mm nov landtrust

8/6/2019 Mm Nov Landtrust

1/4

No

Painter, sculptor, and printmakerAlex Katz has been ihe began his studies at the Skowhegan School of PaintingSkowhegan exposed him to painting from life, which rematices today. Katz explains that Skowhegans plein air painto devote my life to painting. | Moose Horn State Park, 1975, Oil o

In Land

We T

A journey to Maine has always promised an woods, a breath of fresh air, and the opport

on pristine beaches. Thanks to a network of

conservationists this will continue to be tru

Written by

Maura Ewing

Artwo rk co urtesy o f

Alex Katz

I ll

56 maine | themainemag.com


2/4

58 maine | themainemag.com Nov

or generations, Mainers haveenjoyedand perhaps taken forgrantedthe states vast wildernessand ragged shorelines. Our statesbeauty attracts newcomers,seasonal residents, and vacationersalike. Over the past few decadesas more and more people fall inlove with the state, interest in real

estate has risen dramatically, anduntouched properties have becomea coveted commodity.

In response to this rapid development,

communities have created local land trusts.

What largely began as small, informal groups

of friends scraping together money and

raising funds from neighbors has evolved

into formalized nonprofit organizations.

Today, Maine has one of the strongest land

conservation networks in the country. The

goals of these independent land trusts are

as diverse as the landscapes they protect,

but they all share an overarching mission to

preserve Maines natural assets.

On a crisp summer evening, Tom Bradbury,

executive director of the Kennebunkport

Conservation Trust, stands before the

bandstand under a white canopy at the

trusts crowded fifteenth annual lobsterbake. With a microphone in one hand

and a plastic cup of wine in the other, he

speaks in a manner reminiscent of both

a political campaign speech and a proud

fathers wedding toast. Im looking for your

enthusiasm, he says. People will see what

were doing, and if they see the community as

something important it will commend them

to participate. Enjoy the James MontgomeryBlues Band and enjoy the fireworks. Thank

you so much for coming!

About 200 people erupt into applause. A

group of college-aged kids raise their beers

and chant, Tom! Tom! Tom!

In the back corner, Dave Jourdan leans

against a picnic table strewn with plates of

lobster shells and corncobs. He chuckles.

Tom could be the mayor of this town! Hes a

visionary. He sees the big picture and knows

how to get there, he says. Bradburys vision

is simple, though its influence on the future

of his growing community will undoubtedly

be profound: preserve Kennebunkports

natural heritage.

The trusts conservation holdings include

1,000 acres of continuous wilderness, asignificant percentage of the small towns

14,000 acres. The trust also owns the small

islands that decorate Cape Porpoise Harbor

and stands as visible reminders to all those

who have gathered for the lobster bake.

Bradbury takes a moment to gaze at the

harbor. The islands define the feel and the

look of the harbor. In size theyre small, but

in terms of value theyA development boom

spurred Bradburys i

land conservation. T

trusts werent forme

Maineits because y

he says. When I was

go anywhere; everyth

Around the same time

late philanthropist anworthy Maine causes

increased developme

friend, Tom Cabot, fou

Heritage Trust to pres

family had enjoyed fo

reached out to grassro

and asked them to join

Bradbury was among

"It doesn t mattpau per or a pra c ommon bon

Katz has spent every summer in Lincolnville since 1954. The wstate envelops the viewer in nature. | 01 Good Afternoon 2, 1974, Oil on linenand Vincent, 1961, Oil on Linen, 84 x 74 inches |

F

Tom Bradbury


3/4

60 maine| themainemag.com No

Bradbury recalls one of the first board

meetings he attended. He had borrowed a

car from the general store where he worked

at the time. Im driving up to the meeting

at the Cumberland Club and the muer of

my Pontiac falls o. Luckily, Ive got a coat

hanger in the back. So I hook up the coat

hanger to keep the muer othe groundI

was a little bit late, he says. As it turned out,

Peggy Rockefeller also had transportation

dicultiesthe pilot of her private jet

mistakenly headed toward her familys Mount

Desert Island home instead of Portland.

Grateful he hadn't had to tell Ms. Rockefellerwhy he was late, Bradbury gives a full belly

laugh at the memory. The beauty of it was

that we were at the same meeting for the

same purpose with the same dedication. It

doesnt matter if youre a pauper or a prince

the land is a common bond.

Peggy Rockefeller and Tom Cabots project

blossomed. Over the past thirty years, the

Maine Coast Heritage Trust has preserved

more than 130,000 acres of land,

including 275 coastal islands.

Warren Whitney, who manages the

organizations Maine Land Trust

Network, explains: When Peggy

Rockefeller and Tom Cabot founded

the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, they

said we should connect landowners

who want to conserve their land with

organizations that can do that. They

thought it would take some limitedamount of time, maybe ten years,

and then it would all be done. But of

course, were all still working hard at it

today, and there is still lots to be done.

In addition to conserving land, the trust s

Maine Land Trust Network serves as an

umbrella organization for the local trusts

in Maine by helping these organizations

access funding and by facilitating

communication and collaboration. The

local trusts have grassroots awareness

of their area and so they work very well

as a team with the resources that Maine

Coast Heritage Trust has, Whitney says.

Ed Kfoury, board president of the

Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, spreads

out a map on the t able before him. This

is the Rangeley region. All of this darkgreen is ours, he says. Kfoury points to a

conglomeration of lakes straddled by the

New Hampshire and Canadian border.

This is the Seven Islands property, part

of 250,000 acres that goes north. This

land here is spectacular and its mostly

uninhabited. I have one, two, three

townships Id like to get my hands on, he

says with a grin that indicates hes aware of

the audacity of the statement he just made.

Most of the people selling land are doing it

because they want to get a return, but they

also dont want to see their land trashed;

theyre attached to it. Were good people to sell

it to. Weve communicated with owners who

say, Now where are you going to get that kind

of money? and I say, Were working on it!

The trusts track record speaks for itself:

since its inception in 1990, the organization

has preserved roughly 12,500 acres of land,

including 45 miles of lake shorefront. With

his career as an IBM executive behind him,

Kfoury focuses on the trusts negotiations

and fundinga happy marriage of his

passion for land and his expertise in business

negotiations. Some funding comes from

grants, but local trusts are largely dependenton contributions from individual members,

which can range from a few dollars to tens of

thousandsor millionsof dollars.

Kfoury leans back in his chair. Most of us,

depending on what weve done in life, havent

done things that are going to last forever.

This stu, done right, will, he says.

On Maines southern coast, a stroll through

Cape Elizabeth makes the nearby urban

center of Portland seem a distant memory.

Oa winding rustic road, the Jordan

familys farm stand teems with local goods.

Penny Jordan throws her hands up as she

marvels at her familys empire of produce.What more could you ask for? Its like Gods

country here, she says.

The Jordans sell to the areas locavores,

supplying specialty grocers and soup

kitchens alike. The familys fields will be

used as farmland in perpetuity due to a

farmland easement the Jordans placed on

their property under the guidance of the

Cape Elizabeth Land Trust. Conservation

easements are legal agreements that limit

the use of a property, and they are generally

tailored to fit the wishes of the owner

and the assets of a property. Woodland

easements, for example, can render property

forever wild or allow sustainable logging

and recreational activities. In this case,

the farmland easement gave the Jordans

peace of mind by allowing them to realize

the value of their land without having tosell it for development. The easement also

lowered their propertys assessed value, and

" M ost of u s, depen din g on whatwe've don e in l i fe , haven 't don ethin g s that are g o in g to last forever .This stu ff , don e r ig ht , w i l l . "

- E d Kfou ry

Alex Katz, largely considered one of the most important American artists of our time,donated more than 400 of his works to the Colby College Museum of Art in 1992. Ongoing

selections from the collection, which now includes nearly 700 pieces of his work, arepresented at the museum's The Paul J. Schupf Wing for the Works of Alex Katz.

| Blueberry Field, 1959, Collage, 13 15/16 x 17 inches |

Warren Whitney

Ed Kfoury


4/4

62 maine | themainemag.com Nov

the financial benefits have allowed them to

expand the farms services, which include a

mobile farm stand for elderly residents and

an on-property restaurant.

Jordans Farm is now part of the more than

600 acres the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust has

preserved. Other properties include Robinson

Woods, where hikers can taste the salt air as

they walk beneath 300-year-old trees, and

a large part of the seven-mile patchwork of

walking trails that traverse from Portland

Head Light to Kettle Cove in Cape Elizabeth.

Chris Franklin, the executive director ofthe Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, sums up

the importance of his work: The

varied land use, the scenic vistas,

and the rural character of the

town are served by open space.

Our natural heritage creates

our sense of place and sense of

community. Once a property is lost

to development, its gone forever.

Franklin is the only full-time

employee of the trust, though the

success of his work depends on

the skills and dedication brought by board

members and volunteers.

Ted Darling, the trusts board president

and a professional marketing strategist,

was inspired to join the trust five years ago

when the woodlands behind his house were

slated for residential development. Usinghis skills in marketing, Darling organized

fundraising drives that tripled the trusts

membership, now at 600, in three years. The

backbone of a trusts work, volunteers such

as Ted Darling will coordinate educational

programs, organize guided hiking tours, and

provide the manual labor needed to steward

conserved property.

Farther up the Maine coast, rolling mountains

and vast forests are not only valued for

recreational purposes but are home to fragile

ecosystems. The Coastal Mountains Land

Trust conserves property across fifteen

townships in midcoast Maine. Stahere

have used GIS mapping to locate ecologically

valuable areas and establish preservation

goals. Kristen Lindquist, the trusts director

of development and an accomplished poet,explains the balance the organization is

working to achieve. Were protecting the

land for people to enjoy, as well as for its many

conservation values, some of which may be

sensitive to overuse, she says. There is a fine

line with encouraging people to appreciate the

natural landscape firsthand without loving it

to death.

The Coastal Mountains Land Trust is

raising funds to conserve Bald and Ragged

mountains, which are home to the Camden

Snow Bowl ski area an

of trails. The project w

and carefully expand

four-season access fo

snowshoers, and cros

while simultaneously

sensitive areas.

Lindquist is a Camden

the area after high sc h

parts of the country, b

rationalize living anyw

I came back and staye

an incredibly beautifu

landscape is what givsets the stage for the q

she says. The blissful t

continues to leave her

times of stress she ste

the clean air, and says

Everything else just f

Lindquist works to co

connect donors to the

what were doing to pr

love, they want to sup

The land trusts in Ma

a natural legacy that w

in perpetuity. In time,

conservationists will

another generation of

Trusts across the stat

programsfrom sum

afterschool activities

fostering passionate fwords of Tom Bradbu

love and love what yo

"The n atu ral lan dsc ape is what g ivesthe plac e c harac ter an d sets the stag efor the qu al i ty of l i fe we have."

-Kr isten L in dqu ist

Alex Katz: New Work is currently on exhibition at the Farnsworth Art Museumin Rockland through October 31. This exhibition focuses on Katzs most recentworks from his annual Lincolnville sojourn.|Sunset 2, 2008, Oil on linen, 108 x 84 inches |

Ted Darling

C h r is Fr a n k l in

Kristen Lindquist

mm nov landtrust

Documents