The cost of the parcel, which is located at the mouth of the Little River and includes a 13-acre island that would be added to the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, is $5,125,000.
Initially, the three local conservation groups trying to purchase the property – the Friends of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust and The Trust for Public Land – had until Sept. 15 to come up with the money, but now, with only about $200,000 left to raise, that deadline’s been extended to Sept. 30 instead.
The Ewing family owns the property. Several years ago it agreed to sell the land to the friends group that supports the refuge for passive recreation, such as hiking and bird watching.
The property has tidal and grassland habitat that attracts both shorebirds, as well as migratory waterfowl. It encompasses the estuary of the Little River and has a lobster nursery and more than two miles of undeveloped, rocky coastline.
“Enthusiasm around the project is high – as is our confidence,” Wolfe Tone, director of the Maine office of The Trust for Public Land, said last week.
That confidence was bolstered by a recent surprise donation of $25,000 from the Kennebunk Land Trust, Tone said. In addition to that donation, the conservation groups have also received $3 million from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund and have raised another $325,000 through private sources and grants.
Conservation of Timber Point has been the top priority of the refuge for at least 10 years, Bill Durkin, a Biddeford resident and president of the friends group, said in a prior interview.
“There’s simply nothing else like Timber Point south of Portland,” he said at the time about why conservation of the Biddeford parcel is so important. “What’s also unique is that this would be the only refuge property to include an island.”
“Generations of people have grown up looking at that view and paddling to the island,” Tone added. “It’s our hope to preserve it for generations to come.”