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The Lake Region Greenprint:
A Community Partnership
Introduction:
Loon Echo Land Trust is partnering with the Trust for Public Land (TPL) to organize the "Lake Region Greenprint" project with the following seven partner communities and municipalities: Bridgton, Casco, Denmark, Harrison, Naples, Raymond and Sebago.
The goal of this project is to develop a Greenprint, which is a strategic plan based on local and regional priorities designed to meet community open space, park, recreation and conservation goals. A Greenprint is the process for assessing regional land conservation opportunities, and is a comprehensive, community-driven planning process designed to articulate land use and open space goals across municipal and geographical borders. This process results in a set of color-coded maps, interactive web-based tools, and action strategies related to the natural environment, open space protection and land use planning.
Loon Echo Land Trust, the municipalities, and the community can then use these tools to identify the lands within the Lake Region that are most important for conservation and to implement strategies for land and natural resource protection, economic development to maintain the Lake Region’s quality of place, and help inform local land use decisions (e.g. ordinances, subdivision development and review). The project will significantly advance open space planning for the Lake Region of Maine, and Loon Echo is committed to working with the community to implement the plan’s recommendations.
Project Results:
An informative, user-friendly GIS-based on-line mapping tool is now available to anyone with internet access. For access to the on-line mapping tool please contact us for the user name and password.
The final report, including the community process, goal maps, action plan, and financing options is now available. Download the final report* or contact us to request a hard copy (limited copies available). Copies of the brochure* are also available by request.
The seven Greenprint goals are listed in priority order below, with a link to the corresponding Goal Maps*.
For a more complete list of the goals and corresponding criteria (data sources) that went into developing each goal, please click here*.
Greenprint benefits include:
- Development of a regional vision and action plan for the protection of the community’s most important natural qualities and assets.
- Creation of an interactive web-based mapping model and custom tools available to all participating towns and residents. The model will be composed of land conservation priorities that, if implemented, will help to maintain the Lake Region’s “quality of place” and meet multiple open space and land use planning goals.
- Regional collaboration between multiple towns and organizations, resulting in better comprehensive planning, open space protection, and economic development decision making.
- Investment of limited dollars to the protection of our region’s natural assets to ensure a healthy economy.
Municipalities represented (by Conservation Commission, Planning Board or Selectboard members) and contributed $1 per capita:
- Town of Bridgton
- Town of Casco
- Town of Denmark
- Town of Harrison
- Town of Naples
- Town of Raymond
- Town of Sebago
Participating Partners and Organizations:
- Greater Bridgton Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce
- Sebago Lake Region Chamber of Commerce
- Portland Water District
- Greater Portland Council of Governments
- Lakes Environmental Association
- Maine Natural Areas and Beginning with Habitat Programs
- Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
- Community Center for GIS
- People’s Regional Opportunities Program
- Moose Pond Association
- Maine Forest Service
- Integrated Forest Management
- Hancock Land Company
- Local snowmobile clubs, ATV, hunting and fishing clubs
Maine Foundations who have contributed to this project:
- The Davis Conservation Foundation
- The Elmina B. Sewall Foundation
- The Environmental Funders Network
- The Maine Community Foundation
- The Horizon Foundation
- The Betterment Fund
(*may need free Adobe reader to view)
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