Talk of the Towns 10/13/21: How Maine Land Trusts are building on the legacy of land protection

Producer/Host: Ron Beard -How do land trusts, including Blue Hill Heritage Trust, carry out the work of private land protection in Maine? -In addition to protecting land by owning it or by permanently restricting some forms of development, how else do your organizations work with landowners and other partners to promote conservation values through public access and use, as in the case of trails, wildlife observation and hunting? -How has Maine Farmland Trust worked with farmers to protect farmland and to provide access to new farmers and help those farmers make their operations viable? -How has Maine Coast Heritage Trust worked with local volunteer and fisheries experts to increase fish passage, including for river herring in the Bagaduce River watershed and at Walker Pond? -Looking ahead to the next fifty years of work by land trusts, what are the challenges and what are your hopes for the outcomes of this work? Guests: Hans Carlson, Executive Director, Blue Hill Heritage Trust Sarah Simon, Program Director, Farmland Access/Farm Viability, Maine Farmland Trust Ciona Ulbrich, Senior Project Manager, Maine Coast Heritage Trust About the host: Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals.