Challenges to Maine’s Lands

• Forest Conversion: For generations, many of Maine’s iconic woodlands served as working forests, but changing economics have put these large, intact forests at risk of development, fragmentation, and conversion
• Loss of Wildlife Habitat: As forests and other natural landscapes become fragmented by development, roads, and changing land ownership, wildlife lose the large, connected habitats they need to move, feed, and thrive.
• Encroaching Development: As development expands into Maine’s forests and open spaces, the large, intact landscapes that support wildlife, outdoor recreation, and the state’s natural resource economy are increasingly at risk.

Our Strategic Conservation Initiatives

Maine’s forests, rivers, lakes, and rugged coastline are central to the state’s identity, economy, and outdoor way of life. The Conservation Fund focuses on conserving these landscapes in ways that strengthen communities, support sustainable economies, and connect people to the outdoors.

• Expanding Outdoor Access – We protect lands that create lasting opportunities for people to hunt, fish, paddle, hike, and experience Maine’s iconic landscapes.
• Supporting Maine’s Natural Resource Economy – We conserve working forests that support jobs, wildlife habitat, clean water, and the outdoor recreation that drives local economies.
• Indigenous Land Return – We work to ensure that the Tribes who have stewarded the land we now call Maine have a hand in its future management.