To honor her late husband and his abiding interest in land preservation, Diane Ackerman sold 50 acres — including a half-mile stretch of shoreline — on Runaround Pond to a local conservation trust.

Late last month, the Royal River Conservation Trust preserved the land to maintain its wild nature and offer public access to the area. Executive director of the trust, Alan Stearns, said John Ackerman was a kind of legend in town from his formation of the conservation commission in Durham in the 1970s and his environmental advocacy work. Ackerman, a forester and landscape architect, was instrumental in the creation of the Durham River Park, Runaround Pond Recreation Area and the Lisbon Island Preserve.

A long-time Androscoggin Land Trust board member, Lisbon Island was renamed Ackerman Island in his honor, his wife said. The Ackermans raised their three children on Bowie Hill Road and made their home in Durham until John’s passing in 2014.

Diane, now living in Topsham, said her husband bought the 50-acre parcel in the 1990s, intending to use it as a wood lot, and to preserve it. “It was always in the back of his mind, and he thought people were developing too much on wetland areas, and he wanted to preserve them because of their importance to nature,” she said, adding it is a beautiful spot she wanted to preserve for swimming, boating and fishing for the community.

“It would have been a shame if somebody built on it,” she said. Ackerman said it is up to the people to protect and promote conservation when they can. “Every bit helps,” she said, adding their children — Adam, Seth and Rebekah — are also in favor of preserving the land.

Stearns said the trust began to acquire land in Durham two years ago and said community support has been strong. The trust and the town now owns or manages nearly 300 acres of contiguous land along Runaround Pond and the source of Chandler Brook.

“Our hard work funded by generous donors now guarantees protected habitat, cleaner water, lush forests, and public access for fishing boating, hunting, skating, snowmobiling and more.” said Stearns in a media release.

Funding for projects come from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, Betsy and Stephan Cushman, landowner donations and grant support for the trust’s Royal River trail projects. According to historical context provided by the trust, King spent much of his childhood on Runaround Pond Road in West Durham, moving to town in 1958 at age 11. The writer’s first books, as well as recent works draw on childhood memories of the town and the watershed.

In 2015, the trust acquired land now known as the Chelsey Meadows Preserve, made possible by donations from the Chelsey family, the Colson family, and the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership.

“The late Barbara Chelsey and the late John Ackerman both played pivotal roles in the fist conservation projects on Runaround Pond in 1975,” Stearns said. “We would like to honor the leadership of these families by installing a brass plaque on a ledge at the town-managed recreation area.”

On Tuesday, the trust will ask the Durham board of select board for permission to install the plaque, as well as to accept $5,000 from the trust to continue improvements to the Runaround Pond recreation area, such as installation of a new sign, repairing a broken gate toward the dam, and installation of an informational kiosk near the boat access point.

Stearns said the purchase of the land is important to mitigate the loss of public access with private property closed to activities such as hunting and snowmobiling. When asked about future projects and swaths of land eyed in Durham, he said although the trust is always open to working with willing landowners, the focus now is on Runaround Pond.

“It’s a gem and if we can work to ensure it’s saved for the next generation, we’ve accomplished something special,” he said.

jlaaka@timesrecord.com

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