Stoddard, 69, and two sons helped make the deal happen by agreeing to protect 60 adjacent acres of upland and tidal flats worth an estimated $2.1 million.
Stoddard's conservation easement was used to attract a $1.96 million federal grant that will be used to acquire the 168-acre parcel. Brunswick, which will build a small parking lot and hiking trail on the larger parcel, will take over ownership from the Trust for Public Land, a national conservation organization with an office in Portland.
"Without Brooks Stoddard and his family it most certainly would not have happened," said Sam Hodder, senior project manager for the Trust for Public Land. "His generosity is remarkable."
Stoddard said he and his sons, Michael and Blake, who stood to inherit the spectacular wooded property behind his Bunganuc Road farm, agreed it was more important to protect the land for future generations than to cash in on the land.
"In a sense we are trying to be in the business of forever," Stoddard said Monday as he walked through fields andwoods, down an old logging road that ended on Picnic Point, a peninsula that juts into Maquoit Bay.
"I hope others will take notice of what we've done."
Hodder started preliminary discussions about acquiring the 168-acre parcel from its owners, Susan Lowrey and Margaret Downing, in 2003. About a year later, the Trust for Public Land obtained an option to buy the property, and applied for federal grant funds.
Combined with a $735,285 grant from the Land for Maine Future's program, Stoddard's conservation easement provided the financial boost needed to complete the deal. The entire purchase price for the property is $2.7 million, paid for through the two grants from the federal government and the Land for Maine's Future.
Brunswick's natural resource planner, Vanessa Levesque, said Monday the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coastal and Estuarine Land Protection Program has authorized spending the grant to acquire the land.
The public will have access to the 168-acre parcel, but not to Stoddard's 60-acre parcel.
"We have received $2.7 million in grants, and not one penny of town money will be spent," Levesque said.
Tim Glidden, director of the Land for Maine's Future program, said it is nearly impossible to place a value on shorefront land.
Since his program was established in 1987, it has protected 25 miles of mainland coastline - that total includes estuaries - along with 17.7 miles of island coastline. That's less than 1 percent of Maine's total coast.
"There is a long road ahead," Glidden said, "because coastline in Maine is a very valuable commodity."
Hodder said Brunswick has 65 miles of shoreline, but only one mile had been preserved for public access. The Maquoit Bay project will double the amount of shoreline access to two miles. That is important for area clam diggers, and will improve access for them through a planned public hiking trail.
Stoddard said he is grateful that he could contribute to the conservation movement. He is one of the founding members of the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, which will help the town manage the adjacent 168-acre parcel.
The area's natural value is well known. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified the northern end of Maquoit Bay as the most important habitat area in Casco Bay for species such as eider, brant geese, Canada geese, eelgrass, common loon, horseshoe crab and black duck.
Stoddard, a professor of art history at the University of Maine, Augusta, likes to hike to Picnic Point with his dog Rudi, a 10- year-old Samoyed.
Rudi joined Stoddard Monday, his tongue lolling as he plopped down in a pool of water.
Nearby, three great blue herons...
Reader comments
Click here to view or add comments on this story
Were you interviewed for this story? If so, please fill out our accuracy form