MLTN Infoline – May 14, 2025

May 14, 2025|Infoline

2024 Maine Land Trust Census Now Available

On the heels of last year’s Maine Land Trust Census and thanks to our consultants Gary Stern of Stern International Consulting and Elizabeth Hall of Hall Collaborations, we crunched the numbers and looked at past censuses to tease out important trends and highlight progress and potential challenges for Maine land trusts in the coming years. The resulting 2024 Maine Land Trust Census Report is now available on the MLTN website, along with Liz and Gary’s slides from their workshop at the Conference, which include some really interesting graphs and comparisons.

Here are just a few top highlights from the 2024 Census:

Land trusts have conserved nearly 3 million acres of land in Maine, ensuring that there will always be green spaces and opportunities for people to get outside and enjoy nature! That’s 22% of Maine’s conserved land.
65 of the 74 responding land trusts allow hunting on at least one of their preserves; 41 of the 74 allow Wabanaki cultural access on at least one preserve.
Miles of trails offered by land trusts has more than doubled since 2015 to about 3,450 miles.
Land trusts in Maine continue to professionalize but experience challenges in offering competitive salaries and robust benefits, particularly with steep rises cost of living and housing.

You can view and download the Census report and the presentation slides on our website. The Census would not be possible without the participation of MLTN members, so a huge thank you to all who filled it out!

Looking at the past to thrive in the future,

Angela, Jeff, Donna, and Katia

A New Tool for Updating the Maine Conserved Lands Dataset

To streamline updates to the Maine Conserved Lands layer, Maine Coast Heritage Trust and Beginning with Habitat have produced two new, online interfaces. Please submit your new land acquisitions and updates/revisions to your land trust holdings through these new tools! Your participation ensures accurate, high-quality data for all land trusts in Maine.

All submissions received by next Valentine’s Day will be included in the 2026 annual update. Please contact Soren Denlinger with questions or to request deadline reminders.

Individual parcel tool – a simplified process designed for easy submission, without the need for GIS
Shapefile upload – a web form ideal for uploading multiple features at a time (add your data as a zip file)

Call for Trails Film Festival Hosts

With June marking Love Maine Trails Month, you can keep the enthusiasm alive by hosting a Trails Film Night event. Hosting a film night is a unique opportunity to spark interest in a particular project, collaborate with partners, fundraise, or simply unite trail enthusiasts for moments of connection.

This year, the World Trails Film Festival is excited to offer three curated programs (~90 minutes each) featuring international films centering on themes such as the climate and environmental issues, disability and adaptive recreation, mental health, women and minority groups on trail, community building, greenways and urban trails, and trail-making and maintenance.

The Festival works closely with hosts to select the perfect program, providing promotional materials and video files to ensure a successful event. For non-profit hosts, the event package pricing is $750 or $1,000, depending on the expected audience size. Detailed pricing information is available on the Film Nights page.

To inquire about hosting a program, fill out the form on their website here.

Unprecedented Cancellations of Federal Grants: What Nonprofits Should Do to Prepare and Respond

Monday, May 19, 2025

3:30pm

Cost: FREE

Please join the National Council of Nonprofits for an informational webinar for nonprofits on responding to federal grant cancellations. The webinar will cover how grants are being cancelled, steps grantees should take to prepare for the risk of cancellation, and considerations for organizations after cancellation. The NCN Public Policy team will also share actions that you can take now to advocate for your nonprofit organizations.

NOTE: This webinar will not be recorded. They also expect overwhelming interest in this session, so please only register if you will be able to join the live event. Thank you!

Upcoming Ash Protection Events

Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik (APCAW) is working with partners to offer a series of learning opportunities about ash and the invasive Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).

Maine Audubon and partners will host a four-part series of evening webinars, each focusing on a specific aspect of the looming EAB crisis. The webinars will take place at 6 pm on the following Thursdays: Alison Kanoti (May 8th), Tony D’Amato (May 22nd), APCAW representatives (June 5th), Theresa Secord (June 12th). More information here.
Scarborough Land Trust will host Searching for Ash Workshop, an ash flowering and inventory event, on May 17th from 10-11:30am.
The Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s Ecosystem Investigative Network, APCAW, and Monitoring and Managing Ash are partnering to offer a full day in person inventory and lingering ash training on July 22 at Colby College for land stewards and private landowners. More information about the Action for Ash Day here.

Learn more and sign up for the APCAW newsletter here.

Identifying and Protecting Fee and Conservation Easement Property Boundaries

Thursday, May 22, 2025 via Zoom

2:00-3:30pm

Cost: $75 for LTA members, $140 for non-members

All land trusts must accurately establish fee and conservation easement property boundaries in order to monitor and defend them. Conditions such as terrain, finances, neighboring landowners, historical property lines and more can make this a tough task to complete. Presenters will relay case studies and legal expertise to improve your organization’s property boundary identification and protection methods during this webinar.

Learn more and register at LTA’s website.

Quantifying the Forest Carbon Benefits of Land Protection

Thursday, May 29, 2025 via Zoom

2:00-3:30pm

Cost: $75 for LTA members, $140 for non-members

Protecting forests that store large amounts of carbon is a critical action land trusts can take to address the climate crisis. To do this effectively, land trusts must be able to understand and communicate about the carbon dynamics and carbon mitigation benefits of forests, and the risks they face: development and conversion. This process can be complex, but experts Abigail Weinberg (Open Space Institute), Taj Schottland (Trust for Public Land) and Kelly Watkinson (Land Trust Alliance) are here to guide you through locating and understanding the data, as well as how to apply it to conservation planning, acquisition and stewardship work. Here’s a look at what they will cover:

New forest carbon data and free online tools land trusts can use to measure the carbon mitigation benefits of your forest land protection projects
Creating sophisticated carbon data analyses for any forested parcel or region in the lower 48 states
Identifying high-carbon forests to target for protection across landscapes
Leveraging land protection agreements to integrate climate-smart forest management
and more.

Learn more and register at LTA’s website.

Beginner Level Chainsaw Training Workshops

Saturday, May 31, 2025 (additional dates below)

8:30am – 3:00pm

Whitney Memorial Forest, Gray

Cost: $50

Other workshop dates and locations include Wiesendanger Wildlife Protection Area in Winthrop on Friday, June 13; Williamsburg Forest in Williamsburg on Saturday, June 28 (co-sponsored with Piscataquis County Soil & Water Conservation District); Meadowbrook Forest in Surry on Friday, July 25 (co-sponsored with Blue Hill Heritage Trust); and Clifford Woods in Farmington on Friday, August 15.

Maine Woodland Owners will once again offer its popular chainsaw training workshops this spring and summer at locations throughout the state. This hands-on beginner-level training provides instruction on saw handling and maintenance, protective equipment, firewood cutting, and tree felling. Participants must have safety gear (some gear will be available to borrow), a lunch, and a folding chair. Instructed by Jack Houz, a certified logging professional trainer with significant experience with chainsaws and training others to safely handle a chainsaw, all workshops are open to the public.

This workshop is not a full Certified Logging Professional training.

For more information and to register for a workshop, visit www.mainewoodlandowners.org/chainsaw-training or contact Jenn Hicks, Director of Communications and Outreach: or (207) 626-0005.

Board Roles + Responsibilities

Tuesday, June 3, 2025 via Zoom

6:00-7:30pm

Cost: $45 MANP members*, $65 for non-members

Discounts for teams! $25 off each additional registration from the same organization

Scholarships available! Prior to registering, email your scholarship request to and be sure to include your name and organization.

A strong board of directors is built upon clear understanding of basic roles and responsibilities. This session will provide an overview of a board’s primary legal duties, important responsibilities and essential roles in governing the organization and stewarding its mission. Participants will discuss why we join boards; clarify the typical roles of the board and its responsibilities; and consider strategies for building and sustaining an effective board.

This webinar is for individuals already serving on nonprofit boards who are seeking an overview of their roles and responsibilities.

Board members who have some board service experience will gain the most from participation. It is strongly suggested that multiple board members from the same organization and the executive director participate as a team for maximum benefit.

*Most MLTN members are MANP members. Contact us to check your organization’s MLTN membership status.

Jobs in the Conservation Sector

New job opportunities are sprouting up all over! Newest postings are listed here or you can view the full list on our website.

Senior Director of Finance & Administration – Maine Coast Heritage Trust

Preserve Stewardship Manager – Islesboro Islands Trust

Administrative Coordinator – Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust

Executive Director – Teens to Trails

L.L.Bean Maine Land Trust Grants

Applications Due: Friday, September 26, 2025 by midnight

For 20 years now, L.L.Bean and MCHT have been working together to enhance the capacity of Maine’s land trusts in support of their efforts to protect Maine’s outdoor heritage and natural landscapes through the L.L.Bean Maine Land Trust Grant Program. This signature program helps land trusts complete critical stewardship projects, develop management plans for their lands, provide programming to promote outdoor activities, and encourage collaboration.

In 2025, the Program will provide $65,000 in grants, with a maximum grant request of $10,000.

View the guidelines and the list of past grantees on our website. Download a Word version of the 2025 application here.