Alder Stream Property Protected

Thank you for your support!

The Northeast Wilderness Trust is pleased to announce the completion of a two year campaign to preserve 1,500 acres in Dover-Foxcroft, Milo, and Atkinson, Maine. NWT purchased the property from a conservation-minded owner, who offered the property to NWT at a reduced price.

Photo: At the closing, NWT President Rick Van de Poll, NWT lawyer, Eliza Cope Nolan, NWT Executive Director Kathleen H. Fitzgerald, and the Alder Stream seller, Rudy Engholm.

Click here to see an article about the project in the Bangor Daily News
Click here to see an article about the project in the Eastern Gazette
Click here to see an article about the project in the Kennebec Journal

The northern boundary of this scenic property is the Piscataquis River and the property contains a large section of Alder Stream, thus the acquisition will have significant implications for water quality in the region.

A day-long canoe trip on Alder Stream’s winding waters epitomizes the solitude and freedom of Maine wilderness. The Alder Stream watershed is a vast, remote landscape where natural processes still direct the ebb and flow of life.

“The unusual thing is that most of the land has not been cut-over recently,” says environmental consultant and Dover-Foxcroft resident George Bakajza. “There’s a remote sense to the place.”

The watershed is the focus of NWT’s conservation efforts because of its implication on regional environmental health, recreational opportunities and ecological diversity.

In the heart of the watershed is the Alder Stream property, 1,500 acres of expansive wetlands, rivers and streams, bogs, and intact forest. This property is adjacent to other permanently protected lands and is a key stepping stone in the watershed protection effort. Approximately 12,000 acres in the watershed have already been protected by the state and private organizations.

Dr. Steven Trombulak, a conservation biologist from Middlebury College and NWT advisor, conducted an ecological assessment for the entire Alder Stream watershed and identified conservation targets. Trombulak’s plan forms the blueprint for NWT’s conservation strategy in the watershed.

“The Alder Stream property is exceptional because of its fantastic habitat diversity within a discrete watershed in one of the most ecologically important regions in the Northern Appalachians,” says Trombulak. “Relative to much of northern Maine, the Alder Stream watershed retains much of its original ecological integrity, making it a biological jewel in the Northeastern U.S.”

Kathleen Fitzgerald, Executive Director of NWT, says, “The work of the Northeast Wilderness Trust is based on conservation science, ecosystem threat abatement and opportunity. Dr Trombulak’s analysis showed us that this property, beyond being pristine and beautiful, is ecologically important, and it is wonderful to have a conservation minded landowner who made the deal affordable. It is extremely satisfying to preserve a property like this, and to know scientifically that we are being as efficient as possible.”

To acquire the Alder Stream Project, NWT raised $330,000 with the help of local individuals and foundations for the purchase of this ecologically important property.

“I bought this land over a number of years because it is such an extraordinary place. But I’m just one person, and I’m not in a position to give this land the stewardship it deserves. So I’m grateful that NWT has stepped in. They will ensure that the land will be preserved in a forever-wild state long after I am gone,” Rudy Engholm, the owner, says.

The cooperative nature of this effort makes the Alder Stream project a perfect example of private sector dedication and commitment to using private dollars to preserve wild places for future generations.

NWT is committed to preserving additional strategic properties within the larger Alder Stream watershed. Stay tuned for more details.

The Land

• Location: central Maine
• Size 1,500 acres
• Cost $340,000, including project costs
• Habitat wetlands, spruce/fir forest, northern hardwood forest
• Creatures moose, northern goshawks, wood turtles, bitterns, black bears
• Values wildlife habitat, watershed protection, wilderness recreation

By purchasing the Alder Stream Property as a forever-wild sanctuary NWT preserved:

• significant sections of the Alder Stream and the Piscataquis River;
• habitat for a diversity of species;
• a biologically rich area;
• a keystone in a greater conservation effort;
• clean air and water to local communities;
• linkages to other protected lands; and
• remote recreational experiences.

Imagine a place deep in the Maine woods where the pungent smell of balsam floats in the air. Where the sound of trickling waters is the constant soundtrack to life. Where moose and beaver spend their days in expansive wetlands, and northern goshawks swoop silently through the forest.

It's no daydream. This big wild country is the Alder Stream Watershed in north-central Maine. Here, river otter and mink splash in the Alder Stream as it meanders to the Piscataquis River, and the land is still "mossy and moosey," as Henry David Thoreau described the untamed Maine woods in the 1840s.