Keeping Watch over 16,000 Acres
By Isobel Curtis, Director of Stewardship
Each fall Midcoast Conservancy’s property monitors trek across midcoast Maine—exploring forests, blueberry fields, marshes, bogs, scenic homesteads, and everything in between, all in the name of conservation!
With more than 16,000 acres under our stewardship, every property must be visited annually to ensure its ecological integrity remains intact. Monitoring helps identify timber tresspasses, dumping, boundary concerns, invasive species, and other large-scale changes that could impact the land. It also provides insight into how neighbors and community members are using the land and enjoying our Public Preserves, helping us better understand the many ways conserved lands serve both wildlife and people.
This work is accomplished by a dedicated team of trained volunteers and staff who visit each of our 86 Public Preserves and 102 Conservation Easements, ranging in size from just one acre to 1,400 acres. In 2025, four staff members and 30 volunteers contributed more than 186 hours on land monitoring.
Unclear or unmarked boundaries remain one of the most common challenges we encounter. This year, we refreshed more than 120 miles of boundary lines on our Public Preserves and worked closely with easement landowners to clarify property lines where needed.
The 2025 monitoring season also brought many new detections of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, an invasive insect that exclusively targets hemlock trees and can cause mortality in under a decade. In response, we are coordinating the release of biocontrol beetles that prey on the adelgid, working in partnership with private landowners, neighboring land trusts, and the Maine Forest Service.
It was another rewarding monitoring season spent walking conserved lands and connecting with volunteers, landowners, and community members. Each season is a reminder of how special midcoast Maine truly is—and why protecting its natural beauty and ecological health remains so vitally important.
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If you have any questions about our property monitoring, please reach out directly to Isobel.
