KINGFIELD – Voters will decide the fate of a 215-acre parcel of land just a few miles from town on Tuesday, Sept. 22. The land is being offered as a gift to the community after it is purchased by High Peaks Alliance, an organization dedicated to protecting public access to wild woods and waters throughout western Maine’s high peaks region.
For many years, local adventurers have taken advantage of the land – which includes Shiloh Pond – thanks to access agreements with the land’s longtime owners. It is a well known fishing spot, famous for Brook Trout, and a beloved destination for those lucky enough to know its wooded lands.
“It’s a really special spot,” High Peaks Alliance’s Executive Director Brent West said. “It is totally undeveloped; it has cedar trees lining its shores and beautiful, clear waters.”
When the parcel was put up for sale in 2017, its continued access was suddenly called into question.
At that point, West and his board realized that the sale of the land presented a unique opportunity for the community. If they could secure funding and close a deal, the town could assume ownership, guarantee access, and create the first piece of conservation land in Kingfield.
With that goal in mind, they set to work.
“We hosted several community forums where community members were invited to come and talk about what conserving this land could look like and what it would mean for it to be owned by the town,” West said.
During these meetings, local residents expressed an interest in improving the property’s roads and access to the water, with the possibility of adding mixed use trails in the future.
“The beautiful thing about this model is that if the town decides that they want to acquire the land, they will set up a committee to manage the property. High Peaks Alliance will assist in that process but future decisions are left to them – it will really become a community project,” he said.
If the community votes to accept the land as a gift on Tuesday, it will come with no immediate cost to the town. A grant by the Maine Natural Resource Conservation Program will cover the full purchase price and some additional support will be provided by grants and private donations.
“In the future, [costs] will all depend on what the town wants to do with the land,” West said. “It could be left as wilderness or there could be trails added. There could be better access if people wanted that.”
Meanwhile, the conservation agreement will ensure that the parcel is not developed. The town will create a plan for managing future decisions based on the community’s goals and needs. Some plans, such as adding snowmobile trails, may need to be reviewed by the Maine Natural Resource Conservation Program.
“The goal there is just to make sure that the land is protected,” West said. “We want to make sure we have a place that is special to us, that we will always be able to go out and use.”
That same goal will continue to propel High Peaks Alliance into the future, through the Shiloh Pond project and beyond.
As the coordinating body for the High Peaks Initiative, a collaboration between fourteen local non-profits designed to bring local and national resources to local conservation projects, High Peaks Alliance is also helping to conduct a region wide recreational inventory, creating a map of trails, conducting land reviews, assessing local priorities, and assisting in large scale acquisitions.
Community is central to each of these projects. With so much work to do in the high peaks region, West welcomes engagement at every level of his organization.
“We are looking for interns, volunteers, and board members,” he said. “We need people who want to support this work and to get involved. There is so much opportunity.”
For more information about High Peaks Alliance, the Shiloh Pond conservation project, and related initiatives, please visit their website or Facebook page.
