A recent issue of the Bangor Daily News reported that committees of the Maine Legislature are considering proposals for a fall referendum on a bond issue in support of the Land for Maine’s Future program. Late last year, the Brookings Institution report for GrowSmart Maine called for the establishment of a permanent Maine Quality Places Fund to be funded by a 3 percent increase in the state lodging tax. As the debate and discussion of this continues, it is worth considering why preservation of wild land matters so much to Maine, and how endangered it really is.

In the round of LMF awards that took place last spring, our organization, the Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust, received $346,000 in support of our campaign to raise $2,400,000 to protect permanently the Great Pond Mountain Wildlands – more than 4,200 acres in Orland, between Bucksport and Ellsworth. Including the LMF grant, we have raised more than $2,500,000, but we are going to have to work very hard to raise the almost $300,000 we still need to pay for the project by the time our campaign ends in June. The support we received from LMF was of critical importance to our effort. Orland is not a wealthy area, and the purchase of the wildlands is one of the largest land conservation projects undertaken by a small, local land trust in Maine.

We need the support of the people of central and eastern Maine if we are to be successful. And all of Maine needs a well-funded LMF program. Why? Because one of the most important things that makes Maine unique and uniquely beautiful (central to what the Brookings Institution report called our “brand”) is under siege.

All over the state, but especially outside of the vast tracts of the North Woods, farms, fields and forests are succumbing to rural development. In the area where the wildlands are located, the threat seems especially great. The population growth trends in coastal Hancock County have been the highest in the state over the past ten years, and are projected to continue at this rate. A recent U.S. Forest Service report ranks the lower Penobscot watershed as one of the two most threatened regions of forested land in the United States, where more than half the land is in private ownership.

Yet, thanks to our project, the wildlands will remain one of the largest tracts of undeveloped land in this region, preserved for selective, sustainable forestry, wildlife habitat, and recreational access. To visualize the wildlands’ setting in the lower Penobscot watershed region, imagine a triangle, with the Bangor-Orono-Old Town area at the top, Belfast at the bottom of one leg, and Ellsworth at the end of the other. Our wildlands are in the heart of this increasingly residential area.

A drive on any of even the smallest rural roads in this triangle brings you to new driveways around every curve, new “No Trespassing” and “Private Property” signs everywhere you look.

There are many reasons for all this rural real estate development, from huge (often seasonal) “McMansions” to modest mobile homes. Tax rates and building codes may lead some to move to the country. And to live in the Maine countryside is certainly a pleasure, and a decision people have every right to make. But if the pace of rural development continues we may just ruin the unspoiled beauty that draws both tourists and residents to the wilds of Maine.

The move to protect Maine farmland and wildlands faces some stiff opposition from some quarters, based largely on errors and misconceptions. Contrary to what some seem to assume, Most Maine land trusts pay property taxes on conservation land they own. (We pay taxes to the town of Orland on the wildlands. The land remains in tree growth, as it has been for many decades.) And land trust property requires next to no town services, while providing public benefits ranging from scenic views to water quality protection.

As with all protected areas that receive funds from the LMF program, we allow hunting and other traditional uses in the wildlands.

Perhaps most importantly, the movement to protect large, beautiful portions of the Maine landscape does not stand in the way of economic development. On the contrary, as noted by the Brookings Institution – hardly a group which is hostile to business and growth – to maintain the wild, scenic character of rural Maine is crucially important if Maine is going to continue to be seen by all America (and beyond) as a beautiful, unique place to visit, to live, and to do business.

Growing up in Maine more than 50 years ago, I remember street signs that said with rather startling directness: “We love our children, do not kill them.” It hardly seems an exaggeration for us to say: “We love our beautiful state. Let’s not destroy it.” We all need to get behind efforts to continue the LMF program, and provide a strong financial base for its success in the future. I would hope residents would help us in our project to pay for the wildlands, and support the many other worthy land protection projects by land trusts in our state. We have to preserve the beautiful land that does so much to make Maine Maine.

David Gross is a resident of Hampden and Bucksport, and the president of the Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust, www.greatpondtrust.org.