After almost 50 years of farming and forestry, the owners of Hidden Valley Farm in Whitefield are looking for someone new to take over.
Bambi Jones and David “Tracy” Moskovitz, owners of the 1,200 acres, said they are looking to either gift the property to an appropriate nonprofit or sell it and donate the proceeds to benefit conservation efforts.
“We’ve been pretty lucky in life, and so most people aren’t really in a position to give their property away. But we are, and we’re grateful for that,” Moskovitz said.
The couple has received around about half a dozen proposals, but are still accepting more. They plan to make a decision by this summer.
It is important to both Moskovitz and Jones that whoever takes over is compatible and supportive of the community that makes up the 3-mile stretch of Hollywood Boulevard. Some of the residents have been friends for a long time, Moskovitz said, and they all help each other when it is needed.
Moskovitz said potential impact is also very important in their evaluation of the future of the property.
“We’re just really interested in how, especially conservation organizations, can do a more effective job of fulfilling their missions,” Moskovitz said. “We want to help spur that along.”
When the decision is made, it could end up being a combination of organizations that collaborate to continue to be stewards of the land, Moskovitz said. For now, the plan is to have conversations with interested parties to get a good sense of what they want to do, possibly adding modifications to plans and partnering with other groups.
Moskovitz and Jones are in no rush to leave their 2,550-square-foot home, built out of wood harvested on their property. They said once they decide the course of action, they expect a two- to five-year transition period in the event the sale or transfer of the property needs to happen in phases. Once that is done, the two will be moving into their second home in Damariscotta.
“We have an extraordinary community and want to be sure the next owners will appreciate, protect, and enhance it,” Jones said.
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, the two met while in law school at Loyola University in Chicago, later finding out they went to the same elementary school. In 1978, they moved to Maine and bought 100 acres on Hollywood Boulevard in Whitefield, establishing Hidden Valley Farm.
Over the years, the property started to grow and evolve, eventually amassing 2,000 acres of forest, hiking trails and more by 2007. In a joint effort with their neighbors, Moskovitz and Jones put permanent easements on 1,000 of their combined acres through Maine Farmland Trust. The same year, the two opened Hidden Valley Nature Center on 1,000 acres of the property. It is currently the largest private land holding open to the public in Lincoln County, according to the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.
“We’ve always had a just strong interest not just in forestry but recreation as well,” Moskovitz said. “It was started with sort of three pillars of sustainable forestry, education, and recreation, and it grew.”
In 2016, Hidden Valley Nature Center was sold to Midcoast Conservancy while the two retained their 1,200 acres of property. This was after joining forces with numerous land trusts to expand their approach to conservation so it includes forestry and recreation. Moskovitz said most land trusts were passive holders of property. With this in mind, the two thought it was important to be more engaged with the community because the higher involvement meant the more funds could be raised to protect the land.
“Hidden Valley Nature Center is sort of an engine for growth, bringing in members and money, and by doing that, the organization can expand its land holdings and land protection efforts,” Moskovitz said. “That’s a great model, and it could spread. It could be shown to other land trusts to do similar kind of things in their areas.”
Over the years, Moskovitz and Jones have won numerous awards, including the 2014 Regional Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year award for the Northeast region of the American Tree Farm System and the 2017 Cooperator of the Year Award from the Knox-Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District. In 2024, the two were the first people from Maine to win the Leopold Conservation Award for New England from the Sand County Foundation.
Moskovitz said he hopes the recognition from the awards inspires landowners and conservation organizations to do good things.
“Somewhere out there, there may be just the right person or persons or family that has been looking for this sort of gem of a place in a beautiful part of Maine,” Moskovitz said.
Interested parties can contact Moskovitz through email at [email protected].
This story appears through a media partnership with The Lincoln County News.
