ALT – 2010 | Environmental Funders Network

Androscoggin Land Trust

Purpose: For developing and implementing an action plan for land conservation, trails, and cooperative effort to connect downtown Lewiston-Auburn to the undeveloped landscapes of Greene, Turner, and Leeds, creating a model for helping rural and urban communities develop regional priorities for Quality of Place work that transcends municipal boundaries.
Partners: Androscoggin Land Trust, Maine Department of Conservation, National Park Service’s Rivers and Trails Program, Rails to Trails Conservancy, Maine Forest Service’s Project Canopy, the Cities of Lewiston and Auburn, and the Towns of Greene, Turner, and Leeds.
2011 Award: $35,000
2010 Award: $30,000 Read the 2010 Proposal (PDF)

The Androscoggin Land Trust (ALT) is leading a broad-based coalition that includes Maine’s Bureau of Parks and Lands, the National Park Service (NPS) Rivers and Trails Program, the Cities of Lewiston and Auburn, and the Towns of Greene, Turner, and Leeds, to develop and implement an action plan for conservation, trails, and cooperative effort to connect urban and rural landscapes.

Through education, grassroots organizing, and technical assistance, ALT and its partners will help rural and urban communities recognize shared values and develop regional priorities for protecting and enhancing an historic downtown and abundant natural resources that the Brookings Institution identified as critical “quality of place” assets.

Building on an ALT-advanced joint resolution among the communities, this project will develop a model for engaging landowners, local governments, and residents along a river corridor to create actionable conservation plans focused on enhancing recreational opportunities that link downtowns to natural landscapes across municipal boundaries. Lessons learned, from public participation to the development of plans for implementation, will form a model for realizing a vision of landscape conservation linked to historic villages in the corridor.

Public engagement is central to the sustainability not only of the “actionable plan,” but also existing community resource ownership. Community groups will be engaged in discussing the river, their connections to it, and how they want to be involved and how the limited resources available in the region could be effectively leveraged, through partnerships and collaborations, for stewardship and promotion of the resources.

Learn more about Androscoggin Land Trust