RECENT GRANTS
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2021 Grants
The Nature Conservancy, NY: Support for conservation of the Adirondack’s 14,600-acre Follensby Pond property. This tract includes 1,000-acre Follensby Pond, more than 10 miles of undeveloped Raquette River shoreline, and abundant forests. Follensby is one of only nine lakes in the lower 48 states with “old‐growth” lake trout habitat— a rare, intact cold-water fish community. The watershed’s mineral-rich bedrock contributes to the great water quality of the lake and high diversity of the surrounding healthy forest, which sustains an array of plants and animals, from maidenhair ferns to basswood trees; moose to black bear; scarlet tanager to common loon. ($1,000,000)
The Nature Conservancy, NY: A grant for stewardship, monitoring, and costs associated with the 15,500-acre Shingle Shanty/Thayer Lake Conservation Easement, ensuring forever wild protection of this property, which forms a critical part of one of the Adirondack Forest Preserve’s largest roadless areas, spanning 950,000 acres. The property contains 2,000 acres of pristine boreal wetlands, nine lakes and ponds, and six miles of headwater streams that help to maintain the region’s overall water quality; it provides suitable habitat for many wildlife species including bobcat, pine marten, black bear, Canada lynx, common loon, spruce grouse, American bittern, bald eagle, and peregrine falcon; and it serves as an important biological research center under the auspices of the Shingle Shanty Preserve and Research Station. ($160,000)
Northeast Wilderness Trust, ME: This grant supports Northeast Wilderness Trust’s continued forever wild conservation at the 14,000-acre Alder Stream/Piscataquis River Wilderness Preserve in Atkinson, Milo, Charleston, and Orneville, Maine. The Preserve, located along the Piscataquis River and its Alder Stream tributary, supports a great diversity of natural communities, including four that are uncommon in the state of Maine: a kettlehole bog, sedge meadows, and maple-ash-basswood and northern white cedar seepage forests, as well as protecting important Atlantic salmon habitat. Conservationists, including a major private landowner, have been working to piece this previously fragmented landscape together over many years. ($500,000)
Northeast Wilderness Trust/Forest Society of Maine, ME: Support for monitoring and enforcement of a conservation easement that the Forest Society of Maine will hold over a 241-acre addition to the Alder Stream/Piscataquis River Wilderness Preserve. Northeast Wilderness Trust’s acquisition of this tract in 2019 secured an important inholding in the Preserve and an expansion of the forever wild conservation easement held by the Forest Society of Maine. ($28,500)
Northeast Wilderness Trust, ME: A grant to establish the 6,000-acre Grafton Forest Wilderness Reserve in Grafton Township, Maine. The Reserve includes 1,300 acres of high elevation land adjacent to the Appalachian Trail, peregrine falcon habitat, and rare sub-alpine forests. These high elevation lands are complemented by 4,700 acres of significant wetlands and productive hardwood forests with high climate resilience attributes. The Reserve is located in western Maine’s Mahoosuc Mountains, one of the most intact and remote landscapes in New England. Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust will hold a forever wild conservation easement on the entire Reserve. ($750,000)
Northeast Wilderness Trust, VT: Support for the conservation of the 5,300-acre Woodbury Mountain Wilderness Preserve in central Vermont. The Preserve falls within a 24,000-acre forest block that links Vermont’s Green Mountains to the west with New Hampshire and Maine mountain regions to the east. Wetlands, vernal pools, seeps, streams, and swamps are found throughout the Preserve, which also encompasses Woodbury Mountain. This topographically diverse landscape contains habitat for beavers, bobcats, moose, fishers, martins, black bear, turtles, and many other species. Vermont River Conservancy will hold a forever wild conservation easement on the land. ($1,000,000)
Forest Society of Maine, ME: A grant to support the perpetual, forever wild protection of one or more large acreage, core areas in Maine that are highly resilient and have high conservation context and ecological value. Sweet Water Trust made this grant in recognition of its long and effective partnership with the Forest Society in advocating for and accomplishing the protection of many thousands of acres of the Maine landscape as wilderness preserves. ($1,000,000)