News – Page 2

Three Steps to Follow Before Heading Outdoors

April 2, 2020 By Annie

For Immediate Release
April 2, 2020

Three Steps for Mainers to Follow Before Heading Outdoors

AUGUSTA, Maine – The current “Stay Healthy at Home” mandate identifies “engaging in outdoor exercise activities, such as walking, hiking, running, or biking” as essential personal activities, provided they are conducted in accordance with all public health restrictions and guidance. Maine’s conservation community, natural resource agencies, and outdoor brands want everyone to have the opportunity to get outside during this challenging time.

Most of our publicly accessible conservation lands are available for healthy outdoor recreation. Still, we all must do our part to slow the spread of COVID-19 and prevent unnecessary stress on our Maine Warden Service, Forest Rangers, and first responders.

While some popular conservation lands have closed recently due to overuse and crowding, the vast majority remains open to the public. As spring weather arrives in Maine, it is critical that all individuals and families who head outdoors follow three simple steps:

Find the Right Time and Place
Be Prepared Before Heading Out
Heed All COVID-19 Health Warnings

The following checklists will help us all enjoy Maine’s outdoors in ways that are safe and responsible during this difficult time.

Before you hit the trail, cast a line, or launch a canoe, please be sure to:

Find the Right Time and Place

Know What’s Close to Home: Consider visiting a nearby Wildlife Management Area, or a less-trafficked state park, public land, or local land trust (Maine Trail Finder is a great resource!)
Check before you go: Visit websites to see the latest information on closures or conditions. Please respect all property closures, including any roads or trails that are posted for mud season.
Have a plan B: If the parking lot is full, the destination is too crowded. If your first destination has a busy parking lot, go to the next spot on your list!
Avoid peak times: Get out earlier or later in the day.
Recharge in your backyard and neighborhood!: Spring in Maine means there is a lot to see and explore right in our own yards.

Be Prepared Before Heading Out

Expect limited services: Facilities like public restrooms are likely closed, so plan accordingly.
Pack snacks and water: Do what you can to avoid having to make stops along the way.
Dress for success: It is spring in Maine, so trails are likely to be wet, muddy, slippery, or icy; bring appropriate gear to match the conditions. Local outdoor brands are open for online sales and are available to give advice on appropriate gear and equipment.
Don’t take risks: Stick to easier terrain to avoid injuries, which add stress for first responders and medical resources.
Watch out for ticks: Wear light-colored pants, closed-toe shoes, and apply EPA-approved bug repellent.

Heed All COVID-19 Health Warnings

Practice social distancing: Stay at least six feet away from other people who do not live in your household. If necessary, step aside when passing other people on the trail. And remember that groups of 10 or more are prohibited.
Don’t linger: Shorten your stay when visiting natural stopping points such as waterfalls, summits, and viewpoints so everyone can enjoy them while maintaining a safe distance.
Don’t touch: Avoid touching signs, kiosks, buildings, and benches to minimize the potent spread of the virus.
If you’re sick, stay home: It puts others at risk when you leave home while exhibiting symptoms related to COVID-19, or if you have recently been exposed to the virus.

If we all follow these guidelines and put public health first, we can enjoy Maine’s natural resources in safe and responsible ways as we work through this difficult time together.

Appalachian Mountain Club
Center for Community GIS
Forest Society of Maine
Maine Audubon
Maine Coast Heritage Trust
Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Maine Land Trust Network
Maine Office of Outdoor Recreation
Maine Outdoor Brands
Maine Trails Coalition
The Nature Conservancy in Maine

Read the original press release here.

Thank You 2019 Business Supporters!

March 25, 2020 By Annie

The Forest Society of Maine thanks the many businesses whose contributions play a key role in helping FSM continue conserving forestland. The thank you ad, below, was printed in the Bangor Daily News this February.

A big thank you to our 2019 business supporters!

Karin Tilberg joins Natural and Working Lands Committee

February 24, 2020 By Karin Tilberg

By FSM Executive Director Karin Tilberg

Upon taking office in 2019, Maine Governor Janet Mills determined that the issue of carbon pollution, and its impacts on Maine’s environment and people, would be one of her administration’s top priorities. Through legislation, the Maine Climate Council was created to develop plans and strategies to reduce Maine’s greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate damage to Maine’s infrastructure and economy, create and sustain jobs, and more.

In my capacity as executive director for the Forest Society of Maine, I was appointed to a subcommittee of the Council called the Natural and Working Lands Working Group. This group consists of many voices and perspectives including farmers, forestland owners, scientists, and others. I’ve been honored to sit around the table with these people and learn from their expertise and experiences.

FSM, and others, in this group have highlighted an important fact: Maine’s forests are already working hard to address the problem of carbon pollution—naturally. Current research shows that at least half of Maine’s annual carbon emissions are offset by carbon stored by Maine’s forests. Even harvested timber can store carbon in long-lived wood products such as furniture, certain kinds of building materials, and musical instruments.

FSM’s mission is to conserve Maine’s forestlands for their ecological, economic, recreational, and cultural values. By helping landowners to maintain forests as forests, primarily through permanent conservation easements, FSM’s work also helps to ensure that forests will continue to store carbon, while also providing our state economy with useful products and good-paying jobs.

Maine’s forests are a key part of the solution to carbon pollution, and FSM’s work helps keep it that way.

Want to do your part to conserve forests and reduce carbon pollution in Maine? Here are three ways you can make a difference, today:

Learn more about the many ways that carbon pollution is impacting our state.
Share this page with a friend or family member who also loves Maine’s North Woods.
Invest in forestland conservation by making a gift to the Forest Society of Maine.

The Power of Connectivity

January 10, 2020 By Annie

Looking south across Arnold Pond at Coburn Gore Forest in western Maine, near the Quebec border. — Looking south across Arnold Pond at Coburn Gore Forest.

Have you ever experienced the solitude of hiking for miles without seeing any buildings? On the other hand, have you ever watched wildlife try to cross a busy road? Experiences like this highlight how meaningful an interconnected landscape is for people and animals. That’s why the Forest Society of Maine (FSM) is thrilled to announce that two of our newest conservation projects in western Maine add to a continuous corridor of conserved land stretching across the western edge of Maine from New Hampshire to Canada. The Grafton Forest project and Coburn Gore Forest project encompass working forestlands that provide employment and raw materials for a variety of workers and businesses. Connected landscapes benefit forest management, enhance wildlife habitat, and provide resilience in the face of climate change.

Coburn Gore Forest Project

The 8,300-acre project area in Coburn Gore Township has been owned by the same family for decades. It boasts an exceptionally well-managed forest. The lands encompass the headwaters of the Dead River and Kennebec River; a grove of old growth trees, a unique bog ecosystem, and two state-designated Heritage brook trout ponds. Lands to the west and north of the Coburn Gore property, in Québec, are conserved provincial forest and recreation lands. To the south is the Boundary Headwaters Conservation Easement, conserved by FSM more than a decade ago.

Map showing corridor of conserved lands stretching from New Hampshire border to Quebec that these projects will help complete. — Click to enlarge.

In addition to the vast array of natural resource features, it has historical significance because the route Benedict Arnold took to Québec during the Revolutionary War traverses the property. Several important Arnold-related archaeological sites have been documented by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and Arnold Expedition Historical Society. While remote, the property is adjacent to a transnational border crossing. Bringing conservation to Coburn Gore Forest will conserve its many habitats, natural resources, and scenic values in perpetuity and ensure that forest management can continue.

Grafton Forest Project

The Grafton Forest Project is located in Grafton, Riley, and Andover North Surplus Townships. Comprised of 21,300 acres this forest lies in a spectacular valley setting that showcases the surrounding mountain ranges and is highly visible from numerous mountain peaks such as Old Speck. It is frequented by people who hike, ski, snowshoe, and run dogsleds on the property. Local ATV and snowmobile clubs have also created an extensive network of trails that run through the property to adjacent trails in New Hampshire. To the east lies Grafton Notch State Park/the Mahoosuc Unit and a long stretch of the Appalachian Trail (AT) known for some of the most difficult terrain in the state. Within the project boundaries, there are two side trails that hikers use to access the AT. The easement will ensure the permanence of the trails, as well as continued public access to them. The easement is designed to permit sustainable forest management and will prohibit commercial and residential development. The project is widely supported by surrounding communities as it will sustain recreational activities on the property and buffer subdivision and development pressures from the south.

FSM will be working over the next few years to secure funding for these exceptional forest conservation easement projects. These projects present a wonderful chance to conserve and connect, forever, the ecological, economic, recreational, and cultural values across the western Maine mountains.

Nordic skiers welcome at Nickerson Tree Farm

December 30, 2019 By Annie

By Erica Cassidy Dubois, FSM Forestland Steward
Printed in the Piscataquis Observer and Moosehead Matters

Groomed ski trails at Nickerson Tree Farm in Greenville (if you’re not skiing, please don’t crush the tracks!)

The Forest Society of Maine welcomes Nordic skiers of all ages and abilities to enjoy the trails, this winter, at Nickerson Tree Farm in Greenville. Located behind the Moosehead Lake Region Visitors’ Center—just a few miles south of town—the tree farm offers a 2.3-mile network of looping routes that will be groomed throughout winter, as conditions allow.

Anyone who has skied at Nickerson will tell you, it’s not just for beginners! The trails have hills, curves, and other features that make it fun and satisfying for skiers of almost every level.

If you make a visit to the Nickerson Tree Farm, please remember that maintaining good, groomed trails is a lot of work! Winter grooming and track-laying is made possible by NREC-Moosehead and their exceptional network of volunteers. Please respect that many hours and a lot of energy goes into making these trails excellent for everyone. Do not walk or snowshoe on groomed tracks—one person (or dog) will quickly destroy the trail surface for skiing. Bottom line: if you aren’t wearing five-foot sticks on your feet, please travel beside the tracks, or off-trail. Fat biking is not permitted.

The 80-acre Nickerson Tree Farm property was donated to the Forest Society of Maine in 2018 thanks to the generosity of Ellen Nickerson Poole. Mrs. Poole is the daughter of the late Dr. Norman Nickerson, who started his decades-long career as a physician in the Moosehead Lake region in 1920. For many years, Mrs. Poole invited the public to enjoy her property via the skiing trails that loop through the woodlot. Forest Society of Maine is proud to carry on this tradition.

A map of the Nickerson Tree Farm trails is available online, at Maine Trail Finder. You can also find out more about the tree farm and the Forest Society of Maine’s land conservation work at www.fsmaine.org.