5,000 forested acres to be protected in Hancock County

More than 5,000 acres of forest in the northernmost section of Hancock County will now be permanently protected through a conservation easement.

The newly conserved parcels include Eagle Lake in Township 34 MD, which is the headwaters for three different rivers — the Union, Passadumkeag and Narraguagus — that offer critical habitat for endangered Atlantic salmon, according to the Forest Society of Maine. The land is also culturally important for the Wabanaki Nations.

The land will continue to be owned by the Dysart family and sustainably managed for timber harvesting, while also publicly accessible for hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, ATVing and other recreational uses, according to the Forest Society of Maine, a Bangor-based group that helps landowners to conserve wooded land.

The easement will prevent future development of the entire shoreline of Little Pickerel Pond, most of Eagle Lake’s, and along nine miles of freshwater streams that include brook trout habitat. It joins a contiguous block of conserved land that totals 451,000 acres.

“This project illustrates that Maine’s forests and rivers are integrally connected to ocean ecosystems and that conservation efforts that support these connections are vital for the future of Maine’s people and natural resources,” said Forest Society of Maine President Karin Tilberg.