Thanks to the Bangor Daily News for a great article (July 26) on our plans to conserve for all time the Great Pond Mountain Wildlands – 4,200 prime acres of undeveloped land roughly equidistant from Bangor, Ellsworth and Belfast.

With the Bucksport area blooming and Hancock County among the state’s growth leaders, we are extraordinarily fortunate to be able to save so much land for so many to enjoy, now and for all generations to come. We already have established a land management committee to study how best to use the Wildlands while safeguarding its essential character.

We cannot carry off this project alone, however. The Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust is a small Orland land trust with limited resources. We have been able to purchase the land thanks to the astonishing generosity of several local families, but we still have to raise some $1.5 million within two years to pay off a loan and establish a stewardship fund.

To this end we have retained fund-raising counsel with extensive experience helping nonprofits achieve their dreams, and we will launch a spirited effort to secure the money we need to succeed.

We will be in touch with foundations large and small, with the state and federal governments, including the Land for Maine’s Future Program, and with individuals whose concern for the land is matched by their capacity to contribute generously. And next year we will mount a public campaign among individuals and families whose resources may be smaller but whose hearts are boundless.

As the Friends of Fort Knox have demonstrated for more than 15 years now, the people of this area know how to rise to a unique opportunity.

Colin Baker

Castine

Kent Price

Orland

Chairs, Great Pond

Mountain Wildlands Campaign