MAINE PUBLIC • December 27, 2022
The Trust for Public Land has purchased just over 31,000 acres adjacent to the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, but the group's goal is to hold it temporarily. TPL will raise $32 million to cover the costs and find new owners. TPL's Maine State Program Director Betsy Cook says the parcel is in the heart of the Penobscot Nation's ancestral homeland and adjacent to land the tribe owns. It has productive forestland as well as diverse fish and wildlife habitat, 53 miles of rivers and streams and recreational trails. It also provides much-needed southern access to the national monument from the towns of Millinocket and East Millinocket. TPL says it will work with communities connected to the land, outdoor advocates and others to consider long-term outcomes for the property that protect it as a "recreational, economic and cultural resource." The land will remain open to the public and TPL will continue to pay its property taxes.