Location: Bethel, Maine
Acres: 1,510 for community benefit

The Northern Forest Center and the Trust for Public Land teamed up to help Inland Woods + Trails and residents of Bethel, Maine, create a new Community Forest by purchasing and conserving 978 acres  in June 2019.

The location of the Bethel Community Forest offers recreational access from the village center and to the existing trail network on the lands of Sunday River Ski area. The Community Forest helps connect a 3,500-acre tapestry of conserved lands between the neighboring Bingham Forest and Sunday River.

Inland Woods + Trails — a nonprofit originally called Mahoosuc Pathways — later added 532 acres to the Community Forest, bringing the total to 1,510 acres that is fully protected by a conservation easement. The Community Forest will be home to recreational trails, wildlife habitat, and provide a setting for educational programs. Mahoosuc Pathways hopes to facilitate sustainable timber harvests to help offset trail maintenance and stewardship costs.