[at-l] Big Land news in Phippsburg, Maine...

[Bob C]

It's not AT related, but I can't resist letting the world know. The Nature Conservancy fomally announced today that it had been given 1,900+ acres in my town -- land worth an estimated $15 million. In terms of value it's the largest single gift ever to the NC in Maine and the third largest world wide.

The headline in the local paper calls it, "an act of staggering generosity." I've been following the effort for weeks and knew it was coming. Our town land trust land abuts the donated land. We own the northern and southern shores of a remote and undeveloped deep water pond. The donor owned the middle section.

The land includes four miles of ocean frontage, a protected cove used by boaters for years as a safe faven from storms, frontage on a wild pond, and high ridges overlooking the ocean.

Fans of public radio and television may remember numerous announcements about programs paid for by the "Margaret Milliken Hatch Foundation. The donor, now age 88, is Margaret's son. He went from door to door in the 40s and 50s, seeking to buy land. Some he bought outright, some with a life time tenancy.

Bits and pieces were sold over the decades, but most just remained wild. Many Phippsburg residents had worried for years about the impact of 1,900 acres suddenly coming onto the market in a town of 2,000 year round residents. Now they know that won't happen.

Weary