THANK YOU for helping us reach the summit! Just as 2013 ended, we reached our campaign goal of $750,000 to purchase 200 acres atop Orland’s Great Pond Mountain, connecting the two Wildlands sections and conserving the mountain’s summit forever!
The To the Summit! campaign was announced to the public on June 29, 2013, and by the end of the year had secured gifts and pledges totaling $750,000. More than 250 donors, including individuals, families, foundations, businesses and organizations, made contributions. A dollar-for-dollar matching grant from the Ram Island Conservation Fund of the Maine Community Foundation was instrumental to the campaign’s success.
The funds raised in our To the Summit! campaign will ensure permanent protection and hiking access for one of Hancock County’s iconic places. With your help, we’ve been able to purchase three properties totaling about 200 acres:
- The Summit – a 113-acre parcel including the summit and south side of Great Pond Mountain. Open ledges with amazing views, blueberries and wildlife watching are the main attractions.
- Hay Ledges – 62 acres on the southwest flank of Great Pond Mountain with views of Alamoosook Lake and rare “smooth sandwort.”
- Great Pond Mountain Trailhead – 22 forested acres around the mountain trailhead on Don Fish Road, enabling GPMCT to better maintain the trail and add parking.
The campaign also includes funds for future land acquisitions in the four communities we serve; ongoing stewardship of the Wildlands and other holdings and conservation easements, including forests, meadows, and islands in Orland, Bucksport, and Dedham; and increasing the Trust’s future capacity by adding to our endowment and bringing our office into the 21st century.
For more than 20 years, Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust’s mission has been conserving special places in northwest Hancock County. In 2007, with the help of hundreds of community members, we protected a portion of Great Pond Mountain by purchasing the 4,500-acre Wildlands.
Great Pond Mountain is a beloved place for all of us who live, work and play in its shadow. Whether you climb it daily, or simply enjoy its misty outline as you drive Route One, you know it represents what’s most special about our area. This new campaign ensures that future generations will have access to Great Pond Mountain – free of cell towers or wind turbines – for outdoor recreation, educational activities and traditional use. Campaign contributions have helped to join the two parts of the Wildlands at the top of the mountain, and according to Honorary Campaign Chair David Gross, “…the dream to conserve this place so special to all of us has been fulfilled.”