Donated land

A Conservationist Gives 140 Acres To Boothbay Region Land Trust

     A New York City conservationist with a deep love for the Boothbay peninsula has donated 140 acres of forested property to the Boothbay Region Land Trust.
     The parcel straddles the border between Boothbay Harbor and Boothbay. It was donated by Sally Jeffords Radcliffe, president of the Pine Tree Conservation Society.
    The property runs northwest from Ocean Point Road, Route 96, along a high ridgeline beside Oak Lawn Cemetery.
    “Given the parcel’s ecological value and beauty, along with its proximity to the land trust’s 47-acre Lobster Cove Meadow, it provides a wonderful opportunity for public use and enjoyment,” said Julie Lamy, the BRLT executive director.
    “We are deeply grateful for the gift and for the chance to open this beautiful property to the public,” she said.
   The donor said in a telephone interview that she wants just that – public access.
   “I hope you (the land trust) will put some of your famous trails in there. I hope you make it more accessible for the public,” Radcliffe said.
   The longtime summer visitor explained that her father had bought the property because he was worried that the historic house on the property was going to be lost. He later sold the house. The house is now famed for the lavish decorations placed on the property in observance of holidays throughout the year by its present owners, Milton and Janis Van Vlack.
   Why did Radcliffe donate the property to the land trust? The donation was logical, she said.
“It seemed to be a good fit. The land trust has property nearby. So does the Audubon Society. I wanted to donate it to someone who would take good care of it,” she said.
      Included in the 140-acre wooded parcel are trails running around a pond leading to the high ridgeline overlooking the cemetery and a nearby meadow. It backs up to the Boothbay Country Club’s 12th fairway and green and is home to birds, deer and other wildlife, according to Wolf Schumann, the BRLT coordinator for lands and stewardship.
     The northern half of the property, the Boothbay portion consisting of 62 acres, comes to the land trust enrolled in the Maine State Tree Growth Program. Keeping it in tree growth will require the BRLT to maintain a forest management plan for logging on the property and to update the management plan every 10 years.
    The land trust is brainstorming other potential uses for the property, which was donated on an unrestricted basis, Lamy said.
   Calvin Carr, a retired Boston lawyer and longtime BRLT volunteer, was the key negotiator for the local conservation group.
   “I met Mrs. Radcliffe about five years ago and she said sometime down the road we might be able to do something together. Last summer, she asked me if she could see some of the land trust’s islands. (Among islands owned by the land trust are Damariscove, Lower Mark, Miles, the northern half of Indiantown and half of Spectacle Island.)
   “When I told her we owned some property bordering Meadow Brook (Lobster Cove Meadow), she offered to give the 140-acre parcel to us.
   It was an unexpected offer.
   “Was I surprised? I sure was,” said Carr.
   The formal land transfer was signed recently, said Lamy.
    The property has changed ownership very few times, and is a virtually intact parcel dating to at least 1768. The Pine Tree Conservation Society has owned it since 1977.
The BRLT donation is not the first time Pine Tree and Mrs. Radcliffe have provided major support to Maine’s conservation groups. In 2005, they donated 120 acres to the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden in Boothbay, nearly doubling the size of CMBG’s holdings. In 2000, the family
donated a key element supporting the Maine Audubon Society’s Seabird Center on Muscongus Bay.
    Mrs. Radcliffe’s father, the late Walter M. Jeffords, founded The Pine Tree Conservation Society. He owned the Newagen Seaside Inn from the 1960s until the late 1980s. Pine Tree was created when he saw land being “eaten” by development,” his daughter said. The society still owns an undeveloped tract near the center of Southport Island.
   Radcliffe said she was amazed at the changes in the Boothbay peninsula since she first visited the region.
   “You can see the changes and it is not getting any better. It is amazing. Maine is so beautiful. We need intelligent growth,” she said.
   “The more we can protect, the better it will be for future generations,” she said.
   Since 1980, The Boothbay Region Land Trust, a non-profit conservation organization, has worked to preserve natural habitat and recreational hiking areas on the peninsula. The trust now protects more than 1,700 acres of shoreline, islands, meadow, forest and wetland properties.