Officials for Alna and Midcoast Conservancy said they want to talk more about the topics that came up Feb. 1. They said those talks included selectmen’s money request the board first approached the nonprofit about in 2016 and a new line of discussion about better public access to the Sheepscot River.

Conservancy executive director Jody Jones on Feb. 2 described the talks as having opened a door for both entities to work together. No plans were reached except to continue the conversation, she and First Selectman David Abbott, interviewed separately, said.

The board would still like to see a yearly contribution that reflects all the conservancy’s Alna properties including those it has been paying nothing on, Abbott said. He said one suggestion the board floated Feb. 1 was for the group to pay annual sums based on taxes the town levies under the lower, tree growth rate; the rate would apply to all the conservancy’s Alna properties, Abbott explained.

Under that scenario, the town wouldn’t be getting more money, Abbott said. The point of seeking the contribution has been about fairness among Alna’s property owners, selectmen have said; they said many residents open their land to snowmobiling or other uses, but they still pay taxes toward town services.

According to an email Jones sent selectmen Jan. 26, the organization has been considering seeking tax-exempt status in each town it has conserved property, but has not decided how it would use that status.

Jones said Feb. 2 she will be taking the tree growth rate idea under advisement. She said the conservancy will consider what possible arrangement to make with Alna along with other towns it has property in. A key aspect the conservancy is looking at is a two-fold one, about services, Jones said: the services it gets from the towns and the services it provides them, such as access to properties for hiking trails, fishing and hunting.

“To some people, that’s not very important,” Abbott said about the public access to the conservancy’s preserves in town. If the conservancy’s payments reflected all its properties, not some, “The public perception would be better,” he said.

According to Jones, 90 Alna households belong to the conservancy, and its volunteers from Alna include members and non-members; it’s not an elite group, she said. In the interview and a Feb. 2 followup email to selectmen, Jones said she was impressed with several participants’ comments that showed they shared the conservancy’s “core values” about the importance of access to land and the Sheepscot River.

The conservancy’s Bass Falls and Trout Brook preserves, detailed at www.midcoastconservancy.org, each have river access, but it’s a hike, she noted in the interview. On exploring possibilities for improved river access, she said it fits with the conservancy’s mission; her primary focus is not on whether it would be conservancy- or town-owned; it’s the idea of working with the town to improve river access for people of all abilities, she said.  “I think this is a great opportunity (for) something magical to happen.”

Abbott said the board is willing to talk more about it. Canoeists and swimmers access the river near Head Tide Dam, but it would also be nice to have access downriver, he said.