Winter, 2023

NEWSLETTER

LAND & STEWARDSHIP EDITION

The much beloved southern slope of Wallamatogus Mountain is now owned and protected by Blue Hill Heritage Trust!

The closing, on December 8th, followed a significant fundraising campaign that was supported by many community members, private foundations, and Maine Coast Heritage Trust. We were also awarded two larger state and federal grants from Lands for Maine’s Future and the USDA Community Forest programs. The 336-acre property, which offers sweeping views of Penobscot Bay and the Bagaduce Watershed, was purchased from the Allen family in 2021 and held by The Conservation Fund (TCF), an organization which works with conservation groups and holds properties temporarily to give them time to fundraise. “In today’s competitive and fast paced real estate market, having a partner like TCF is critical to accomplishing large scale projects like Wallamatogus,” said BHHT’s Executive Director, Hans Carlson. “We have conserved several important and large pieces of conservation land on the peninsula with them as our partners, including Surry Forest and Meadowbrook Forest in Surry.”

The property, half of which is open land previously managed for commercial blueberry production, will be managed by BHHT and open for the community to hike, hunt, and pick berries. Penobscot residents Bundy Boit, Bailey Bowden, Toby Wardwell, and Phil Rapp are serving as the Penobscot Community Forest at Wallamatogus Advisory Committee and will be advising the Trust in what the community would like to see happening there. “This is an exciting moment for us at BHHT,” said Associate Director and head of Development, Chrissy Allen. “Community buy in is so important. I know many locals from Penobscot and beyond cherish this property. We are grateful to them all for supporting us in this project.”



On Saturday December 16 we, at long last, hosted a grand opening. More than 70 people from surrounding communities and our partnering organizations came out to watch as Bundy Boit cut the ribbon and officially opened the trail. Most of those in attendance then hiked with us to the top of the mountain for some amazing views and gorgeous, although unseasonably warm, weather.

Trail information for the Penobscot Community Forest at Wallamatogus is now available online HERE. We hope you will explore this amazing place on your own.

Bundy Boit and BHHT E.D., Hans Carlson officially opening the Trail!

Kate Stookey and Ciona Ulbrich (MCHT), George Fields, Neal Bungard (US Forest Service), Hans Carlson, and Chrissy Allen on top of Wallamatogus. *Missing is Tom Duffus from TCF.

The mini celebration-signing party!

• Feb '23- Protected the Duck Marsh property (241 acres) in Blue Hill.
• April '23- Restoration of the Post Office Trail in Blue Hill.
• May '23- Protected the Deegan/Neill property (20 acres) in Brooklin.
• May '23- Protected the Morse/Aman property (75 acres) in Penobscot.
• June '23- Protected the Bridges property (7.6 acres) in Penobscot.
• June-Oct '23- Began Blue Hill Mountain Trail Restoration (with plans to continue) in Blue Hill.*
• July '23 Completion of the Penobscot Community Forest at Wallamatogus Trail in Penobscot.*
• Aug-Nov '23- Enhancing the Penny's Preserve Tail System with the addition of connector trails and bridge-work in Blue Hill.*
• Oct '23- Completed the Accessible Trail at Caterpillar Hill in Sedgwick.
• Dec '23- Protected the Wallamatogus property (336 acres) in Penobscot.

Our Amazing Volunteers!

This past year our Land Steward, Andrew, scheduled a series of volunteer work days (on average 2 per month, April-December) to do a variety of jobs that included removing invasive species, cutting back overgrowth, rebuilding water bars (trail drainage), reblazing trails and painting new signage to name a few. Jobs that almost always entailed getting dirty and working up a sweat.

Without fail our volunteers showed up! A total of 55 different people volunteered for at least one volunteer day, with several coming back again and again to get the jobs done. All told, a total of 371 volunteer hours were donated this year by people, high-schoolers through retirees.

We don't currently have a "Volunteer of the Year" award, but if we did, we would most certainly have given this year's to Mark Connolly. He alone donated over 36 hours of his time to BHHT and we are grateful! Below are few pictures of Mark hard at work on the Post Office and Wallamatogus trails.

In addition to working with our stewardship team, we have also had volunteers help with a variety of administrative, development, and education/outreach tasks. If you are interested in volunteering your time, please email us with your interest (trail/office work) and your availability.