The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

• Working with our partners, we have conserved more than 400,000 acres of forests, waterways and natural habitats of Maine's North Woods.
• The Conservancy brings science, planning expertise and its record of achievement to the table for this unprecedented conservation project.
• The project links some 2 million acres of conservation lands across northern Maine.

May 15, 2012 Update:
Big News: The Nature Conservancy, the Forest Society of Maine and Plum Creek announced an historic conservation easement on 363,000 acres near Greenville. The easement is one of the largest in the history of conservation in the United States, and it serves as the missing piece that connects existing protected lands to create one of the nation’s most extensive conserved working forests. Read our press release.

Two million acres of conserved land in northern Maine stretching westward from Baxter State Park, around Moosehead Lake and northward to the St. John River — that’s the vision embodied in the Moosehead Forest Conservation Project. The project permanently conserves more than 400,000 acres near Moosehead Lake and create an unprecedented corridor of conservation across Maine’s North Woods.

These lands are a vital piece of the movement to conserve the forests, waterways and natural habitats of the North Woods. They bring the big picture into focus.

It is a picture of pristine waters and forested mountains with remote opportunities for paddling, hiking, camping, skiing, fishing and hunting. It is a picture of protection for priceless ecological treasures: the headwaters of some of Maine’s major rivers, untouched ponds and peatlands and habitat for rare plants and animals. And it is a picture of vast, unfragmented forests managed in a way that supports the local economy while providing a home to wide-ranging mammals such as moose, marten, fisher and Canada lynx.

The Nature Conservancy, Appalachian Mountain Club and the Forest Society of Maine have partnered to bring this picture to life. These groups are combining conservation expertise and working together to raise some $30 million through both public funding and private donations to cover the project’s costs.

Follow the links below for more details about this outstanding project to conserve more that 400,000 acres in Northern Maine.