By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Bev Vucson and Kim Colson own 40 acres of land at the mouth of the Muddy River in the Town of Sebago. For the past 20 years, they have managed the land by putting it into tree growth. The parcel where they live is located across from Inner Island. 

“For us, we wanted to find out how are we doing. What are we doing right? What would we think about doing different in the future? Two important things that I got out of this: Being able to connect with other landowners who have similar goals and wishes for their property. Then, also learning more about the resources that landowners have to help them manage their property,” Vucson said. “It’s really nice to know that there are other land owners in this area that are doing similar things that we are doing. Collectively, we are making a difference. Sometimes you think, ‘We have got our 40 acres. We are this little island.’ But, we are not an island. There are a whole bunch of other people in this area who are doing things to have better woods, better wildlife habitat, and also to protect the water quality of Sebago Lake,” she said. 

The two women were among more than 50 individuals who own property in the Sebago Lake watershed. These people were invited to the Woodland Owner Appreciation Day, which was held in Naples for about four (4) hours on Saturday.

“I definitely wanted to meet more people around here who are also landowners and to meet the people from the various organizations that are protecting the land around here. If we know more people, we can make better decisions and get some advice,” Colson said. 

“Land management isn’t something that is cut and dry. It depends on the parcel you have, and what you want to get out of it, and what you want society to get out of that. One person said: If you ask five foresters, how many answers do you get? Seven,” she said. 

“The multitude of organizations that are involved in conservation — it is good to know which niches each of one them cover,” Colson said.  “Ideally, one should be a member of each one because there is so much going on. This event has helped me to identify who does what, and how it fits into a bigger picture.”

At the beginning of the Woodland Owner Appreciation Day, representatives from conservation groups talked about the connection between forested land and water quality. 

Those groups represented include: The Maine Audubon, Loon Echo Land Trust, Mahoosuc Land Trust, Sebago Clean Waters, Portland Water District, Northeast Forest Management, 207 Forestry, Tree Farm, Woodland Owners and Lakes Environmental Agency. Also, a couple people employed by the State of Maine work directly with landowners toward the goal of conservation. The Maine Forest Service employs Jack Hernandez as the statewide landowners outreach forester. The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife employs Joseph Roy as the private lands wildlife biologist, which is a fairly new position. 

“Today is about celebrating and learning more about the incredible woodland around us,” Sebago Clean Waters Coordinator Karen Young said.

She pointed out a very large map of the Sebago Lake watershed that allowed people to locate their land from Bethel to Standish.

Protecting forested land has “three benefits: providing water, wildlife and a way of life. When you think about it that is really what Maine is about,” she said. “What the forested land does is provide a filter for water and on all of that land, eventually the water moves to Sebago Lake.”

Sebago Lake provides the drinking water for one-sixth of Maine. Sebago Lake is one of 50 lakes in the country that doesn’t require filtrationout of 13,000 lakes in the country. 

“Eleven (11) percent of land is permanently conserved from development. Our goal is to increase that from 11 percent to 20 percent. That is an ambitious goal,” she said. 

“You play an important role in stewarding these wetlands,” Young told the assembled group. 

Waterford resident Catherine York attended the event to rub elbows with other woodland owners and also to get a feel for what agencies could help her with her conservationobjectives.   

“I came here really to chat with people, see what is going on, meet other people with similar interest. We just went on the wildlife walk, which was interesting. I enjoyed the detailing of how to evaluate your forest plant structure for habitat,” she said. 

She owns acreage on the Crooked River in Waterford. It is considered woodlot. She has harvested white pine on the land. Another 30 acres is wetlands. 

Dwayne and Cindy Sheeks own 120 acres up in Franklin County on the Sebago Lake watershed.

“We wanted to meet other woodland owners. We really liked that there were going to be a lot experts in many areas. We thought it was really informational, and exciting that some of these experts can reach out to landowners in the future,” Cindy said.  

Dwayne said he appreciated networking.

“It offers a venue for us to come and meet and greet the people that we’ve been wanting to contact to help us maintain a good environment for wildlife; restocking programs, maybe for trout; and different species of trees that we’d like to eventually get into growing,” he said. 

“And carbon sequestering, too, which is something we’ve been hearing about a lot lately,” Cindy said. “That matters to us because we look toward the future. Planting trees and managing a good woodlot means you believe in the future,”