MOUNT DESERT ISLAND, Maine - Soon to mark his 100th birthday, former bank chairman David Rockefeller announced his birthday gift to the Acadia region: 1,000 acres land laced with streams and trails in Seal Harbor.
"I realize that Seal Harbor, maybe more than any other location that I can think of in the world, has been important to me since I first came here when I was three months old, in my parents' hands," Rockefeller told a group of family and friends.
Rockefeller, grandson of oil tycoon John Rockefeller Sr., will transfer the acreage into the care of the Mount Desert Island & Garden Preserve for public use. The land, which is adjacent to Acadia National Park, has always been open to the public, and use will not change. says David MacDonald, who sits on the preserve's board.
"I have great confidence that the preserve and the park will work cooperatively on the trails, the streams, the natural communities that cross boundaries between this land, and the park - which is all around us - and which is really the essence of the conservation work on the island," MacDonald said.
The gift continues a legacy of land stewardship begun by Rockefeller's father, John D. Rockefeller Jr, who was largely responsible for donating the lands that became Acadia National Park.
The transfer will officially take place this summer.
