Boosting Wilderness, Climate Resilience, and Outdoor Recreation Along the Appalachian Trail in Maine
The Appalachian Trail is one of America’s most iconic long-distance footpaths, stretching over 2,000 miles from Georgia
to Maine. Its value lies not only in recreation but in its role as a living corridor of biodiversity, remote landscapes, and cultural heritage. Yet the Trail’s wild character is increasingly vulnerable. While long stretches of the Trail corridor are owned by the National Park Service, large portions of the surrounding land or “buffer zone” in New England remain privately held and unprotected. It is these surrounding lands that anchor the Trail’s sense of remoteness, provide local access, and enable wildlife movement across the landscape. Without this buffer zone, the experience and ecology that define the Appalachian Trail are at risk.
Now, Northeast Wilderness Trust and Trust for Public Land have secured more than 1,800 acres of that buffer zone in central Maine. Moxie Pond Wilderness Preserve precludes development and logging along a five-mile section of the Trail, which forms the Preserve’s southern border. When hikers traverse this stretch, they walk through permanently protected rewilding forests, enhancing the wilderness experience on the Trail and galvanizing appreciation for the many public and private efforts that make it possible.
