The Trust for Public Land has purchased just over 31,000 acres adjacent to the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. It's the nonprofit's largest acquisition in Maine, but the group's goal is to hold onto it temporarily.
Using loans to complete the purchase of the property, the Trust for Public Land will raise $32 million to cover those costs and find new owners.
TPL's Maine State Program Director Betsy Cook says the parcel is in the heart of the Penobscot Nation's ancestral homeland and also adjacent to land the tribe owns. It's described as having productive forestland as well as diverse fish and wildlife habitat, 53 miles of rivers and streams and recreational trails.
Cooks says it also provides much-needed southern access to the national monument from the towns of Millinocket and East Millinocket.
In a written statement, TPL says it will work with communities connected to the land, outdoor advocates and others to consider long-term outcomes for the property that protect it as a "recreational, economic and cultural resource."
The land will remain open to the public and TPL will continue to pay its property taxes.
