Summer 2006
State Grants Help Protect Coastal Access Sites Downeast
Of the 85 miles of downeast coastline that lie within the Town of Machiasport, the best known stretch may be Jasper Beach. This crescent of fine red cobbles, framed by rugged headlands, offers views out to the islands of Machias Bay.
Local efforts in the 1970s led to creation of a town park at Jasper Beach that has long provided public shore access. However, few people realized that the town owned only a narrow stretch of waterfront, and that most of Jasper Beach was privately held and could be developed. When a 30-acre parcel with much of the beachfront that the public enjoys went on the market last year, area residents worried about changes to their favorite beach.
Recognizing this threat to traditional community access, Maine Coast Heritage Trust approached the sellers to explore a conservation solution. Fortunately, long-time owners Clinton and Carol Fuller were open to selling the land for below its market value. Working with the Town, MCHT sought project funding from the State’s Land for Maine’s Future Board. This spring, the LMF Board awarded a generous $366,000 grant toward the purchase, allowing MCHT to finalize an agreement with the Fullers and transfer the beach property to the Town in the future. “We strongly support this project,” commented Phil Rose, Machiasport Selectman, “for Jasper Beach is a major local attraction. We welcome opportunities to gain more public access and keep more shore land undeveloped.”
At its May meeting, the LMF Board also recommended a major grant supporting MCHT’s work with Great Auk Land Trust (GALT) to increase recreational access around Pleasant Bay. The $586,000 awarded by LMF will support efforts to acquire three outstanding sites where people can enjoy hiking, picnicking and hunting along the shores of the bay. Among the properties MCHT hopes to acquire in partnership with GALT are a peninsula in Harrington; a wild island in Addison; and a prominent coastal mountain in Steuben. As with the Jasper Beach project, municipal officials are strong proponents of the work: “Properties that the locals have traditionally used for recreation and shore access are being lost at an alarming rate,” wrote one local selectman. “It’s very important that these lands be preserved for public use.”
President’s Column by Jay Espy
Public Funding is Critical to Successful Conservation
Our cover story on Land for Maine’s Future (LMF) projects downeast demonstrates the essential role that public funding plays in supporting land conservation. Since the LMF Program was first funded by a public land bond in 1987, it has helped conserve a remarkable array of natural gems—from the Rangeley Lakes and the Cutler Bold Coast to Maine Coast Heritage Trust’s Marshall Island. Subsequent LMF bonds, in 1999 and 2005, received overwhelming support from voters in every county. Clearly, the people of Maine cherish the state’s natural heritage and view land protection as a sound investment in our future.
State and federal funding have helped MCHT accomplish ambitious land protection goals in the Campaign for the Coast, and our new strategic plan highlights the continued importance of such public funding. The future of public funding for conservation is uncertain, however, given significant declines in federal and state funding sources.
Given these trends, Maine needs to begin exploring creative new ways for government to participate in financing land conservation. We might consider adapting models from elsewhere around the country—such as the use of conservation tax credits that encourage individuals and businesses to permanently conserve their properties. In some states, these credits have an added benefit over federal tax deductions in that they can be traded or sold to other parties. The State of New Jersey offers an incentive for municipalities to adopt local option taxes by providing matching funds to communities that apply a local tax supporting land protection. In other regions, conservation receives funding from dedicated revenues (such as development impact fees or revenues from real estate transfers).
Some Maine towns already have begun to generate public funds for local conservation efforts. Several communities have approved local land bonds, and at least one town is applying current use tax penalties to a dedicated land fund. Many municipalities now realize that land protection is not simply a discretionary tax expenditure but an essential investment in community infrastructure—helping to sustain recreational traditions, protect natural resources and wildlife habitat, stimulate the local economy, and make communities more appealing to residents and visitors.
Enacting conservation financing measures can be challenging, particularly in a time of budgetary belt- tightening. Maine must take this initiative, though: with each year that passes, the costs of land conservation rise and the opportunities for significant protection diminish. Mainers have demonstrated their commitment to fund further protection through three land bonds spanning nearly 20 years. Now, that commitment must extend to new and expanded means of financing conservation.
Public funding for conservation is not a topic that stirs the heart, admittedly, but it just may be one of the essential tools needed to save this remarkable place we call Maine. And that vision certainly stirs my heart.
Stewardship in the Field:
Halting the Spread of Invasive Plants
Many landowners, both families and conservation organizations, are facing a new management challenge—controlling the spread of aggressive introduced plants that can disrupt natural ecosystems. Roughly a third of the vascular plant species found in Maine are not native, but only a fraction of these are classified as invasive (meaning they reproduce rapidly and can overtake large areas, causing environmental and economic damage).
“Invasive plants are hard to eradicate,” notes MCHT’s Stewardship Director, Jane Arbuckle. “Some can be uprooted early on, or cut back repeatedly over a season, but it takes constant vigilance to keep the population from spreading.” Invasive plants are particularly common where soils have been disturbed but, due to transport of seed by wind and wildlife, they can show up even on protected properties. “Maine is in better shape than many states to the south of us,” Arbuckle says, “but several invasives are moving northward and are showing up on MCHT preserves.”
The following five species are becoming more common on Maine lands: keep an eye out for them!
Asiatic Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculata): This vine rapidly twines around other vegetation, strangling tree and shrub stems and shading out other plants. People often use its yellow fruit casings and bright red berries in decorative wreaths and flower arrangements, inadvertently hastening its spread. Birds also disperse the berries.
Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica): also known as Mexican bamboo, forms dense thickets up to 9 feet high that shade out surrounding plants. Knotweed spreads through underground rhizomes, making it difficult to remove. It is common in moist, open areas such as riverbanks and in disturbed soils.
Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii): This shrub, often used as an ornamental in landscaping, commonly appears in old fields and second-growth forests, its bright red berries transported by birds. With its rapid growth of spiny branches, barberry can readily crowd out native understory plants.
Non-native Honeysuckle species (Lonicera genus): There are several invasive varieties of honeysuckle: the trailing Japanese vine and the shrub varieties Morrow and Tartarian. The trailing woody vine can grow up to 30 feet, girdling the stems of other plants and shading them out. The shrubs, common in former farmfields and forest edge areas, quickly overshadow many native species.
Common and Glossy Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica and Frangula alnus): These shrubby trees grow up to 20 feet, forming dense, even-aged thickets in wetlands and woodland understories. Birds and mammals readily disperse their red fruit.
What You Can Do to Help
- Educate yourself about problematic species and do not buy ornamental or landscaping plants that are invasive. Just because your local nursery or home improvement stocks a particular species, don’t assume that it is safe to plant. Read the brochure “Gardening to Conserve Maine’s Native Landscape: Plants to Use and Plants to Avoid” (online at www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/2500.htm or request a hard copy by contacting the Maine Natural Areas Program at 207-287-8044 or toni.pied@maine.gov).
- Do not bring plants into Maine from elsewhere, and be careful not to transport plant materials inadvertently on boat trailers, outboards and anchors. Invasive aquatics (see web link below) are threatening the health of Maine’s rivers and lakes.
- If invasives have already become established on your property, review the factsheets on the Maine Natural Areas Program website (see link below) to learn about control measures.
For More Information:
The Maine Natural Areas Program (www.mainenaturalareas.org) has factsheets to help in the identification and control of the most prevalent invasives.
The New England Wildflower Society (www.newfs.org) has a list of “Alternatives to Invasive Species” for those seeking less problematic landscaping varieties.
Information on freshwater aquatic spcies is provided by the State at http://www.state.me.us/ifw/wildlife/milfoil.htm. To learn more about marine invasive species, visit the website http://massbay.mit.edu/exoticspecies/index.html.
Strengthening Existing Conservation Easements
As the land conservation movement has matured, so has the language employed in conservation easements. Easements are voluntary agreements that allow landowners to preserve ecological and scenic features of their property while retaining ownership. “Easements drafted today reflect the extensive knowledge we’ve gained about conservation standards and stewardship,” notes David MacDonald, MCHT’s Director of Land Protection. “We’re continually revising easement language to provide greater clarity for the landowner and better protection of the land’s public benefits.”
Some landowners have begun approaching MCHT to explore how they might strengthen their existing easements. Recently, for example, the Faunce family worked with the Trust to better protect Monroe Island, their 225-acre property off Owls Head. The original 1973 easement, held by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, allowed for five houses and five docks distributed around the island—a level of development the family no longer considered pursuing. While existing easements usually are amended, in this case it was simpler for the family to donate a second, more restrictive easement to MCHT overlaying the old one. The new easement sites all future development within a single 2-acre building envelope set back more than 300 feet from the shore. “Clustering potential development in one small area ensures that 223 acres of the island will remain undisturbed,” notes MCHT Project Manager Betsy Ham, “protecting wildlife habitat and preserving beautiful views from Owls Head Light State Park and the Vinalhaven and North Haven ferry routes.”
The decision to strengthen an existing easement may be prompted by the impending sale or transfer of property, as was the case with a recent project on Deer Isle. Ten years ago, landowners Stan and Peg Myers donated a conservation easement on their 34-acre shorefront property in Stonington to Island Heritage Trust. Having volunteered with the local land trust and monitored easements, the Myers realized that it would be helpful to tighten and clarify easement restrictions on the portion of the property they were planning to sell. “This amendment eliminated one subdivision right, further limited the reserved building rights, and clarified restrictions,” notes MCHT Project Manager Ciona Ulbrich, who worked with the Myers, “making it easier for the land trust to monitor the property and communicate with landowners over time.”
Amending a conservation easement can be a fairly easy process in cases where the landowner wants to make a simple change, such as extinguishing allowed building rights or bringing the easement into compliance with federal requirements to allow for additional estate tax incentives. If owners seek a substantial change, though, the process may become as involved as a new easement (and may require legal and appraisal services). “For the amendment process to be worthwhile—for the landowner and the land trust, there must be conservation gains that clearly benefit the public,” notes MacDonald. “Then the landowner may be able to recoup some of the transaction costs through a reduction in estate taxes, additional income tax deductions and possibly reduced property taxes.”
If you would like to strengthen existing conservation restrictions on a property under easement, please contact MCHT staff to discuss whether an easement amendment might be worth pursuing.
Land Heritage Award Winner
At the Maine Land Conservation Conference in May, MCHT presented its annual Land Heritage award to Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust (RLHT), a regional trust that has helped to conserve more than 12,000 acres—including 40 miles of lake and river frontage—in its first 15 years of operation. As he made the award, MCHT President Jay Espy noted that “RLHT has had a tremendous positive impact, not only on the landscape, but also on the economic health and community traditions in the remote corner of Maine that it serves.” RLHT serves as a model of community involvement—coordinating a regional water quality and invasive plant program, and sponsoring a grant-supported environmental education and outdoor recreation program.
Accreditation Update
Last year, land trusts around the country helped design a new voluntary accreditation program to foster public confidence in conservation work, help ensure long-term land protection, and recognize those trusts that have implemented high standards and practices. MCHT’s Director of Land Protection David MacDonald recently was appointed to a 13-member national board that will oversee this new Land Trust Accreditation Commission, which is an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance.
In its first year, the Commission will develop policies to provide a fair and thorough review of applications and procedures for granting a seal of accreditation to successful applicants. Pilot tests of the new accreditation system will be underway by 2007, with the program fully operational by 2008. More than 1,000 land trusts are eligible for accreditation.
