IP gives $20,000 in grants to Wildlands trust

ORLAND – The Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust has received two $10,000 grants that will benefit fundraising and planning efforts for its 4,200-acre Wildlands preserve. The grants come from the Davis Conservation Foundation and the International Paper Foundation, the last grant from IP before its sale of the Bucksport mill becomes final. IP announced last month that it has agreed to sell its coated paper division, including mills in Bucksport and Jay.

“It was a local priority to give a grant as the foundation leaves that would have some lasting impact on the community,” said mill manager Dennis Castonguay in a press release. “In this case, when we looked at this request – it’s conservation, it’s recreation, it’s environment – it fit with what we’re trying to do. The work the trust is doing is preserving this land for people to use and enjoy. It’s a direct benefit to the mill’s employees and the community.”

This grant is important because it comes from the local business community, according to Cheri Domina, the trust’s administrative director.

“It was really the Bucksport mill that pushed for this grant,” Domina said Tuesday. “That’s a nice show of support from the business sector here.”

Both grants will benefit the Wildlands preserve near Great Pond Mountain that the trust purchased last year. The trust recently opened the Wildlands to public use.

The IP grant will help fund a forestry plan and natural resource inventory of the preserve.

The trust has enrolled the property in the Maine Forest Service’s WoodWISE program, which provides financial assistance to Maine landowners, with funding from the USDA Forest Service. The trust already has hired a forester – Jake Maier – to prepare a forest management plan by next March.

The management plan, Domina said, will guide the restoration of the forestland and wildlife habitat, the maintenance of scenic views and trails and a sustainable harvest of forest products.

“The forestry plan looks to the future,” she said. “We do want the Wildlands to be self-sustaining. We want to have some funds for stewardship for the property. We want to have some to pay the taxes.”

Whatever the forestry plan calls for will be low-impact and sustainable, Domina said. Harvesting will be a part of the plan, but it may not necessarily be simply for lumber or pulpwood. The plan could include a Christmas tree plantation, or community firewood project, she said.

“There are a variety of uses that could come out of the plan,” Domina said.

The WoodWISE program will provide half of the funding for the forestry plan and a portion of the Bucksport mill grant will fund the rest of it.

The IP grant, with a grant from the John Sage Foundation, also will fund a natural resource inventory of the property. Work on the inventory already has begun, directed by Alison Dibble of Stewards LLC and ecologist Cathy Rees. Local volunteers also are taking part in the inventory by visiting sampling stations throughout the year and recording data on plants, animal signs and bird sightings.

Dibble and Rees are scheduled to report on the work so far during the trust’s annual meeting July 7.

The trust still needs to raise $2,500 to cover the full cost of the inventory.

The Davis Conservation Foundation, based in Falmouth, supports New England organizations, which focus on wildlife habitat, environmental protection and outdoor recreation.

The foundation’s $10,000 grant will help fund the acquisition of the Wildlands. The trust still needs to raise about $600,000 toward its goal of $2.86 million by June 2007 to pay off the loan on the property and to create a stewardship fund for the property.