PRESS RELEASE
Release date: July 24, 2004

For more information, contact:
Molly Sperduto, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New England Field Office 603-223-2541 molly_sperduto@fws.gov
Lois Winter, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gulf of Maine Coastal Program 207-781-8364 lois_winter@fws.gov
Elisa Sousa, Downeast Lakes Land Trust 207-796-2100 esousadllt@panax.com
Note: Lois can be reached at her office on Tuesday and Wednesday. Molly and Lois will both be traveling to Grand Lake Stream on Thursday and can receive messages through Elisa at the Downeast Lakes Land Trust office on Friday afternoon or Saturday.

RHODE ISLAND OIL SPILL and US FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE FUNDS
CONTRIBUTE TO ENORMOUS LAND CONSERVATION DEALS IN MAINE
Protected Lands Include Critical Loon Nesting Areas

Sixty lakes and ponds and 445 miles of lake shoreline in downeast Maine, home to nearly 50 nesting pairs of loon, came one step closer to being permanently protected today. “The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration committed $1,150,000 to the $31.5 million, 339,000-acre Downeast Lakes Forestry Partnership project using restoration funds from the 1996 North Cape oil spill,” according to Mary Kay, a Solicitor for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.

In addition, Stewart Fefer, Project Leader from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Gulf of Maine Coastal Program confirmed that the “North American Waterfowl Management Plan’s Council has recommended $1 million to support the Downeast Lakes Forestry Partnership. We are confident that the award will be officially approved by the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission in September.” Both contributions were announced today at the Downeast Lakes Land Trust Annual Picnic in West Grand Lake, Maine.

The New England Forestry Foundation and the Downeast Lakes Land Trust are leading the campaign to protect the land, strategically positioned between more than 450,000 additional acres of conservation land in New Brunswick, Canada and 200,000 acres of state, federal and Native American lands in downeast Maine. "Completing this project will forever secure one million acres of essentially uninterrupted habitat across an international boundary," said Steve Keith, Executive Director of the Downeast Lakes Land Trust.

The project is particularly exciting because it was developed by local residents, organizations and businesses, with funding support from conservation groups, as well as state and federal agencies. “Broad support is easy to come by because the Downeast Lakes Forestry Partnership has been designed to protect local forest-dependent jobs, ensure public access, and permanently protect high value wildlife habitat. That’s something we can all believe in,” commented Amos Eno, Executive Director of the New England Forestry Foundation.

The contribution to the Downeast Lakes Forestry Partnership is one of several large-scale loon restoration initiatives undertaken with the Rhode Island oil spill funds and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grants in Maine’s North Woods. The Rhode Island Oil Spill Trustees have provided an additional $1.75 million to support Maine’s West Branch/Katahdin Forest Project, the Pingree Forestry Partnership Project and the Machias River Corridor Protection Project. An additional $200,000 in Oil Spill Funds has been allocated to support ongoing monitoring and management for loons on the protected lands. In addition, North American Wetlands Conservation Act grants have provided $2 million to support the West Branch/Katahdin Forest Project and the Pingree Forestry Partnership Project. Two million dollars from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Endangered Species Recovery Land Acquisition Funds and $1.4 million from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Maine Atlantic Salmon Collaborative contributed to the Machias River Corridor Protection Project. Together, all of these landscape-scale projects have been designed to permit sustainable forestry and permanently protect 1.6 million acres from commercial and residential development in northern Maine. In addition, the Rhode Island Oil Spill Trustees provided $300,000 to support the acquisition of Flag Island in Casco Bay for 600 pairs of nesting eiders. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provided an additional $500,000 through its National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant program to support the Flag Island protection project.

In order to complete its ambitious land protection plan, the Downeast Lakes Forestry Partnership is actively fundraising. Thanks to generous support of numerous individuals, foundations and state and federal grants, one-third of the funds have already been raised. Contributions are still needed to meet the end-of-year deadline. For more information, contact Downeast Lakes Land Trust at 207-796-2100 or New England Forestry Foundation at 207-847-9313.