The Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust is very pleased to welcome new board member (and board treasurer) Jala Caron.
Jala was born and raised in Maine. She is a licensed CPA who currently works in the nonprofit field supporting individuals with intellectual uniqueness. She enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time experiencing Maine’s many outdoor activities including taking her dog kayaking.
Jala will be an excellent addition to the MATLT board, which oversees all of the organization’s work. The board is entirely comprised of volunteers who dedicate their time and professional skills to the mission of protecting the A.T. landscape in Maine (you can read more about them here). If you are interested in finding out more, please contact us at info@matlt.org.
The Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust is very pleased to welcome two long-time volunteers to the board of directors. Jim Kane has been a stewardship volunteer for MATLT since 2020, with a focus on hard to reach areas of the A.T. landscape that need special monitoring visits due to remote conditions and rugged terrain. In Jim’s own words: “I’m nearing 40 years in Maine, not counting a very fun 4 years at UMaine and very much enjoy retirement from local hospital administration and the opportunity to spend more time with family, friends and in the Maine outdoors. I have been affiliated with the MATLT for several years and look forward to my service as a Board member. A particular focus of mine will be increasing the responsible public use of our lands.”
The other new addition to the board is Mike Morrone, who has been a volunteer with MATLT for nearly ten years. During that time he’s helped with trail maintenance, boundary line assessments, annual conservation easement monitoring, and more. Mike is a senior manager for TD Bank and owner of Owl Furniture. He lives in New Gloucester with his wife and two daughters. He spends his spare time skiing, hiking, and trail running through the state.
These two will make great additions to the MATLT board, which oversees all of the organization’s work. The board is entirely comprised of volunteers who dedicate their time and professional skills to the mission of protecting the A.T. landscape in Maine (you can read more about them here). If you are interested in finding out more, please contact us at info@matlt.org.
The Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust is very pleased to announce that the organization has been awarded a grant by the Quimby Family Foundation as part of the Movement program. The program is dedicated to creating and supporting opportunities for people to consistently choose, and meaningfully experience, nearby nature and wilderness through movement and activity. Many of the strategies that can achieve the program goals are ones that MATLT deploys in both conservation projects in the A.T. region in Maine, and in programs MATLT runs with partners in the landscape. These include things like:
Deepening the bonds between people, nature, and one another through immersive wilderness journeys
Growing outdoor recreation events to discover nearby nature and commune with neighbors
Reducing barriers (social, physical, logistical) for people to access nearby nature and open space
Creating, promoting, or restoring parks, gardens, and green spaces
Addressing community disparities to encourage safe, equitable outdoor access
From the #WEOUTSIDE program to the High Peaks Initiative to the land conservation projects that protect public spaces, MATLT will continue to forge ahead and live by these principles. Thanks to the Quimby Family Foundation and our public supporters and partners for helping making this happen.
MATLT’s Bald Mountain Pond property is a wonderful spot on Maine’s Appalachian Trail. With an undeveloped shoreline and the A.T. running along the north shore, it’s a hidden gem for hikers, paddlers, hunters, fisherman, and more. It’s also one of the most ecologically important areas in Maine with values like high climate resilience and matrix forest blocks. It’s also a haven for rare and threatened wildlife species – like the Canada lynx. This reclusive species is federally listed as threatened but is well established in Maine due to plentiful habitat (boreal forests). And yet Canada lynx are rarely seen in the north woods.
It’s always a special moment to have that lynx sighting but not everybody has had that joy. But the next best thing is a documented sighting and thanks to MATLT friend Matt Foster (who has permission to have a game cam on the property) we can see this Canada lynx on the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust’s property. Scroll through to see the series as the lynx crosses the stone bridge.
And be sure to head out there for a chance sighting of your own!
The High Peaks Initiative (HPI) is a collaborative of local, regional, and national organizations working in the High Peaks Region to protect these important natural resources, secure public access, and support healthy human and natural communities. The Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust serves as co-coordinator of HPI and over the course of the past few years HPI has lead regional efforts to support conservation and recreation initiatives in the High Peaks region. The Appalachian Trail is a key component of the area’s natural resources, serving as a backbone across 4,000-foot mountains and large areas of protected land in which all forms of outdoor recreation take place. This latest publication outlines a collaborative vision for the High Peaks, based on partnerships not only among non-profits and governmental agencies, but with local businesses, clubs, volunteer organizations, and more.
This report is being circulated widely in order to get all hands on deck for the work to support one of the A.T.’s most special regions. Please take a look and share any feed back with us at info@matlt.org!
Sunrise over Mount Abraham.
The board.
With thru hikers looking towards Saddleback and The Horn.
Campfire time at Potato Hill camp.
View towards the summit of Saddleback Jr.
Last month, seven members of the MATLT board, plus executive director Simon Rucker, gathered for a weekend retreat in Maine’s High Peaks region. Serving as a springboard for conversations around the ecological and cultural values of the “A.T. corridor,” which extends into and ends in Maine, the retreat’s backdrop of sunsets and sunrises over multi-colored peaks rejuvenated and inspired board members through hours of meetings. During the retreat, the group earnestly got up to speed on a shared vision, and that energy is fueling our strategic planning process which is already underway. This work will ensure that the organization continues to fulfill its mission to preserve and protect land surrounding the Appalachian Trail in Maine for public benefit.
The Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust and the Maine Association for New Americans wrapped up the FIFTH #WEOUTSIDE session since the program was established in 2023. This year, there were significant challenges in launching the program for this summer but MANA did an amazing job of putting things together and our wonderful partners stepped up in providing great experiences for these kids. This summer they:
The first summer of the #WEOUTSIDE Elders program was a resounding success! The Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust would like to thank our partners the Maine Association for New Americans for creating this program and allowing MATLT to help in getting these older New Mainers into the outdoors. This summer’s trips with the group included:
BBQ at Sebago Lake State Park
Reid Beach State Park with Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for tidepooling
Berry picking and ATV riding at the Perham Stream Birding Trail
These trips were all specially designed for a group that might have some mobility challenges, but they have endless curiosity about the outdoor world an a wealth of knowledge about nature from their countries of origin. We love to run youth programs to capture the future, but it is also essential to maintain the present and ensure that valuable community knowledge is allowed to flourish. Hopefully the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust can run this program in the future!
Bald Mountain Pond was acquired by the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust in 2019, as part of a larger project that saw the adjacent ridge move into National Park Service ownership. Located in the middle section of Maine’s A.T., in an area largely with fewer high mountain peaks and trails to ascend them, Bald Mountain Pond is an oasis of nature and solitude available for those who make the trip.
MATLT staff and Board Vice President Pete McKinley recently took a trip to the pond in order to inspect three camps that the organization continues to lease to long-term tenants who have had the camps in their families for multiple generations. The organization now deploys multiple technology platforms to monitor land holdings, including near-real time remote satellite imagery, a drone, and even airplane flights over properties. But there is something special about getting a sense of place to form a connection to the land.
From the eastern shore.
Bald Mountain Pond and all of the landscapes you see here are fully accessible to the public as well. There is a boat launch at the southern tip of the pond and over 1100 acres of water to explore by canoe, kayak, or other watercraft. On the north shore of the pond, the Appalachian Trail descends from Moxie Bald Mountain to a lean-to where thru-hikers stop for the night. It’s a relatively quick hike to the summit, which has views in all directions from the High Peaks in the southwest to Katahdin in the northeast, so it’s possible to do a dual paddle/hike trip in one day.
MATLT encourages visitors to Bald Mountain Pond and if you are interested in making the trip, poke around online and reach out to us at info@matlt.org.
This season’s #WEOUTSIDE Youth Program is focused on getting these New Mainer outdoor adventurers skills for the future, and to get them to give back in the process. Some of the trips this season so far have been to the Niweskok Farm to learn about Wabanaki culture and agricultural practices (while chipping in with farm work), hitting up Songo Lock for some fishing (while also helping to operate America’s last manual lock), and taking in the trails at Camden Hills State Park (while doing some trail maintenance). We’ll have plenty more trips this summer so check back for the next update.
