Big Changes at Muddy Brook
July 29, 2026
River Trail
August 14, 2026NEWS
78K Acres Protected in Western Maine
Four conservation organizations today announced the completion of a landmark project that has conserved more than 78,000 acres in the Magalloway River region of western Maine. Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, Forest Society of Maine, Northeast Wilderness Trust and The Nature Conservancy — together, the Magalloway Collaborative — worked in close coordination on all aspects of the effort, from initial negotiations through fundraising and completion of the conservation transactions, to connect a corridor of more than half a million acres of contiguous conserved lands. The project was the subject of an Explore New England TV episode that aired earlier this year.
This multifaceted land conservation project maintains existing recreational access to the property’s lands and waters, creates new public preserves, restricts future development, and sustains the regional economy through continued forest management opportunities while creating buffers around key waterbodies. The partners hope that the innovative collaboration between local, state, regional, and global conservation organizations, which prioritized community engagement alongside conservation goals, may serve as a model for future projects.