MAINE PUBLIC • December 15, 2021
A coalition of conservation-minded groups, federal agencies and private landowners today announced that 12,000 acres of forestland in Oxford County has been permanently protected from development with a conservation easement. More than half of the lands filter water into Sebago Lake, the public drinking water supply for much of southern Maine. The project is considered a significant milestone to protect water quality, wildlife and recreation. Known as the Crooked River Headwaters, the project involved 77 separate deeds. Philanthropists Mary McFadden and Larry Stifler, owners of the Mineral and Gem Museum in Bethel, began acquiring the parcels in the 1970s. The couple donated about two thirds of the value of the conservation easement to the coalition.