Bremen lobster dealer Melanee Osier-Gilbert, owner of Maine Fresh Lobster Inc., was one of several sportsmen, conservationists, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle calling on the Legislature to replenish the Land for Maine’s Future (LMF) program, according to a press release from the Maine Land Bond Coalition.
The group spoke at a rally in Augusta, May 14, calling for passage of LD 852, a $5 million bond proposal to support the program that funds working waterfront, farmland, forest, wildlife habitat and special recreation land across the state. If passed, Maine voters will have the opportunity to vote on the LMF bond in November.
“With six generations of the Osier family firmly attached to commercial fishing from this waterfront property, we believe that the Working Waterfront Access Protection Program not only preserves an important asset for our descendents and their neighbors in the community, but it also helps our present business invest capital into much needed improvements to the wharf and buildings, enhancing the 20 jobs that depend on access across this property,” Osier-Gilbert said.
She is part of a six-generation fishing family and, with her husband and father, has applied for a LMF Working Waterfront Access Protection grant.
“In exchange for restricting future use of four-and-a-half acres of prime waterfront to commercial fishing, we hope to receive a monetary award that we intend to reinvest in renovations of the wharf and buildings for the benefit of our fishermen,” she said.
In Lincoln County, LMF has supported the following projects:
The 69-acre Ripley parcel was added to the Damariscotta River Association’s holdings supporting their ongoing work to create River-Link, an unbroken trail between the Sheepscot and Damariscotta rivers. River-Link is a series of lands and trails in the towns of Newcastle, Edgecomb, and Boothbay that has created a wildlife corridor protecting over 1500 acres of contiguous land in Lincoln County.
A LMF program grant and funds from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service helped to create the 29-acre Penny Lake Preserve, in the center of Boothbay Harbor, and Lobster Meadow, a preserve on the site of an early 17th Century homestead. Together, the preserves encompass both of Boothbay Harbor’s major, wildlife-rich freshwater wetlands, allowing visitors to see bald eagles, egrets, waterfowl and many small mammals.
Crooked Farm, on the Pemaquid River, includes varied habitats from wetlands, fields and forests to high knolls and ravines and supports “an unusual diversity of plants and animals” according to the website at maine.gov/spo/lmf.
“Along its 1.27 miles of river frontage, both warm and cold water species of game fish spawn,” the website states.
A recent study by the Trust for Public Land quantifies how these efforts have benefited the state’s long-term economic health in terms of both jobs and revenue. The report found that Maine’s natural resources support at least 62,000 jobs and generate billions in economic value for Maine businesses. It calculated that every $1 invested in land conservation through LMF returned $11 in natural goods and services to the Maine economy.
Bonds in support of LMF passed in 1987, 1999, 2005, 2007, and 2010 by two-to-one margins. Since its inception, the LMF program has conserved land in each of Maine’s 16 counties. Nearly 200 projects have been completed statewide, creating public access to more than 500,000 acres of land.
A continuing economic focus for LMF will be its role in conserving wildlife habitat, including for white-tailed deer. In 1996, Maine had 160,000 deer hunters contributing $200 million to the state’s economy. Today there are fewer hunters and far fewer deer.
“Investment in deer wintering areas today can help restore healthy deer numbers and also benefit countless other wildlife species in the northern half of Maine,” said David Trahan, Executive Director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine. “LMF guarantees that our outdoor heritage, the very thing that defines our state and makes it special, will be conserved and handed on to future generations.”