LEWISTON, Maine - A prized habitat for deer and wild brook trout has been conserved near The Forks in western Maine's Somerset County.
The Trust for Public Land and Trout Unlimited have purchased the 8,100-acre property, with financial help from the U.S. Forest Service and the Land for Maine's Future Program, which kicked in $5.5 million and $1.5 million respectively.
Jeff Reardon of Trout Unlimited says this is the first time his group has been a lead partner on a conservation project in Maine. He says that's because the property, known as Cold Stream, is one of the most pristine watersheds for brook trout in the nation. It includes 3,000 acres of deer wintering area, seven undeveloped wild brook trout ponds and five miles of Cold Stream itself.
"One of the reasons that we see this landscape as really important is that these ponds are relatively high elevation," Reardon says. "If you're looking for a place to secure intact habitat that's likely to be resilient to climate change in the future, this is about as good as it gets 'cause it's high altitude, it's fairly far north, so if there's a place in Maine that stays cold the longest, this watershed is probably it."
Cold Stream will become part of the state's Public Reserve Lands system and will continue to be open for public recreation. Reardon says it will also continue to be harvested for timber under the State of Maine's ownership but there will be a management plan in place with specific objectives to protect the habitat.
