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From the summit of Mount Katahdin, you can see the Katahdin Forest stretching for hundreds of miles in all directions. At the mountain's base and bordering Baxter State Park, 200,000 acres of the forest are protected by a conservation easement to assure public access to this pristine area.
To the south is the 46,700-acre Debsconeag Lakes Wilderness Area, most of which has not been logged for generations. This area is home to remote lakes that make up the crown jewels of Maine’s North Woods and one of the most beautiful and ecologically important stretches of the 31 million-acre Northern Forest, which extends from Canada to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.
In 2002, these lands around Mount Katahdin and Baxter State Park were protected through an innovative agreement between The Nature Conservancy and Great Northern Paper.
The Debsconeag parcel contains the highest concentration of remote ponds in New England and encompasses a 15-mile stretch of the "Hundred Mile Wilderness" section of the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail that extends from Georgia to Maine. These wilderness lakes, deep-blue and fringed in gnarled spruce and fir, are considered some of the most beautiful in the state.
Native Americans long ago created a network of portage sites as they carried their birchbark canoes between lakes and across waterfalls and rapids. Debsconeag Lakes still bear their ancient name for "carrying place."
About 12,000 years ago, the glacial ice sheet that covered Katahdin and the Debsconeag lakes began to melt northward. For the next thousand years, scrub and lichens prevailed around the newly carved lakes. As the climate warmed, trees took root and the forest grew steadily, shifting from boreal forest to Acadian forest of red spruce, balsam fir, birch, maples, white pine and hemlock.
Left behind in the wake of the retreating glaciers were landlocked arctic char, a relic of the far north. Native salmon, blueback trout and native brook trout are abundant in the 89 lakes and ponds of Debsconeag.
Because of the steep boulder-strewn terrain, much of this forest, which is a two-hour drive from Bangor, has not been logged for more than 100 years, which is unusual in timber-producing Maine.
As a result, these mature forests provide some of the best wildlife habitat in New England.
The autumn colors in the region peak in late September and early October. There are hiking trails, wilderness camping and great canoeing in the region.
The Nature Conservancy protected more than 240,000 acres of Maine’s North Woods, including the Debsconeag Lakes wilderness, through fee acquisition and easements. The project binds together Baxter State Park, the Allagash Wilderness Waterway and other lands into a 400-square-mile block of protected reserves and sustainably-harvested working forests.
Outdoor Activities |
The forest preserves a variety of lakes and ponds.
Explore the forest's pristine lakes and streams.
Canoe and camp in the Katahdin woods.
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