Painters with a Maine cause

This fall, artists have flocked to the lake with a new and urgent mission. An opportunity for preservationists to acquire the remote property and make it part of adjacent Baxter State Park -- protecting it forever from the threat of development -- will be lost if the $14 million needed for the land deal is not raised by mid-December. With about a month left, the Katahdin Lake Campaign is short by $3 million.

Determined to do their part, Dunphy and 15 other artists have raised $27,000 for the preservation effort by auctioning off new paintings of the lake and mountain vista, considered an icon of American landscape painting.

Katahdin Lake was first targeted for protection 80 years ago, when former Maine governor Percival Baxter began piecing together the vast wilderness preserve that would bear his name. After leaving office in 1925, Baxter spent three decades assembling the 200,000-acre state park with his own money. He coveted the small lake 3 miles from the base of Katahdin, but failed to pry it from its owners before he died in 1969.

The latest attempt to buy the lake and 6,000 surrounding acres began more than three years ago, when Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit, began negotiating with the property's new owner. A land swap was proposed in which state forest and private woodlands, paid for by preservationists, would be exchanged for the lake. The deal weathered months of heated debate, including vigorous opposition by hunters, before legislators approved it by a wide margin.

Plans to build large resorts in other wild areas of Maine, such as Moosehead Lake, have infused the deal with a sense of urgency.

The state has contributed $2.5 million toward the purchase, and three individuals gave more than $1 million apiece. But much of the $11 million raised has come in small checks from donors who treasure memories of climbing Mount Katahdin, the 5,268-foot jewel of Baxter State Park.