40 Years of Conservation, Connection, and Community

In 1985, a small group of neighbors in Brunswick came together with a shared dream to protect the place they loved from being lost forever to development. They soon recognized the other countless fields, forests, farms, shorelines, and wetlands that shaped our communities, sustained our way of life, and provided irreplaceable benefits to people and wildlife alike. That vision became the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust.

Our story is part of a larger movement that swept across the state in the 1980s, when folks across the country recognized the urgency of preserving treasured landscapes. Land trusts emerged as a critical tool: community-driven organizations led by dedicated local volunteers, working with willing landowners to conserve land through ownership or conservation easements. Over time, their work has evolved to meet the ever-changing needs of communities, providing public access to the outdoors, protecting specific wildlife habitats, supporting local farms, offering environmental education programs, and more. Today, Maine has over 80 land trusts, the highest per capita in the nation, together protecting more than 2.5 million acres and helping to shape vibrant, healthy communities.

Land conservation is more than preserving the past, it’s proactively shaping a thriving future. Every acre we protect strengthens clean air and water, connected wildlife habitats, productive farmland, and resilient communities today and for generations to come. 

“Looking at a map of BTLT’s protected properties reminds me of how our early land protection projects have seeded the preservation of 74 properties and over 3,400 acres in our communities. Success in conserving a keystone property like the 230-acre Cathance River Nature Preserve has led our community of members, individual landowners, municipalities, and public funders to the further protection of 12 additional properties along the Cathance River. Some of these properties focus solely on conserving important ecological values, some focus in addition on welcoming our communities to use the land for recreation throughout the year. That early conservation of Cathance River Nature Preserve and the construction of the Ecology Center there also shows our success in growing a small educational focus into our marvelous educational programs throughout the community.” – Margaret Wilson, Long-time BTLT Board Member

That’s why we are proud to celebrate not only BTLT’s 40th anniversary this year, but also the 25th year since the founding of the Cathance River Education Alliance. Together, we’ve shown that conserving land is just the beginning. From the Tom Settlemire Community Garden to the Saturday Farmers Market, from field trips at the Ecology Center to CREA Camp, from our extensive trail network to year-round community events, everything we do grows from our protected lands. Land conservation is not a static act; it’s an ongoing relationship with the community and the natural world.

Better understanding not only the natural world and how it is rapidly changing, but how we can work together in the face of these challenges to acknowledge our past as well as what lies ahead is essential to the future of land conservation. Both local and regional partnerships provide important vehicles for information sharing, relationship building, and connecting communities to support conservation of key parcels that are critical to a healthy watershed, keeping unfragmented forest intact, providing green space that connects community through recreating and learning, and so much more.

BTLT’s Director of Conservation, Margaret Gerber shares, “Partnerships are a core part of the Land Trust’s DNA and are integral to advancing our work and mission. The Land Trust has worked with the Town of Brunswick for decades to conserve properties that are critical for the present and the future ecological and human health of the town, and the recent partnership to conserve 240 acres of Maquoit Woods is an outstanding example of public and private partnerships can create an enduring legacy that will benefit the land and people for not just decades but hundreds of years to come.”

Over four decades, we have conserved thousands of acres in midcoast Maine, but we’ve also evolved, continuously finding new ways to meet the needs of our neighbors. We’ve seen how farmland preservation strengthens local food systems, how public access trails can improve both mental and physical health, and how hands-on outdoor experiences can spark a lifelong love of our natural world. Conservation unites people from all walks of life to care for the place we call home.

Want to hear more about the history, impact, and future of land trusts in Maine? Listen to this recent Maine Calling segment.

And keep an eye out for a blog post next month about how exactly BTLT conserves land in our corner of Maine as we dig a bit deeper into our strategic land conservation plan.