PORTLAND, Maine - A Maine land trust says it has purchased more than 2,000 acres of forested land in Surry for preservation. Blue Hill Heritage Trust bought the land for $650,000, including $400,000 in public funding.
The parcel was heavily logged last winter, and the trust's executive director, Hans Carlson, says he's looking forward to seeing how it recovers now that it's been put in conservation.
"The property was logged very hard," Carlson says. "There's a lot of re-growing of the forest that needs to happen - that's sort of our mandate going forward, is to manage this forest."
Carlson says the trust will work with experts to figure out the best way to proceed, and plans to keep it open for hunting and non-motorized recreation.
As for snowmobiling? "Snowmobiling is not off the table," Carlson says. "It's off the table until we get a handle on what we're doing in there, but it's not off the table philosophically, let's say."
The trust says the land on the Blue Hill peninsula is home to wetlands that are a critically important habitat for coastal birds. It now owns more than 5,000 acres of land on the peninsula.
