For the past few years, the Wabanaki nations in Maine, working with conservation organizations, have been undertaking a deliberate process for increasing access to and ownership of lands in the state in order to practice their culture. As part of that effort, the Passamaquoddy Tribe has reacquired parcels of significance to the tribe in Washington County, such as the shoreline in Machiasport with petroglyphs drawn by their ancestors, and is working to gain access to other sites, including an ancestral canoe portage trail between Cobscook and Machias bays. In addition to completed projects, there are currently 11 land return projects totalling more than 50,000 acres under way across the state, which will be one of the largest returns of private land in the history of the U.S.
