Five collaborating land trusts in Maine and New Hampshire have received foundation funding to escalate the pace of climate-informed land protection projects in a 1.5 million-acre area stretching from Sebago Lake to the Mount Washington Valley.

Building on earlier research the groups have done together, the project will hone in on a Climate Resilient Focus Area within their shared landscape. It will provide funding for the critical start-up costs to conserve those areas that will be the most critical for plant and animal habitat and humans in the face of climate change, including a “climate corridor” to provide habitat connectivity across the trusts’ combined service areas.

The partners are: Greater Lovell Land Trust, Loon Echo Land Trust, Mahoosuc Land Trust, Upper Saco Valley Land Trust, and Western Foothills Land Trust.