News & Updates Land Protection in Future Park Continues North Woods Vision, Spring 2003 Philanthropist and owner of Burt’s Bees natural skin care products, Roxanne Quimby continues to buy lands within the bounds of the proposed Maine Woods National Park & Preserve. During 2002, she acquired several new properties. Her holdings total nearly 16,000 acres of important lands in the future park. All of the newest parcels are next to or near existing conservation areas. To ensure long-term protection of these lands, Ms. Quimby has set up a nonprofit charitable foundation to hold title to the properties. During 2002, RESTORE worked with consulting ecologist Bart DeWolf on ecological surveys of five properties held by Roxanne Quimby’s foundation. A full assessment was completed for the largest of those properties, the Seven Ponds Preserve which is about 6,000 acres along the Appalachian National Scenic Trail corridor. Preliminary assessments were undertaken on four other parcels. One property abuts the Audubon wildlife sanctuary at Borestone Mountain; a second adjoins the Big Reed Forest Reserve owned by The Nature Conservancy; a third is along the Appalachian Trail in Monson; and the fourth buffers a preserve owned by the State of Maine at Mount Kineo in Moosehead Lake. The ecological reports prepared by Dr. DeWolf will serve as essential baseline information for future stewardship of these lands. There were some exciting findings from these field studies, including the discovery of two natural communities that are classified as unusual in Maine. Back to Maine Woods National Park News & Updates