Maine Coast Heritage Trust

1. Conserve Maine’s Coast to support both ecological health and the well-being of coastal communities.
2. Create and support a wide range of opportunities for people to connect with the land.
3. Provide leadership for a strong land trust community throughout Maine.
4. Advance conservation interests statewide through collaboration and advocacy.
5. Ensure outstanding organizational performance.

1. Enhance coastal resilience in the face of climate change

2. Provide responsible, long-term stewardship of all lands and easements held by MCHT employing a framework that emphasizes ecological health, contribution to community well-being, and adaptation to climate change.

3. Engage in matters of public policy and legal advocacy on a highly selective basis, seeking to:
-Secure increased public funding for land conservation.
-Strengthen governmental protections and incentives for land conservation.
-Defend against degradation or intrusions on conserved lands and other high priority lands and waters.
-Influence other critical policy issues affecting coastal lands and waters, with emphasis on climate change, land use planning, and regulatory tools.

4. Develop policy approaches and implement advocacy strategies related to land conservation and sound municipal finances.

MCHT’s mission and strategic plan are backed by a broad and dynamic donor base that includes community supporters and major philanthropic leaders. In 2019, the organization completed the largest coastal conservation campaign in Maine’s history. More than 7,500 people donated $130 million to keep the coast open, healthy, working, and beautiful. The campaign affirmed MCHT’s strategic priorities and fully funded existing stewardship responsibilities. A $100 million endowment funds a third of the organization’s almost $10 million annual operating budget.

MCHT is a Land Trust Alliance accredited land trust with more than 50 staff working from offices in Southern, Midcoast, and Downeast Maine. This local presence along the length of the coast fosters productive partnerships with landowners, town officials, schools, businesses, and other organizations. MCHT staff play a vital role in supporting the work of Maine’s statewide network of 80+ local land trusts. MCHT’s leadership and planning have built consensus around regional conservation priorities; the organization has the staff capacity, legal and transactional expertise, long-standing partnerships, and creativity to complete 30-40 land transactions annually and to manage more than 40,000 acres – including 146 preserves open to the public.

Maine Coast Heritage Trust began in 1970 to protect what makes the Maine coast unlike any other place in the world: wild islands, pocket beaches, vast spruce-fir forests, traditional trails, tidal marshes, agricultural lands, pristine rivers, local swimming holes, coastal access sites, and a way of life connected to the land and sea. Thanks to visionary founders, generous landowners and individual donors, private foundations, businesses, and municipal, state, and federal programs, the organization’s first fifty years have made a deep and lasting impact on the Maine coast and beyond.
• More than 170,000 acres and more than 300 islands conserved. Seven regional project managers work with landowners, towns, and communities to identify and conserve important land on the coast.
• More than 100 miles of trail and 146 preserves free and open to the public. A team of eight regional land stewards manages MCHT preserves for ecological diversity, scenic beauty, low impact year-round recreation, and other community benefits.
• A commitment to help other land trusts succeed. MCHT formed and continues to lead the Maine Land Trust Network, hosting an annual Maine Land Conservation Conference and providing training, funding, and networking opportunities for Maine’s entire conservation community. We helped launch the Land for Maine’s Future Program and co-founded the Land Trust Alliance to strengthen land trusts in all fifty states.
• Partnerships shape the organization’s work. By collaborating with towns, schools, state agencies and other organizations, MCHT facilitates conservation projects that help meet local, regional, and state environmental and social needs.

To learn more about Maine Coast Heritage Trust, visit the website: https://www.mcht.org/