GREENVILLE, Maine — As the world battles a changing climate, a nonprofit based in Maine is doing its part to make a solution. The Forest Society of Maine is working to conserve a forest in Greenville. Called Scammon Ridge, the location has very unique features.
"We know that our northern woods are this last stronghold of these kind of forest types in the entire world," Kristin Peet, a forestland conservation specialist, said.
Scammon Ridge is under threat as it is seen as prime land for development. One development project is already approved for an 18-lot subdivision. The Forest Society of Maine is working to make sure the rest of the area remains untouched.
"And starting here, water falling on this incredible ridgeline, means we're getting a clean start of water that eventually ends up down in southern Maine," Peet said.
Scammon Ridge is the link to the state's most familiar rivers, the Kennebec and the Penobscot. Both rivers draw source water from Scammon Ridge that allow them to flow all the way into coastal bays.
"The atmosphere doesn't recognize state boundaries or town boundaries or anything like that," Jake Metzler, vice president of the Forest Society of Maine, said.
Metzler, when speaking to NEWS CENTER Maine, let it be known that the conservation of Scammon Ridge has global benefits in the matters of climate change.
"Forests are a great tool to pull carbon dioxide out of the air," Metzler said. "This is one of the cheapest ways to mitigate climate change by protecting forests.
The Forest Society of Maine will need to raise $2.3 million in order to conserve Scammon Ridge completely by December 2023.