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About Loon Echo Land Trust

Loon Echo Land Trust protects land in the Lake Region of Maine to conserve its natural resources and character for current and future generations. LELT conserves 8,500 acres of land and maintains and protects public access to many iconic outdoor spaces such as Pleasant and Bald Pate Mountains. In addition to providing access for recreation, LELT's conserved open spaces support the region’s water resources, wildlife habitat, and working farms and forests.

Loon Echo Land Trust is a nonprofit organization. It was formed in 1987 by community members who saw the need to preserve the forests, fields, and waters of the region. Throughout the years, LELT has worked with area residents, businesses and organizations to protect land through conservation easements, land purchases and land donations.
financial information
LELT Financial Information
2022 Strategic Plan
Strategic Plan
ABOUT our team

Staff and Board of Directors

Our Team

Where We Work

Loon Echo Land Trust protects land in the northern Sebago Lake region of Maine in the towns of Bridgton, Casco, Denmark, Naples, Harrison, Sebago, and Raymond.

Loon Echo Land Trust recognizes that our conservation lands are unceded lands of the Abenaki people, specifically the Pigwacket and Ammoncongan, who are members of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Wabanaki Confederacy - the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, Abenaki, and Mi’kmaq peoples - have stewarded these lands for centuries.

We acknowledge and respect the values of the Wabanaki people and affirm their sovereignty in this territory. We intend to support their efforts for natural resource protection and a restoration of their sovereign rights, including the rematriation of land to the Tribes. The Wabanaki are the first peoples of Maine and northern New England, and have lived on this land for over 10,000 years. Wabanaki means People of the First Light, and Maine is the first place in the United States that experiences the sun rising in the east.

It is estimated that prior to European colonization there were between 10,000 and 20,000 Wabanaki people in southern Maine. The nearest known Wabanaki settlement to Loon Echo Land Trust’s service area was in the fertile flood plain of the Saco River Valley in what is now called Fryeburg.  

Since European colonization, Wabanaki people have suffered a 96% population loss due to genocide, disease, land dispossession and forced removal, erasure of traditions through forced conversion to Christianity, warfare between Europeans, and scalp bounties. There are at least 8,000 tribal members alive today who live in communities in Maine and Quebec, the Canadian Maritimes, and in diaspora.

Sources: Abbe Museum, Wabanaki REACH, First Light Learning Journey, native-land.ca


2022 Projects

We’re always working on conservation projects behind the scenes. Join our E-Mail list to be informed of new projects. Here are some projects we're working on this year:

  • Peabody-Fitch Woods Trail – In the summer of 2022, we will be installing an informational kiosk and interpretive signage on the new loop trail that was constructed in 2020.
  • Pondicherry Park Accessibility Improvements – In 2022 we will update the main trail in the park to be accessible for more community members. Learn more & donate here.
  • Hacker's Hill Educational Displays – In 2022, LELT will install new interpretive signage to inform visitors to Hacker's Hill about the history & ecology of the preserve.
  • Improving Access at Mayberry Hill Preserve – We will be working to improve safe parking access and trails at Mayberry Hill Preserve, LELT's oldest preserve. Learn more and donate here.

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