Maine has nearly 100 land trusts. They protect the coast, mountains, farmlands, rivers, forests, marshes, and more. They provide community access to nature and the outdoors, protect water quality, conserve and connect habitat for wildlife and plants, contribute to ecological health and biodiversity, and mitigate climate change. Land trusts matter.
And while land trusts commonly work on the local level, they also play essential roles in the bigger conservation picture of our state and planet. With state, national, and worldwide goals to protect 30 percent of Earth’s lands, oceans, and freshwater by 2030, land trusts play a critical role at a critical time. Land trusts make a difference.
I’ve wanted to visit every land trust in Maine for a while. Now I’m checking them off from the Maine Land Trust Network list below—discovering new lands and waters and revisiting others.
Maine Land Trust Network members
- 7 Lakes Alliance (my home land trust!)
- Androscoggin Land Trust
- Appalachian Mountain Club – Maine Woods Initiative
- Arundel Conservation Trust
- Bangor Land Trust
- Biddeford Pool Land Trust
- Blandings Park Wildlife Sanctuary
- Blue Hill Heritage Trust
- Boothbay Region Land Trust
- Brewer Land Trust
- Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust
- Cape Elizabeth Land Trust
- Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust
- Chewonki Foundation
- Coastal Mountains Land Trust
- Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust
- Crabtree Neck Land Trust
- Downeast Coastal Conservancy
- Downeast Lakes Land Trust
- Downeast Salmon Federation
- Eastern Trail Alliance
- Ecotat Trust
- Falmouth Land Trust
- Foothills Land Conservancy
- Forest Society of Maine
- Francis Small Heritage Trust, Inc.
- Freeport Conservation Trust
- Frenchman Bay Conservancy
- Friends of Merrymeeting Bay
- Friends of Sears Island
- Friends of Wilson Pond Area, Inc.
- Georges River Land Trust
- Great Diamond Island Land Preserve
- Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust
- Great Works Regional Land Trust
- Greater Lovell Land Trust
- Harpswell Heritage Land Trust
- High Peaks Alliance
- Holden Land Trust
- Island Heritage Trust
- Islesboro Islands Trust
- Kennebec Estuary Land Trust
- Kennebec Land Trust
- Kennebunk Land Trust
- Kennebunkport Conservation Trust
- Kittery Land Trust
- Land in Common
- Landmark Heritage Trust
- Loon Echo Land Trust
- Mahoosuc Land Trust
- Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust
- Maine Audubon
- Maine Coast Heritage Trust
- Maine Farmland Trust
- Maine Huts and Trails
- Maine Island Trail Association
- Maine Woodland Owners
- Midcoast Conservancy
- Momentum Conservation
- Monhegan Associates
- Mt. Agamenticus to the Sea Conservation Initiative
- New Brunswick Community Land Trust
- New England Forestry Foundation, Inc.
- North Haven Conservation Partners
- Northeast Wilderness Trust
- Oceanside Conservation Trust of Casco Bay
- Orono Land Trust
- Peaks Island Land Preserve
- Phippsburg Land Trust
- Pierce Pond Watershed Trust
- Pleasant River Wildlife Foundation
- Portland Trails
- Presumpscot Regional Land Trust
- Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust
- Royal River Conservation Trust
- Saco Bay Trails
- Saco Valley Land Trust
- Sanford-Springvale Mousam Way Land Trust
- Scarborough Land Trust
- Sebasticook Regional Land Trust
- Somerset Woods Trustees
- South Portland Land Trust
- Southern Maine Wetlands Conservancy
- The Conservation Fund
- The Ecology School
- The Nature Conservancy in Maine
- The Nature Trust of New Brunswick
- The Trust for Public Land
- Three Rivers Land Trust
- Upper Saco Valley Land Trust
- Upper St. John Land Trust
- Upper St. John River Organization
- Vinalhaven Land Trust
- Waterboro Land Trust
- Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve & Laudholm Trust
- Western Foothills Land Trust
- Woodie Wheaton Land Trust
- York Land Trust