This weekend the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, normally focused on preserving land for the future, will take time out to celebrate work in the past.

This year is the 20th anniversary of the land trust, which has conserved 560 acres of land on 21 different parcels and has its eye on more.

Founded in 1985, the land trust began as a small group of Cape Elizabeth residents sitting around a living room trying to identify their goals and really “just figuring out … what a land trust really meant,” said Frank Strout, a member of the land trust’s Board of Directors since 1987.

It wasn’t until the purchase of six acres on the shore of Great Pond in 1990 that “got us on the map,” Strout said. Until that time they had a few easements donated, but that was “our first big purchase.”

The purchase of the Great Pond parcel through a fund-raising campaign was a threshold for the land trust. “At first it was little steps, but once we got the public to recognize the land trust,” Strout said.

“That’s when we saw people come forward and start donating easements.” Since that time the land trust has developed into a much larger and more organized group.

Strout said what has been really important is the land trust’s ability to coordinate with other organizations to realize their goals.

“You have to, because you can’t ask people to go to the well too many times,” he said. Without working with the state and federal governments to obtain matching grants many of the large land purchases wouldn’t have been possible.

“The land trust is as strong as it’s ever been,” said Executive Director Chris Franklin. One of the reasons it has been so successful is the help that volunteers have given – about 1,000 hours of volunteer time every year, Franklin said.

The land trust has gone through some major changes in just the past five years, including hiring Franklin as the first full-time executive director in 2003.

“We’re a much more vibrant and active organization,” Franklin said. Membership has grown to 400 households, almost double the number two years ago, when Franklin was hired, and its budget has nearly quadrupled in that time, from around $40,000 to $160,000.

Some of the most significant purchases in the past five years have also helped invigorate the organization, including the purchase of the Robinson Woods on Shore Road in 2000, which Franklin called the land trust’s “flagship property,” and the purchase of the development rights last spring to the William H. Jordan Farm on Wells Road, ensuring the agricultural tradition of Cape Elizabeth is preserved, a goal the town and the land trust share.

The land trust was able to buy the 81-acre Robinson Woods at half the appraised value after a $2.1 million fund-raising campaign.

The parcel is a unique property that has never been farmed, so it is “strikingly different than the forest around it,” Franklin said, including vernal pools and old-growth forest not found anywhere else in Cape Elizabeth.

Franklin estimates the property is visited by a couple hundred people a week and serves as an outdoor classroom for the town’s schools.

Education has always been a major focus for the land trust. “We know we need to educate people about what a land trust is and what it does,” Strout said. Franklin said education leads to appreciation of the natural resources, which leads to good stewardship of the natural resources, which leads to the “perfect members” for the land trust.

Franklin said the events Sunday are also a celebration of what the land trust is looking forward to during the next 20 years. The land trust’s goals will begin to focus more on the stewardship of the land already conserved by coming up with management plans for those properties and to preserve neighborhood access to those parcels.

Franklin said virtually every neighborhood in town has access to established trails and the land trust would like to preserve as many of those as possible. Many of those access paths cross private property, which could be a problem in the future.

The land trust would like to obtain permanent conservation easements over as many of those because “you can’t just rely on the current land owners,” Franklin said. “Land does change hands and new owners might have different views on those trails.”

Strout would like to see a land acquisition endowment of some kind created to allow the land trust to react quickly if land becomes available.

The planning for the anniversary celebration Sunday began in February and will involve about 120 volunteers. Beginning the day will be the Blake Hall & Allen CELT Challenge, the first-ever triathlon held in Cape Elizabeth. A 400-yard swim will begin at 8 a.m. at the Richards Community Pool, followed by a 10-mile bike ride on a Route 77 – Spurwink Avenue loop, followed by a three-mile cross-country run through the Gull Crest trails. The race will be run by 148 athletes ranging in age from 12 to 65, from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. More than 80 are from Cape Elizabeth.

Following the triathlon, at 10 a.m., will be the Rand Stoneworks Harvest Market and Community Barbecue at the Gull Crest Fields, which will include a farmer’s market with many of Cape’s local farms, a best-tasting pie contest, judged by several town councilors, and even a rubber-chicken catapult.

Tickets for the day’s events can be purchased for $6 from the land trust before the event or on Sunday. To purchase a ticket or ask a question about the anniversary celebration, call the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust at 767-6054.