Kennebec Highlands - Management Plan

The Bureau of Parks and Lands has adopted a 15-year management plan for over 6,000 acres of land known as the Kennebec Highlands. These public lands are located in the towns of Mount Vernon, Rome, and Vienna in Kennebec County and New Sharon in Franklin County.

Plan Update and Review

The Bureau of Parks and Lands has begun the second Five-Year Review and Update of the 2011 Kennebec Highlands Management Plan covering the period from 2017 through mid-2022. The Integrated Resource Policy (IRP) requires that the Bureau, at five year intervals, report to the Advisory Committee (AC) on accomplishments and new issues or changing conditions that may warrant amendments to the plan. The review was postponed for one year to allow for the Bureau’s acquisition of additional parcels in the Highlands to be completed.

The Five-Year Review is prepared in a table format. It is linked below as a PDF within the Management Plan Review Documents. It:

Lists plan recommendations (left column), and
Actions taken to implement each recommendation (right column), and
Identifies, from the Bureau's perspective, any issues any new issues or circumstances that were not addressed in the plan that may warrant Committee discussion or action (at end of table).

The Five-Year Review table was sent to AC members on October 19, 2022. The Bureau advised the Committee of the acquisition of 813 acres of land that have been added to the unit in Vienna and New Sharon, which was completed in spring of 2022, and the intention to develop a management plan for the new parcels as part of the plan update.

The Bureau asked AC members for comments on the review table and to identify any other new issues or circumstances that may Committee input or action. Written comments were accepted for three weeks following the email distribution of the review materials. Six committee members submitted comments.

An Advisory Committee meeting was held March 1,2023. Discussion focused on development of the plan for the new parcels and development of a non-motorized trails plan for the Highlands, as called for in the 2011 plan recommendations. A second Advisory Committee meeting was held June 26, 2025. Discussion focused on the draft plan for the new parcels and draft Kennebec Highlands trails plan, which had been distributed to the committee the month before. Meeting notes from both meetings, the final draft plan for the new parcels, and the final draft Trails Plan are also linked below.

A public meeting will be held to present and take comments on the management plan for the new parcels and the Trails Plan. Meeting details will be provided below under Public Meetings once the final drafts of those plans are ready. When the plan for the new parcels is adopted, it will be appended to the 2011 plan, along with the Trails Plan.

A Final Report on the Five-Year Review and Update, containing the final plan for the new parcels and the final Trails Plan, and summarizing the review process and the Bureau’s response to comments, will be sent to the Advisory Committee at the conclusion of the process, and posted on this page.