The Appalachian Mountain Club has purchased land at the headwaters of the Pleasant River in Northeast Piscataquis County, shown in 2017. Photo (c) Jerry and Marcy Monkman/EcoPhotography.com/Courtesy of AMC

The Appalachian Mountain Club has purchased 27,000 acres of forestland near the 100-Mile Wilderness in Piscataquis County, increasing its conserved land holdings in the Moosehead Lake region to more than 100,000 acres.

The Pleasant River headwaters forest acreage purchased Tuesday is adjacent to 75,000 acres owned and managed by the Appalachian Mountain Club.

Acquiring and restoring the property will conserve one of the last remaining large, unprotected forest blocks in the region, the club says. The area forms “the heart of a globally significant watershed,” Steve Tatko, the senior director of Maine Conservation for AMC, said in a news release.

The Appalachian Mountain Club purchased the land for $18.5 million from The Conservation Fund. To date, AMC has invested $87.5 million in its Maine Woods Initiative in the Moosehead region.