Bald Pate Mountain was conserved 24 years ago today! Sometimes it feels like this special place just exists; that it’s there because, well, of course it is. It's Bald Pate!
But it doesn’t just exist. It didn’t just ‘end up’ that way. It took people who cared, working together, to make it what it is today.
In 1996, Bald Pate Mountain had long been used by local residents to hike, hunt, snowmobile, bird watch, and cross-country ski thanks to a private landowner who allowed public access to the land.
But that was all set to change. There were plans to build a television tower on Bald Pate. A group of local residents worked together to stop the tower from being constructed on the summit. Then, knowing development on the mountain remained a threat, ‘Friends of Bald Pate’ and Loon Echo Land Trust raised $180,000 in three months to purchase and permanently protect the 450 mountain acres on January 13th, 1997.
Today, thanks to the great foresight and efforts of all involved, Bald Pate Mountain Preserve is open to all. With the addition of 36 more acres and new trails over the years, it remains a place to hike, hunt, snowmobile, bird watch, and cross-country ski. What an incredible gift, a remarkable legacy: beloved Bald Pate.
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