After many years of study and alternatives analysis the State of Maine Department of Transportation proposed a 6 mile bypass to solve connectivity and safety issues for an important connector road in the City of Brewer and the towns of Holden and Eddington. The large scale of the project required significant environmental considerations, to include avoidance or impact, minimizing impacts and where impacts cannot be avoided compensation. To compensate for lost functions and values for impacted wetlands the state preserved 1,620 acre parcel known as Wrentham Woods in the Town of Holden. The parcel contains more than 300 acres of wetland, with 80 acres of emergent wetland. The primary function and value of these wetlands are floodflow alteration, sediment/toxicant retention, nutrient removal/retention/transformation, sediment/shoreline stabilization and wildlife habitat.  The preservation parcel exceed a require 8:1 ratio of acreage and the functions and values of the impacted wetlands. 

As planned this parcel was to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW). Just ahead of the 2025 hunting season the department asked New England Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers to assist them with removing posted private property signs and to install State of Maine Wildlife Management Area signs. This property is now Maine’s newest WMA named Wrentham Woods. “The mission and purpose of the State-owned WMAs is to provide a statewide, ecologically based system of land holdings for the protection and enhancement of important wildlife habitats that also provide opportunities for all types of public recreation, where those forms of recreation do not unduly impact the wildlife resources.” For hunters these 70 MDIFW WMAs, with only a couple exceptions, are open for general law hunting and trapping. Permits are only needed for placing removable stands or blinds for more than one day and for bear trapping or placing/hunting over bait for bears.

On September 6, 2025 four BHA volunteers partnered with three MDIFW staff members to tackle the job of taking down the aluminum Posted Private Property signs and installing new State of Maine Wildlife Management Area Boundary signs. With three teams we covered a little more than 7 miles of the 10 miles of boundary in one day. The segments not covered were avoided to not impact a permitted bear hunter and locations that would be better covered when the wetlands are frozen to minimize impact. Along the way we filled a half dozen bags of trash picked up along the roadside. I personally witnessed that the property holds deer, turkey, ruffed grouse and coyote while visiting the property. This WMA will be a tremendous asset for hunters in the region providing excellent access and opportunity.