[at-l] Funds

[ellen at clinic.net (Bob C.)]

>"...> Perhaps the ATC, ALDHA, etc. could use the donation. Oh my...  Do I feel
>a fundraiser coming on?"  asks Shane.

Feel free to think also about the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust and our
effort to protect Abraham -- that some think is the most spectacular of the
cluster of 4,000 footers between Saddleback and Bigelow.

I first climbed the mountain in the 1970s, a few days after the referendum that
snatched Bigelow from the hands of developers who had dreamed of creating an
"Aspen of the East."

My first thought on approaching the summit was, "We've saved the wrong
mountain."

I haven't seen the latest list of donors, but our trust president told me
yesterday that one generous AT-L member has contributed $1,000.

Essentially our effort piggybacks on an ATC campaign over the past several
years, which raised around $2 million to buy the northerly slopes of Abraham.
The landowner refused then to sell the four-mile-long summit ridgeline, holding
out for a higher price.

Later, the paper company (Mead Westvaco) sold virtually all of its 500,000 acres
of Maine forest land, reserving only Abraham, and a small piece on the southern
slopes of Saddleback.

ATC still has some money set aside for completing the purchase of the Abraham
and the Saddleback parcels, but not enough. The Maine Appalachian Trail Land
Trust has volunteered to raise the estimated $300,000 gap in funds needed to
complete the two purchases. We are on the verge of a purchase agreement with the
paper company. The company has given us a price. We are currently negotiating to
reduce that price.

We are a new organization. This will be our first major effort, a sort of
warm-up to a more ambitious goal -- that of providing buffers of up to a mile
through all of this cluster of 4,000-footers, and widening the protected
corridor between Saddleback and Bigelow, which in places is only 200 feet wide.

 We are talking quite a few millions of dollars for this phase II. Our best
 chance of attracting the notice of the big givers that will be necessary, is
 for this preliminary Abraham purchase to demonstrate the support of the
 grassroots trail community.

 For those wishing to help, our address is Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust,
 PO Box 325, Yarmouth, Maine 04096.

 We are a 401C3 organization under the federal tax code, which means every
 contribution qualifies as a tax deduction.

 Weary