Notable Conservation Gains in 2007
Saddle Island, Penobscot Bay
Visitors to Camden Hills State Park who ascend Mount Battie look out at a chain of islands that extend south from Islesboro—just a few miles out from Camden Harbor. Near the end of that chain lies Saddle Island, a 10-acre wildlife haven with an active osprey nest, eagle perching sites and seal haulouts. A conservation easement recently given to Maine Coast Heritage Trust will protect forever the ecological and scenic values of this wooded gem and guarantee that people can continue to enjoy its two beaches.
Saddle Island belongs to David and Jack Taylor, whose father purchased the property in 1940 (for the princely sum of $250). Their family has enjoyed picnics and outings on Saddle over the intervening decades and wanted to pass the island on to the next generation without it being a financial burden. The easement precludes all future development (save for a possible tent platform), while granting public access to the two cobble beaches and a trail that links them. Jack Taylor says his family is pleased with their decision to preserve Saddle in perpetuity: “Now we can continue to enjoy the place,” he notes, “knowing it is well-protected for future generations.”
Small Point, Phippsburg
A conservation easement donated to Maine Coast Heritage Trust now protects the easternmost point in Casco Bay, a 30-acre peninsula in Phippsburg. With more than a mile of shore frontage, this property encompasses a wide array of habitats—including rocky headlands, scrub brush, woods, dunes and two small beaches. The easement precludes all future development, preserving the land’s exceptional scenic and ecological values (but it does not provide for public access).
The property is jointly owned by members of the Lee and MacFadyen families, two branches of the Sewall family that has held the land for decades. The owners are deeply committed to conserving their land and several generations of the family worked for more than 15 years to ensure its permanent protection. Family members credit their grandmother, Camilla Sewall Edge, and their mothers, Camilla Edge Lee and Mary-Esther Edge MacFadyen, for the foresight to pursue preservation of this land. “Our families have always wanted Small Point to remain wild and now we know that it will,” reflects Richard Lee, one of the property’s owners. Camilla MacFadyen Lewis, another family member, adds, “With the signing of this conservation easement, our families are finally realizing a dream that is several generations old—to preserve the Point forever.”
Little Kennebec Bay, Machiasport
During 2007, MCHT secured several new properties totaling nearly 70 acres along the western shore of Moose Snare Cove in Little Kennebec Bay, a “whole place” that the Trust has worked for more than two decades to protect. The recent purchases conserved lands along Moose Snare Cove and Johnson Point that had been slated for subdivision into 11 lots.
The newly conserved acreage adjoins lands that MCHT protected in 2006 in cooperation with the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and lies just across the water from MCHT’s Hog Island and 425 acres on Mill Pond owned by Bill Coperthwaite, who completed an easement with MCHT in 2003.
“The beautiful lands surrounding Moose Snare Cove and Mill Pond contain exceptional wildlife habitat and may afford opportunities in the future for shorefront trails that the public could enjoy,” notes MCHT Project Manager Patrick Watson. “Our most recent acquisition includes a trail easement along the eastern shoreline of Narrows Mountain. Within this 1,500-acre area, we now have more than 6 miles of undeveloped shoreline permanently protected. And work is still underway.”
