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» acySpring 1997 m S TheNatureConservancy Faster Than Surprise Gift Doubles n Ayers Brook A Speeding Mayily Preserve NICK BECKER e often work on projects which long-range W take years or even decades to plans for the complete. So you can imagine our property. Other reaction when a critically important than his re­ Dark and sinuous Cold Stream and ice-coated Ayers Brook parcel of land was offered to us as a quest for more snake through important sedge meadow habitat. donation, but only if we could detailed infor­ complete the deal in just four days. mation on the tax treatment of char­ of the property would meet their Last December 26, Phillip King itable gifts, we had no indication Mr. needs as well - if it could be com­ called to offer 500 acres of rare Tomah King was contemplating such an offer. pleted by the end of the tax year. m a y fly ( Siphlonisca aerodromia ) Elowever, Mr. King and his brother, A very generous offer, but there are habitat just north of our Ayers Brook Carroll, were indeed giving the matter reasons most real estate contracts run Preserve. Three months earlier, we some very serious thought. Over for sixty days - namely the myriad had sent Mr. King, president of King Christmas they had determined a gift details of title searches and insurance, Brothers Land Enterprises of West property descriptions, site inspec­ Enfield, a letter introducing the tions, deed preparations, hazardous Conservancy and inquiring about his Continued on page two Tide waters surge toward the newly- Tailor-Made protected Crows Neck shoreline (seen in distance). Crows Neck is now part Conservation of a larger protected area with more wice daily massive tides muscle than five miles of shoreline at the T their way through the narrows at heart of Cobscook Bay. Reversing Falls and into the inner servation values. Conservation ease­ reaches of Cobscook Bay, sending a ments are tailored to each property, churning torrent of nutrient-rich restricting some activities and per­ seawater coursing straight at Crows mitting others. What makes them Neck. The rocky shores of the Neck particularly appealing is that it is the would seem hostile habitat, yet they landowner herself who does the are among the most remarkable on the tailo rin g . eastern seaboard. In this case, she spent three years Exactly how such turbulent con­ considering options, reviewing drafts ditions contribute to this shoreline’s and pondering what would be best high diversity and exceptional growth BRUCE KIDMAN for her family and for the land. One of benthic species (plants and animals Some 7,600 feet of this shoreline has of her first decisions was to work with that live on or near the sea bottom) is just been protected by a conservation the private conservation community. unknown. But the area’s importance to easement granted by a Trescott woman She asked Quoddy Regional Land wintering eagles from nearby Falls who saw the need to balance her im­ Trust (QRLT) to hold the easement Island and to waterfowl seeking good mediate needs and the future needs of and worked with The Nature Con- winter.forage in open water is obvious. her family with these diverse con­ Continued on page three if llKfljbrarv Use Only MAIN* STATE LlBfUfiV apr p a iq# holdings by 100,000 acres by the year 2000. We endorse that goal, and plan 4 * to ensure that at least 50,000 acres e have launched directly advance biodiversity pro­ . y / * an initiative to tection in addition to providing for ^ s p y strengthen our natural open space, recreational opportunities lands inventory and and other public values. This means .4 conservation planning that over the next four years, we plan ^ o°.1 O' efforts throughout the to protect nearly half as many acres as State of Maine, and to the 105,000 acres we protected in our coordinate these with first four decades. or the past eighteen months we our colleagues’ efforts in neighboring F have been working with Trustees states and provinces. Our goal is to and members to develop a new develop a “portfolio” of conservation 0 strategic plan to guide our work into sites which, if adequately protected, hrough our work with the the twenty-first century. As you would preserve the full biodiversity of members of the Maine Forest might expect, the plan reaffirms the the ecological regions of which Maine T Biodiversity Project and other stake­ Conservancy’s mission, traditional is a part. holders, we are committed to the values and time-tested approaches for establishment of a scientifically based on-the-ground conservation success. ecological reserve system. Our goal is Yet the plan also recognizes that, 0 to ensure that good examples of every while many spectacular natural areas ith just five percent of Maine in ecosystem type found in Maine are have been saved, many more are still public conservation ownership, W eventually protected. at risk: we will not be successful in we must dramatically increase the the long run if we are not able to amount of conservation land in dramatically speed up the pace - and the state. The Maine Economic the scope - of our work. With that Growth Council and Governor in mind, we have set our sights on King have established a goal of five truly ambitious targets: increasing Maine’s conservation Mayfly national Conservancy policy. There was no easy way to access continued from page one the property by either boat or foot waste assessments, and the signing, at that time of year, and time was notarization and registration of deeds, running out. The only choice was to name just a few. b y air. Could all this be condensed into four W ithin hours, Nick Becker, who KYLE STOCKWEli days between Christmas and New prefers his computerized mapping Cold Stream: on frigid December days like this, Tomah mayflies emerge from their eggs into Year’s? Key staff, out of state on duties at the Maine Chapter to low near-freezing waters. vacation, heated up the phone lines. altitude adventures in small Others fed legal documents to fax planes, was airborne, somewhat white- As soon as Nick was back on the machines, and attorneys in the Con­ knuckled in the face of buffeting winds. ground, he called in his report. There servancy’s regional office (always on “The wetland was clear from the air,” wasn’t much time to spare. The King duty at year-end) finally completed all recalls Nick, “and I was surprised at Brothers’ generous donation was the necessary steps - all but one. how much of the eccentric peatland delivered to the registry of deeds just It was the dead of winter. The site was actually part of the King Brothers’ hours before the close of 1996, adding near Passadumkeag in Penobscot tract. The wetland was dotted by black a bit more drama to an already dra­ County was remote, frozen, nearly ice-edged pools and Cold Stream matic gesture. inaccessible. Yet the opportunity to looked like a dark ribbon twisting back The donation, for which we are protect a 500-acre tract of nationally and forth along the western border. grateful to the Kings, doubles the acres significant wetland hinged on an Fortunately, as we’d expected, there the Conservancy has acquired to inspection of the site for hazardous were no signs of environmental haz­ safeguard one of nature’s rarest mayflies waste, a visual assessment required by ards that might delay a closing.” and an outstanding wetland complex. 2 - Maine Legacy, Spring 1997 Innovative for those conservation lands entrusted to our care. We will continue to Funding collaborate with partners, both public aine’s new Outdoor Heritage arger ecosystems cannot be and private, in sharing management Fund (MOHF) took an inno­ preserved through land acquisition expertise, resources and responsi­ M L vative approach to funding land alone, but instead require community- bilities to stretch all of our limited acquisition this fall when it approved based conservation efforts which blend resources further. a $100,000 proposal submitted compatible human uses with tra­ jointly by The Nature Conservancy ditional conservation, informed and eedless to say, this bold vision for and the Maine Department of Inland local decision-making and an engaged growing the scope and scale of N Fisheries and Wildlife. The grant is public. W hile these are, to some extent, our work will require expanding our the largest approved by the MOHF elements of our traditional land financial capacity, and we are currently board in the first round. protection endeavors, they take on developing plans to address that need. The proposal was unusual not even greater importance in large-scale But if we want M aine’s essential natural because it requested funds for im­ and partnership-based conservation heritage to remain intact for future portant habitat priorities, but because projects. Over the next few years we generations, The Nature Conservancy it offered three possible sites at which will expand such efforts at a handful must continue to provide the vision the funds could be spent: Kennebunk of high priority sites throughout the and leadership. With your help, we Plains, Mount Agamenticus and state, including the Mt. Agamenticus will... and we w ill su cceed . Cobscook Bay, all sites at which the region, the upper Saco River flood- Conservancy and IF& W are already plain, the north Maine woods, and working in partnership and for which Cobscook Bay. ecological needs are well established. “The grant provides unusual flex­ ibility,” says Horace Hildreth, chair of the seven-member MOHF board. s we ramp0 up all these “It makes sense in this case because efforts, we remain committed A the partnership has set clear land ac­ to ensuring excellent stewardship quisition criteria in each area and is building on a number of earlier successes.” Tailor-Made BRUCE KIDMAN continued from page one Two views of the varied Crows Neck shoreline in Cobscook Bay.

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