River~Link is a collaborative land conservation initiative among numerous state, municipal and non-profit partners to create a trail and wildlife corridor connecting the Damariscotta and Marsh Rivers and running down the spine of the Boothbay Peninsula. The goal is a permanently protected and publically accessible block of contiguous land totaling several thousand acres and thus able to support clean water, recreation and wildlife at a necessary scale.
A trail now connects the Dodge Point trailhead in Newcastle on the River Road to a trailhead on McKay Road in Boothbay, with more connections planned in the years ahead. The project was initiated in 2002 with the first of two major grants from the Land for Maine’s Future (LMF) Program.
Grants from LMF eventually totaled more than $800,000, leveraging in excess of $400,000 in additional local match.
Partners include several land trusts, municipalities and agencies, namely Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust, Midcoast Conservancy, Boothbay Region Land Trust (BRLT), Maine Coast Heritage Trust (MCHT), Land for Maine’s Future (LMF), Town of Edgecomb, Town of Newcastle, Town of Boothbay, Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT), Maine Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Conservation (MDACF), and Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW), US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and in 2014, with the addition of the Davidson Preserve, the Maine Natural Resource Conservation Program (MNRCP) as well.
