlife Refuge to the north, creating more than a 60,000-acre network of conserved lands available for public recreational use.

What is the Amherst Mountains Community Forest?

After more than 100 years of ownership by paper companies and a history of stable, open access to the public for recreation, these 5,000 acres were part of the divestiture of lands by Champion and then International Paper companies. The open public access and ecological and recreational values of these forests were put at risk as ownerships changed. The Forest Society of Maine was able to work with the town of Amherst and the state, to create an innovative new concept for a community forest that will keep these lands open and productive providing a source of income for this rural community, as well as maintaining wide ranging outdoor recreational opportunities for people of all ages.

The Amherst town selectmen, planning board, and residents have been central to determining the future of these lands that have supported livelihoods, outdoors recreation, and wildlife for centuries. They recognized that the town and these lands faced two possible futures: unplanned, sprawling growth with little conservation and loss of important open lands, or development and growth in balance with thoughtful land conservation. The town has chosen the later path through a community forest, a choice that will sustain Amherst’s rural character and traditions while supporting growth and prosperity.

If the campaign to establish the Amherst Community Forest is successful, the property will be owned by the state, but managed jointly by the town and the state through the Maine Department of Conservation, with FSM assisting the town with its responsibilities for forest inventories and management plans. The Department of Conservation refers to the Amherst Mountains Community Forest as “a precedent for state-municipal cooperation that can serve as a model for other forestland conservation efforts”. The sharing of responsibilities and a project designed to meet both state and local needs make the Amherst Mountains Community Forest truly innovative.

The town will establish a community forest committee to provide oversight and help in educational and management activities.

Successful completion of the Amherst Mountains Community Forest will ensure that:

• The lands will stay undeveloped, maintaining of the increasingly scarce large tracts of forestland in the region, helping to maintain Amherst’s rural character and traditions;
• Access for hiking, hunting, fishing, camping, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, ATV trails, and other outdoor recreational activities will continue;
• The remote ponds, granite ridges, important woodlands, and fish and wildlife habitats, and vital water-quality research areas will be protected;
• A core area of 2,000 acres around the ponds will be protected as an ecological reserve while the surrounding 3,000 acres will be managed sustainably for high quality forest products;
• Residents of Amherst will have a unique, direct connection to a significant natural asset in the heart of their town, and the town will benefit in many ways, including from a regular source of revenue from the sustainably managed forest, harkening back to the day when towns across Maine had woodlots supporting schools and education; and
• People from Amherst and throughout the region will have access and connections to the many values provided by the community forest, for generations to come.

How can you help create the Amherst Mountains Community Forest?

FSM is leading the campaign to raise the funds needed to acquire the land and create the Amherst Mountains Community Forest. With leadership grants from state and federal programs and numerous foundations and individuals, the campaign is within 5% of its goal. The Amherst Mountains Community Forest provides something for all of us, whether your interests are producing wood products, enjoying backcountry explorations, conserving fish and wildlife, sustaining healthy and viable communities, or all of those things. Please help us complete this innovative Community Forest project. Gifts of any and all amounts can make a huge difference as we strive to close the campaign and ensure these benefits remain for generations now and in the future to enjoy. Click below to make a contribution to this innovative project!