Rain? What Rain?
ometimes, solutions to large-scale prickly
problems are as close as home. That was the
message delivered by Doug Tallamy to the
100+ people attending his webinar Networks For
Life, Homegrown National Park (HNP) at the Gem
Theater on Saturday evening. Rather than focusing on
large-scale efforts, Tallamy insists our backyards can
be key players in addressing the significant decline
in songbird numbers. The keys to success include
reducing the size of your lawn and replacing it with
plants (primarily trees and shrubs) that support the
most caterpillars. Why caterpillars? Caterpillars
convert inedible leaves into tasty protein, a critical
nutrient for baby birds. More plants means more
caterpillars means more birds; it is as simple as that.
Richard Blanco was a special guest at the Annual
Meeting. His place-based poems were a perfect match
to our mission and set a beautiful tone for the day.
Despite off-and-on rain, the Monarch Festival was
a success. Over 500 attendees enjoyed touring the
garden, attending workshops, seeing and learning
about some of the odder insects that can be found in
Maine, and buying tickets for the raffle. New this year,
a hands-on indigo dyeing workshop was extremely
popular.
We are already planning for the 2024 festival. More
information will be coming soon.
The 2023 Monarch Festival Was A Great Success!
Eating the Elephant: A
Regional Approach to
Conservation-Based
Solutions p.2-3
Rain? What Rain? p.1
Come Celebrate Buck’s
Ledge Community Forest
Day p.7
MLT Board Welcomes
and Farewells p.6
The Question of Carbon
Sequestration p.4-5
Visitors enjoying the Habitat for All Garden, Photos by Brewster Burns
Mahoosuc Land Trust
Conserving the Mahoosuc Region since 1989
Fall 2023 Newsletter
Working with our
neighboring land trusts
Eatingtheelephant:
Erika Rowland, Executive Director 2019-2023, Greater Lovell Land Trust
A regional approach to
conservation-based solutions
and working together on coordinated action across the
million-acres that we collectively serve, we are focused
on regional resilience for the future. We are also working
individually on the particular needs for each organization.
In our greater Lovell service area in 2021 and again in 2022,
GLLT-led projects have received funding from the “Land
and Climate” grant program of the Open Space Institute
and Land Trust Alliance. The funding allows us to take
a regional look at critical conservation lands and land
management strategies that are key to supporting our natural
and human communities as we prepare for the future. We
are creating a response plan to address impacts and looking
for opportunities to build resilience and sustainability.
Facing Climate Change:
Mitigation and Adaptation
Climate change action comes in two flavors. There is
mitigation — reducing the amount of carbon and other
greenhouse gasses that are warming the planet’s atmosphere
and waters. And there is adaptation — changing and
adjusting what we do and how we think to better align
with the new conditions and impacts. Warming and related
changes are already happening all around us and new
threats seem to arrive daily. The changes that are affecting
our lives are also impacting the plants and animals that are
acclimated to climate conditions that have been relatively
constant for the last 500 years or more. The collaborative
land trust efforts are making headway on both fronts.
Conserving undeveloped lands is a key strategy. The leaves
of all plants take carbon out of the atmosphere to create the
sugars they use as energy and forests store carbon in tree
trunks, branches, and root systems, as well as in downed
wood and other debris on the forest floor that mixes deep
into the soils. Tree canopy and forest vegetation also slow
the surface flow of heavy rains, reducing the erosion and
damage caused by flooding. Western Maine land trusts
are engaging beyond our historic nature-based activities,
putting even greater focus on actionable climate solutions.
owadays when it rains in our part of western
Maine, it pours; and that’s not a figure of speech.
Last fall and into early winter we had a series of
heavy rains. GLLT trails that climb to summit vistas, like
Sabattus Mountain, became raging waterways that needed
repair and culverts in our towns were overwhelmed,
leaving gaping holes along many rural roads. Our rapidly
warming spring and fall seasons mean that ticks are
active through much of the year, giving us no break in the
need for tick-check diligence. And then there’s winter.
Recent winters have been hit or miss for serious snow
cover before mid-January, much to the dismay of skiers
and snowmobilers. The lakes are freezing later—ice-in
on Kezar came in mid-January in the deep bays this
year —and the Maine Warden Service had ice safety
warnings for fishing on many Maine lakes through
January. And spring? Late snow saved some of the ski
season, but who isn’t dreading a repeat of April and May
heatwaves in the 80s, early hatches of biting insects,
and then the weeks-long stretches of summer highs in
the 90s that have become the norm in recent years?
Goal: Community Resilience
There is no doubt that climate is affecting our local
weather and putting challenges on the human and
natural communities. But there is plenty of work being
done to protect our future, including new resources to
help individuals and communities to take action. Lovell,
Bridgton, Fryeburg, and Norway are a few area towns
taking part in the Maine Community Resilience Partnership
planning and applying for grant support as part of the
state’s “Maine Won’t Wait” Climate Action Plan. In our area,
our land trusts are also working to shape their work into a
direct response to challenges triggered by climate change.
GLLT and its western Maine neighbors, Loon Echo Land
Trust, Mahoosuc Land Trust, Western Foothills Land
Trust, and Upper Saco Valley Land Trust, are taking a
collaborative approach to climate change. By planning
Reprinted from the Greater Lovell Land Trust Spring 2023 Newsletter with permission
Sources: Esri, USGS, NOAA
Androscoggin River
Androscoggin River
Crooked River
Saco River
Swift River
Bethel
Rumford
Norway
Bridgton
M A I N E
N E W H A M P S H I R E
10
2.5
Miles´
Sebago Lake
Long Lake
Kezar
Lake
Fryeburg
Conway
Saco River
Lower
chards
Lake
Lovell
This map shows the general service area boundaries of the
GLLT and our neighboring land trusts. The yellow pathway
indicates the general location of a climate resilient conservation
corridor, a pathway that could provide largely uninterrupted
and connected habitat for movement of animals, birds,
insects, and plant life in response to changing conditions.
Working Together: Where do we Start?
In 2021, the five neighboring land trusts collaborated
to build a mapping tool using data from The Nature
Conservancy (TNC) analysis of Resilient and Connected
Landscapes in our combined service areas. The study
area stretches from Sebago Lake into the Mahoosuc
Range and other parts of the White Mountains. The TNC
analysis highlights largely undeveloped and connected
areas of land that have hills and mountain slopes (diverse
topography), water bodies, and ecologically-important
plant or animal communities. Wildlife has the best chance
to adjust in-place or by traveling through these resilient
and connected areas that allow for comfortable ranges
of temperature, rainfall tempered by forest lands, food
resources, and other needs as the habitat changes. Together,
the land trusts have identified such a corridor along
the boundaries of our collective service areas that links
undeveloped areas with existing and potential conservation
lands as a regional priority for future conservation.
On the Ground: Will Durkin, Field Naturalist
More recently, the land trust collective received grant
funds to hire a researcher — Will Durkin, Master’s degree
candidate from the University of Vermont’s Field Naturalist
Program — who will spend the summer on work to
integrate the known and anticipated effects of changing
climate conditions into the management of the thousands
of forestland acres we collectively conserve. Starting with
a few selected land trust holdings that represent a range
of forest types, and using a framework developed by the
USFS Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (www.
niacs.org), Will plans to compile existing information and
conduct his own field work to identify tree species and
tree stand structures that may be best suited to withstand
drought, warming winters, insect pests, disease, and other
changing climate conditions. He will be advised by forest
climate adaptation specialists from UVM’s Silviculture and
Applied Forest Ecology Lab, as well as professional staff
from the five land trusts. With additional support from
a community conservation consultant, the land trusts
will also publish website content about the nature-based
solutions of our land trusts and other organizations.
Collaboration: The Best Way to Eat an Elephant
The issue of climate change reaches far beyond our region,
and far-reaching action is needed to raise an effective
response. Keeping lands open, connected, and forested
will reduce storm impacts and flooding, allow the animals,
plants, birds, and insects of the ecosystems to adjust to
the changes, and foster the capture and storage of carbon.
Resiliency and sustainability for the future is one of the
most important, mission-aligned tasks that land trusts
can tackle. Working collaboratively, we can take a more
significant bite out of the climate change elephant.
August 2023 Update: Five Land Trusts Funded for
Collaborative Climate Conservation Project
MLT and four partner land trusts have just received
foundation funding to escalate the pace of climate-informed
land protection projects in a 1.5 million-acre area stretching
from Sebago Lake to the Mount Washington Valley.
Building on earlier research the groups have done together,
the project will hone in on a Climate Resilient Focus Area
within their shared landscape. It will provide funding for
the critical start-up costs to conserve those areas that will be
the most critical for plant and animal habitat and humans
in the face of climate change, including a “climate corridor”
to provide habitat connectivity across the trusts’ combined
service areas. The partners are: Greater Lovell Land Trust,
Loon Echo Land Trust, Mahoosuc Land Trust, Upper Saco
Valley Land Trust, and Western Foothills Land Trust.
Editor’s Note: During Erika Rowland’s tenure as GLLT’s
Executive Director, she provided key leadership in
collaborative climate change work for peer conservation
organizations, including MLT. Erika now serves as Eastern
Programs Development Director for Forest Stewards Guild.
Big Tree, Small Trees: Forest Age and Carbon
Sequestration
orests play an important role in absorbing
carbon dioxide and fighting climate change.
Indeed, an artificial technology that sequesters
carbon on the scale of forest ecosystems does not exist.
That said, in the last few years I have heard discussions
and different opinions on what types of forests do it
best: older forests or younger forests.
Often this age classification is used analogously
to older forests on conserved lands versus younger
managed commercial forests. And many times these
arguments play out in support or not of commercial
logging or forest management as tools to fight climate
change. There are well established carbon monitoring
plots on forests of both types on federal or state or
local lands. Simple measurement and acquiring data
is not a problem in addressing this question. Rather,
digesting the volume of data and identifying solutions
specific to a geographic area can be daunting tasks.
I set out to dig into this research and emerge with
a whole picture and clear victor of the superior forest
for sequestering carbon and fighting climate change at
scale. That did not happen. However, I can report on
the general trends that emerged in this research and
some key takeaways for supporters of conservation.
Younger Forests Sequester Carbon Faster
More than once during my reading this was the
headline or cutting edge of an argument wholly in
support of commercial or managed forests as the
superior carbon sequestration tool. When assessed
tree for tree, an older tree of the same species will
absorb more carbon dioxide in a year than a younger
tree. This comes down to simple math, that the rate
of annual added individual tree mass increases as tree
size increases. This mass, in turn, is representative of
the carbon sequestered. Consider the diameter of the
100th growth ring against that of the 20th–in essence
it is the snowball effect, or, for the financial minds:
compounding interest.
And yes you’re right, this contradicts the initial
claim. But we do not consider (nor measure) forests
as individual trees. Instead, forests are measured by
area, the density of trees therein approximated, and
the resulting carbon budgets extrapolated from there.
That density (trunks per acre) is not a fixed number.
Generally speaking, it starts high and trends lower as a
forest ages. And this is the rub: while older individual
trees may absorb more carbon dioxide than younger
individual trees, there are fewer trees in a given area of
older forest versus a younger forest.
What is more, the majority of these older forests
occur on conserved lands where natural processes
are upheld and hands-on management minimized.
As such, after the behemoth trees die, they are left
to fall and rot in place, returning vital nutrients to
the soil and emitting carbon dioxide in the process.
Is harvesting the trees and keeping the carbon
sequestered in wood products the solution?
Most “Commercialized Carbon” doesn’t stay
Sequestered
Those in support of the climate benefits of
commercial forestry have much to say about the
ongoing carbon sequestration in wood products such
as furniture, lumber, or other building materials. The
unfortunate truth is that it is a long process from
tree to desk, with many steps almost all of them
resulting in a loss of the sequestered carbon back to
the atmosphere. Tree harvesting often leaves the root
mounds and tree tops in the forest to decompose
releasing carbon dioxide. Additionally, many wood
products are used in temporary applications and enter
the waste stream emitting carbon dioxide during
additional decomposition. The equipment necessary
for tree harvesting also creates carbon dioxide
emissions.
What About Carbon Out? NPP, GPP and the
Complete Carbon Budget
During photosynthesis trees absorb carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere, creating glucose molecules and
releasing oxygen – this is Gross Primary Productivity
(GPP). These same trees are also releasing carbon
dioxide at the same time, through a process called
respiration, as energy is consumed to replicate cells
to grow and maintain the organism. This difference
accounts for Net Primary Productivity (NPP). Trees
are not exempt from the cost of doing business.
Spenser Williams, MLT Land Steward
Obviously, the tree needs to absorb more carbon
dioxide than it releases to stay alive, and it therefore
has a positive NPP. What may seem a trivial detail
becomes a major accounting item when extrapolated
across an entire forest. These two items become the
basis for a more complex terrestrial carbon budget
(exempting ocean photosynthesis from algae and
carbon sequestration there). This carbon budget
likewise can take separate paths in older and younger
forests.
A Deeper Look
Soils store more carbon dioxide than all terrestrial
plants and earth’s atmosphere combined. Carbon
is sequestered into soils by plant growth and
decomposition, in part, by a process called fine root
turnover. Fine roots are the smallest of the plant,
where the actual water and nutrient absorption takes
place on a molecular level. These fine roots because of
their small size are susceptible to decay and predation.
Indeed, it is replacing these fine roots that accounts for
much of a tree’s maintenance and energy consumption
via respiration. It is the decay or turnover of these fine
roots that can move carbon from above ground to
below ground.
I found one study stating that the process of carbon
sequestration to soils is found to accelerate in trees
older than 100 years. What we do know is that the
carbon storage pool in soils is massive. And while
carbon accumulates in soils slowly, soils can release
huge amounts of carbon very quickly during intense or
widespread disturbances such as wildfire or land use
change (eg: clearing forested land for agriculture).
Comparing Apples to Oranges
After setting out to find a victor of older forests or
younger forests as better for carbon sequestration
and fighting climate change, I realized this is too
complex an equation to arrive at a finite answer, and
the answer lies in the realm of “it depends” and “if you
only consider.” In some ways this question cannot be
answered because we are comparing apples to oranges.
There is so much of the forest ecosystem that changes
in a managed or commercial forest that trying to assess
carbon sequestration based on the trees alone misses
the mark.
Young forests, and many of those studied to support
this research, tend to occur in areas that have been
commercial forests for decades. Whereas, older forests
tend to occur on conserved lands with a history of
conservation that preserves natural processes. The
variation on the soil microbiome, forest heterogeneity,
history of natural disturbance or not, and latitude
all play a role in shaping how and for how long
a forest will sequester carbon. From the lens of
conservation, older forests play an important role in
both sequestering carbon and conserving habitat.
Commercial forests also sequester carbon, perhaps at
a faster rate but over a shorter period than conserved
forests. Which is better? Well…
Mahoosuc Land Trust Plays Lead Role in
Nationally Recognized Carbon Project
MLT and Loon Echo Land Trust (LELT) teamed up
recently to be the first in a national program designed
to demonstrate how a land trust can aggregate its
holdings with those of other land trusts to access
voluntary carbon offset markets. Through a program
developed by the Land Trust Alliance and Finite
Carbon, MLT and LELT are now able to receive
compensation for increasing or maintaining carbon
stocks on their forested lands relative to baseline
levels.
As more fully described in the cover story of the
national publication below, MLT will be storing
more carbon on its lands and at the same time
gaining access to revenues that will enable further
conservation of important forest land and habitat.
The full article can be read by following the QR code
below or by visiting
www.landtrustalliance.org/resources/learn/explore/
Photo Credit: Jerry Monkman/Ecophotography
New board member Karen Burns
New board member Helen Durkin
New MLT Board Members Bring Organizational Leadership Experience
Following U.S. presidential inaugural poet Richard
Blanco’s reading at the 2023 Annual Meeting, MLT
formally recognized six departing board members
before the membership voted in the new board.
Departing president Laurie Winsor thanked Steve
Smith, Sara Shifrin, Bob Iles, Cassie Mason, and
Glenn Saller for their enormous collective impact on
MLT and the region. Board member Bonnie Pooley
presented the Bruce and Becky Bailey Award to Laurie,
in recognition of the leadership that she has provided
to MLT over these years of transition and growth.
MLT’s two new board members, Helen Durkin
and Karen Burns, bring exceptional organizational
experience and leadership. Helen is an attorney
and was a nonprofit executive with over 30 years of
experience developing and achieving organizational
strategic goals, establishing high-performing teams,
and building internal and external coalitions. She
led global policy and communications campaigns
to get people more active and developed grant and
major-donor campaigns to fund those efforts. Helen
has been consulting with MLT as a volunteer on
developing the Habitat for All initiative, serving on the
Valentine Farm Committee on other special projects,
and working in the Habitat Garden. Helen and her
husband Mark split their time between Medway, MA,
and Bethel. She has two daughters and a crazy springer
spaniel. Helen is obsessed with gardening, supporting
natural habitats, skiing, biking, and being active.
Karen Burns is currently the Assistant Head of
School for Advancement for Gould Academy. She
leads the efforts in fundraising, as well as alumni,
community and family relations. She came to Gould
after working for 9 years at the Island Institute, the
nonprofit community development organization
in Rockland, ME. As the Chief Leadership Officer,
Karen worked with community leaders, designed and
facilitated professional development, and managed
a portfolio of major donors. Prior to working at the
Island Institute, she was an English and Theater teacher
for 10 years on Vinalhaven Island. Karen has an
undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from
Amherst College and a Masters degree in Teaching
from the University of Maine. She lives in Bethel with
her husband Bruce, son Brandon, daughter Natalie,
and an active Shepherd mix named Ollie.
Richard Blanco read poems
about connections to place,
belonging, and community at
the 2023 Annual Meeting
The iconic granite face of Buck’s Ledge, which rises
from the eastern shore of North Pond in Woodstock,
is a magnet for hikers, artists and photographers.
The Buck’s Ledge Community Forest, created in 2022
thanks to the generous support of many donors and
funders, is now owned and managed by the Town
of Woodstock. Mahoosuc Land Trust holds the
conservation easement which ensures permanent
protection of this community jewel.
Buck’s Ledge Community Forest Day, organized by
the Woodstock Conservation Commission and MLT,
recognizes recent developments at Buck’s. Many may
already be familiar with its traditional recreational uses
which now include trails connecting Lapham Ledge
and the summit of Moody Mountain. Rare plants,
old growth trees, six distinct bat species, and nesting
peregrine falcons await the intrepid visitor.
This year we will celebrate the creation of the
Summit For All scenic outlook, with remarks from
special guest Enock Glidden, founder of Outside for
All. Enock is an athlete with a serious disability (Spina
Bifida), an adventurer with a spirit for life, an engaging
motivational speaker and a dedicated advocate for
others with disabilities. Enock inspires people of all
abilities to try new things. His presence is only one
aspect of the Access for All theme of this year’s Forest
Day. Another is the plan to create a nearly 1 mile
long wheelchair-accessible Trail for All. It will lead in
two directions from the accessible parking at the log
landing. One will lead to the Summit for All, the other
will meander around and through a meadow into the
forest before returning to the starting point. Come
and learn how you can help us make this Trail for All a
reality in 2024.
At the conclusion of the program we will celebrate
with our tradition of floating giant bubbles from the
Summit For All scenic outlook. Please come and
experience the beauty of Buck’s Ledge during peak fall
foliage.
The event officially begins at 2 p.m. on Saturday,
October 14th. Parking will be on a first come basis
in the Buck’s Ledge parking lot, and along Mills Road
on the other side of Route 26. It is a half mile walk
on the access road from the Buck’s parking lot to the
Summit For All scenic outlook. A bus will be available
to shuttle those who need assistance or feel they would
like a ride. Vehicles with disability plates or wheel chair
lifts are permitted to use the access road. Please allow
time to get to the Summit For All by 2 PM.
The Town of Woodstock’s August 2022 acquisition
of this property was a historic achievement for the
community. Funds were raised in a remarkably
short time–just over a year–thanks to a synergy
of partnerships including Mahoosuc Land Trust,
Northern Forest Center, and Forest Society of Maine,
with the leadership of the Woodstock Conservation
Commission (WCC). The project inspired wide-
reaching support among our communities, exceeding
the local fundraising goal of $175,000, with more than
270 people contributing.
The Buck’s Ledge acquisition project has also
inspired art from young people. Students of Melissa
Prescott’s community art class designed and
constructed four unique benches that have been placed
along the trail network. In addition, Telstar Middle
School art students conducted and recorded interviews
with a diverse group of four individuals relating to
Buck’s Ledge. These records are archived at the Bethel
Historical Society.
Celebrate the Second Annual Buck’s Ledge Community
Forest Day on Saturday, October 14th!
Board of Directors
President
Sue Dunn, Bethel
Vice-President
Mia Purcell, Bryant Pond
Secretary
Bonnie Pooley, Gilead
Treasurer
David MacMahon, Poland
Board Members
Amy Halsted, Bethel
Art Marshall, Albany
Bill White, Woodstock
Karen Burns, Bethel
James Reddoch, Medford, MA
John Wholey, Bethel
Katie Stuart, Shelburne, NH
Larry Ely, Shelburne, NH
Lizz Peacock, Newry
Helen Durkin, Medway, MA
Executive Director
Kirk Siegel, Albany
Development Director
Barbara Murphy, W. Paris
Land Steward
Spenser Williams, Bethel
Membership and Outreach
Manager Becca Hoskins, Bethel
PO Box 981
Bethel, ME 04217
www.mahoosuc.org
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Editing and design: Becca Hoskins
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