The Nature Conservancy in Maine has announced the purchase of more than 13-thousand forested acres in the Narraguagus River watershed in Hancock County west of Cherryfield. The acquisition expands TNC's nearly ten-thousand acre Spring River Preserve for a total of 23,500 acres. Forest Program Director Mark Berry says the project was a priority because it achieves a scale of conservation that will provide meaningful biodiversity.
"It's part of a corridor of forested land between the Downeast coast and Maine's North Woods that's important to maintain so that species can move in response to a changing climate or just to provide enough habitat for a wide-ranging species," Berry says.
Those species include bear, moose, deer, fish and lots of songbird habitat.
The lands are part of the traditional territory of Wabanaki people and retain cultural significance to the Wabanaki today. They will be open to the public and managed as an ecological reserve which helps scientists study the growth of forests in the absence of timber harvesting.
TNC's Spring River Preserve also abuts an ecological reserve maintained by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands.
