Free Maine Audubon Program Offers “Tour” of Moosehead Lake Plus Conservation Update

FALMOUTH, Maine -- November 15, 2006

At 7 p.m. on Thursday, November 27 at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center, retired regional fishery biologist Paul Johnson will lead a slide tour of Moosehead Lake and the surrounding area. In addition, a Maine Audubon biologist will discuss Maine Audubon’s work to eliminate or minimize threats to the region’s wildlife posed by proposed rezoning and massive development around the lake.

Taken over the past 35 years, Johnson’s slides highlight the Moosehead region's scenic beauty as well as its natural resources and their uses. Images include summer and winter vistas of Moosehead Lake taken from the air, land, and water as well as closer shots of plants and wildlife. Johnson’s photographs illustrate information he will share about the region’s land and water habitats and past and present human uses of the Moosehead area’s natural resources.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to learn how Maine Audubon is leading the effort to curtail threats to Moosehead-area wildlife posed by a proposal from Seattle-based Plum Creek, a Real Estate Investment Trust and the largest private landowner in the nation. The company has petitioned Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission to rezone roughly 421,000 acres around Moosehead Lake in order to implement a plan that includes the largest development ever proposed in Maine: 975 house lots in 58 subdivisions scattered across the region, a 2,600-acre resort near Big Moose Mountain, a 500-acre resort on Lily Bay peninsula, and up to 750 additional residential accommodations near the resorts.

Free and open to the public, the presentation is part of the Portland Naturalists’ Forum, a monthly Maine Audubon program featuring speakers who share their expertise on a natural history topic.

For more information on this or other Maine Audubon programs, call (207) 781-2330.

MAINE AUDUBON works to conserve Maine’s wildlife and wildlife habitat by engaging people of all ages in education, conservation and action.

With a 160-year history of connecting people with nature, Maine Audubon is the only organization in Maine that uses three different strategies to conserve wildlife: hands-on environmental education, research and wildlife-conservation projects, and action to help shape science-based policy.

Maine Audubon’s 3,000 acres of wildlife sanctuary, community environmental centers, citizen-science projects and hundreds of programs and trips offer preschoolers through senior citizens wide-ranging opportunities to explore, learn about and care for Maine’s wildlife.

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