Coastal Mountains Land Trust added 42 more acres to its Ragged Mountain Preserve in December. The preserve now includes 508 acres spread across the mountain, adjoining the Camden Snow Bowl.

Rising from upper Barnestown Road, the property now known as the Little Ragged Ledges Tract includes stands of mature trees, a perennial stream, and upper ledges that offer direct views of neighboring Bald Mountain and glimpses of Penobscot Bay. The property is essential to furthering the Land Trust's vision of the Round the Mountain Trail, as well— a future 10-mile multi-use trail that will one day circumnavigate Ragged Mountain. Its addition to the Ragged Mountain Preserve provides the first physical connection of that preserve to the 583-acre Bald Mountain Preserve on the east side of Barnestown Road.

"We're delighted to have been able to conserve this particular tract, as it had previously been slated for residential development," stated Doug Sensenig, the Land Trust's Executive Director, in a news release. "In land conservation work there is often only 'one bite at the apple' before a property is lost to conservation. We tried several times to buy what is now the Little Ragged Tract, losing out in each case to another buyer. But fortunately our patience and perseverance paid off for this key property."

Purchase of the Little Ragged Tract advances the Land Trust's ongoing Bald and Ragged Mountains Campaign, an effort to conserve 3,500 acres on these two mountains to protect their forests and farms, wildlife habitats, popular hiking trails, and scenic landscapes. Over half that goal has now been reached, and more exciting projects are on the horizon.

Coastal Mountains Land Trust has worked since 1986 to permanently conserve land to benefit the natural and human communities of western Penobscot Bay. It has protected over 9,700 acres in this special part of Maine. For more information on the Land Trust or the Bald and Ragged Mountains Campaign, please visit www.coastalmountains.org or call (207) 236-7091.