Rockport — A new nine-acre preserve has been established by Coastal Mountains Land Trust in Rockport, protecting over 600 feet of shorefront on the eastern side of the harbor and a section of Beauchamp Point Road frequently visited and enjoyed by local residents and visitors for walking, running and biking.

Coastal Mountains Land Trust received the anonymous land gift at the very end of 2019, establishing the new Rockport Shore Preserve, according to the Land Trust, in a news release. The preserve supplements an existing conservation easement previously donated by the Dodge family and held by Coastal Mountains Land Trust that protects many of the ledges that the public enjoy visiting along Beauchamp Point Road.

“We’re grateful that this special part of Rockport will remain as it is forever,” said CMLT.

The new preserve includes land on both sides of the Beauchamp Point Road and begins at the top of the hill just after the town gravel pile that seasonally closes this road. The upland portion of the property has a mixed hardwood forest interspersed with bold, rocky outcroppings.  The lower portion of the property includes is a steep rugged forest overhanging bold ledges and a rocky intertidal zone.

With the support of the generous donor, the Land Trust just this week had Prock Marine remove the existing dock on the property to restore the shorefront to its natural condition.

“This scenic portion of Rockport harbor will remain as it is for the community to enjoy forever,” CMLT said.

Coastal Mountains Land Trust was established in 1986 to permanently protect natural areas in the communities of the western Penobscot Bay region. Currently, the Land Trust’s main focus is towards the completion of the Round the Mountain Collaboration on Ragged Mountain, an effort to conserving one of the largest and most important remaining undeveloped landscapes in coastal Maine. When this project is complete, the Land Trust will have conserved over 12,000 acres of land for the benefit of our local communities. For more information, please visit www.coastalmountains.org