Northern Headwaters Basin Easement

Freedom & Montville, ME 663 acres

Thanks to the Wildlands Partnership, more than 660 acres of Midcoast Conservancy’s (MC) 1,750-acre Northern Headwaters Preserve in coastal Maine are now forever-wild.

MC and Northeast Wilderness Trust placed a forever-wild conservation easement on a large section of the preserve, now known as the Northern Headwaters Basin Easement, in 2025.

The Easement ensures a forever-wild future for an ecologically vital section of the Sheepscot River. Northern Headwaters Basin encompasses the Sheepscot’s origin at the top of its watershed, meaning that impacts to the river here flow downstream. Prohibiting logging and development along this critical stretch of the Sheepscot will thus benefit the river’s ecology along its winding course into Sheepscot Bay.

That healthy future for the Sheepscot is crucial for one of its most imperiled inhabitants. The river hosts federally endangered Atlantic salmon, which require cold and unpolluted water for foraging and spawning. Protecting the streams, wetlands, and forests that surround the Sheepscot will keep these waters ideal habitat for this imperiled species, as well as countless others that call Midcoast Maine home.

“Protecting these cold headwaters is a win not just for the land, but for the entire Sheepscot River and the endangered Atlantic salmon that depend on it,” said Erika Presley, Land Conservation Manager at Midcoast Conservancy, in a press release. “We’re honored to work with partners who share our vision for healthy, connected wildlands.”

Northern Headwaters Basin marks the first Wildlands Partnership collaboration between MC and Northeast Wilderness Trust. The project brings the total Maine acreage protected through the Partnership to more than 8,500 as of early 2026.