CASCO – Loon Echo Land Trust reported this week that it has
raised more than half the amount it needs to purchase Hacker’s
Hill.
The land trust’s executive director, Carrie Walia, reports the
campaign has so far received donations and pledges totaling
$435,000. The campaign began in earnest in late July, and has until
June to raise the remaining balance.
The bulk of the donations come from the town of Casco ($75,000),
the state Department of Conservation/Land for Maine’s Future Board
($220,000), the Davis Conservation Foundation in Yarmouth ($25,000)
and the Carol and David Hancock Charitable Trust ($15,000).
Numerous smaller private donors from the area have also donated to
the cause, Walia said.
“Loon Echo is pleased and somewhat surprised to reach the halfway
point four to five months into the effort, especially in this
economy,” Walia said this week. “We were a little hesitant whether
we could pull this off in this economy, but so far, so good.”
Hacker’s Hill has been owned by the Hall family of Casco for
several generations and is accessible by car up a steep approach
road off Quaker Ridge Road in Casco. Once at the top of the hill,
visitors can take in a 270-degree vista of surrounding Sebago Lake,
the White Mountains and western Maine. The road is only open in
warmer months.
The Hall family, as well as family friend Don Fowler, have
maintained bathroom facilities and cared for the grounds for years.
With Conrad Hall retiring, however, the family decided to put the
20-plus-acre property on the market two years ago for $1.6 million.
With the economic recession and the family’s desire that a future
owner maintain public access, the property failed to sell.
Last May, the family entered a one-year agreement allowing Loon
Echo Land Trust, a nonprofit environmental group based in Bridgton
that already preserves or maintains 800 acres in the Lakes Region,
to raise $800,000 to purchase the property. The sale price is
$700,000, and the land trust is attempting to raise $100,000 extra
to pay for legal fees, fundraising expenses and ongoing maintenance
of the property.
Walia said her group has held fundraising events such as a hawk
migration walk and geology-themed field trips. A donor party was
held this summer at Migis Lodge in South Casco.
In the next month or so, Walia said, she will be attending a Casco
Board of Selectmen meeting to discuss uses of the property if the
land trust is able to acquire the property.
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