The Campaign to Fund Salmon Falls Tidal Waters &
Bauneg Beg Mountain Recreation Area
The Woods to Waters Campaign is our effort to complete the final funding needed to accomplish two time-sensitive conservation projects and continue our work in our community.
Bauneg Beg Mountain Recreation Area encompasses the highest elevation of our service range in North Berwick; the Salmon Falls Tidal Waters project is comprised of 79 acres across three contiguous parcels along the Salmon Falls River in South Berwick. Together, these projects amount to the largest fundraising effort GWRLT has undertaken outside of Mt. Agamenticus to the Sea.
With these two projects scheduled to close this calendar year, we have plenty of work on our plate. However, our work does not stop there. GWRLT is currently working on over ten additional conservation projects involving over 400 acres of land, in addition to our commitment to stewarding the land and providing accessible community programs. Building upon our past success and tremendous community support, we are seeking public and private funders to help us continue our mission to save these resources—for everyone, forever!
BAUNEG BEG MOUNTAIN RECREATION AREA
Bauneg Beg Mountain Recreation Area (BBMRA) establishes a public recreation and wildlife area encompassing the high peak of Bauneg Beg Mountain in North Berwick, Maine.
Including the summit of Bauneg Beg Mountain (873 feet), BBMRA will protect the surrounding 75 acres of second-generation growth Maple, Beech, Pine and Hemlock. There are prominent rock outcroppings and ledges throughout that will meander along the planned trail. The summit is only partially forested and allows for views to the southeast through the southwest, including the Atlantic Ocean. This area not only conserves more contiguous habitat and critical watershed health for the surrounding area, just south of the existing Bang Beg Mountain Conservation Area, but will greatly expand opportunities for sustainable recreation. As an area of high conservation and social value to the region, BBMRA presents a unique opportunity to protect a vital landmark of the region in perpetuity.
Key Attributes: 75 acres | Encompasses the highest peak in our six-town service area at 873’ | Only summit in the area without a communications tower | 35-miles view toward the south | Home to the threatened small-whorled pogonia orchid | Prominent rock features | Designated Parking Area | Hiking, biking, birdwatching, photography, hunting, picnics, snowshoeing, and XC skiing.
The State has recognized the ecological values of these hillsides by making them one of the focal areas of the State Wildlife Action Plan. Rare orchids, deer wintering habitat, migrating birds and other species of concern require Bauneg Beg’s habitat. Local conservation success helps create an essential oasis for wildlife in a rapidly growing region. Forests and fields are adaptable functions of land uses, but mountaintops and shoreline are finite and fragile.
“The preservation of Bauneg Beg Mountain makes me so happy because it is one of the spots that sparked my own personal thirst for adventure. Without the experience of biking and hiking on old tote roads, trails, and ultimately bushwhacking to the top nearly 40 years ago, I might never have fallen so in love with being outside. I hope that every student in our schools gets a chance to visit the top and see that there is so much more to experience, always knowing the mountain will be there when they come home.”
— Beau Lambert, North Berwick Resident and Executive Director of First Push Syndicate
SALMON FALLS TIDAL WATERS
While many of us enjoy views of the estuary shoreline as we cross the Rt 101 Bridge, few of us contemplate who owns the land and what will happen to it when that ownership must make a transition.
The Salmon Falls Tidal Waters (SFTW) project is an effort to conserve a unique 79-acre section of land and tidal waters featuring a quarter mile of shore frontage on the Salmon Falls River. SFTW project is a truly critical component of South Berwick’s ongoing commitment to land conservation on the Salmon Falls River, initiated in 1949. This is a landscape-scale opportunity to protect the largest remaining coastal tract of land within the Maine portion of the estuary. If successfully protected, these parcels just downstream from Vaughan Woods and Hamilton House in South Berwick will offer a immeasurable value to local biodiversity, water quality, and our cultural heritage. Unless conserved now, this land will otherwise be developed.
Key Attributes: 63 acres of forested uplands with rolling topography and views over the river | 9 acres of salt marsh | 7 acres of tidal mudflats | ¼ mile of frontage along the Salmon Falls River | 2.5 acres of wildlife meadow | 19th century stone walls delineating former pastureland boundaries | A 200-year-old white oak tree | Mature pines and mast trees | Perching and nesting habitat for Bald Eagles and other raptors.
Those more familiar with the Salmon Falls Estuary know that a canoe trip with the incoming tide from the nearby boat launch to head tide will transport the paddler hundreds of years into our past. The value of these largely preserved tidal waters and the surrounding land to our wildlife and water quality is immense.
Now more than ever, Great Works Regional Land Trust is counting on your support to complete these conservation projects for our community, our children, and our future—for everyone, forever.
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