Acadia East and West Beginning with Focus Areas of Statewide Ecological Significance Habitat Acadia East and West
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Focus Areas of Statewide Ecological Significance: Acadia East and West Beginning with Focus Areas of Statewide Ecological Significance Habitat Acadia East and West Biophysical Region • Maine Eastern Coastal WHY IS THIS AREA SIGNIFICANT? Rare Animals Lying just east of Penobscot Bay, Mount Desert Island Carolina Saddlebags Harlequin Duck is an ecologically prominent feature of the Maine Peregrine Falcon Least Bittern Big Bluet Peregrine Falcon coast. It encompasses roughly 60,000 acres, about half of which is within Acadia National Park. The rocky Rare Plants coastline of Downeast Maine attracts many visitors Alpine Blueberry Nantucket Shadbush who come for the views, sounds, and salt air. The Appalachian Fir-clubmoss Northern Bog Sedge shores of Mount Desert Island also feature unusual Bog Bedstraw Prototype Quillwort natural communities and several rare plants, and are Secund Rush Smooth Sandwort important as habitat for birds and other animals. Dwarf Rattlesnake Root Swarthy Sedge Horned Pondweed Mountain Sandwort New England Northern Reed Grass OPPORTUNITIES FOR CONSERVATION Comb-leaved Mermaid-weed » Educate recreational users about the ecological and economic benefits provided by the focus area. Rare and Exemplary Natural Communities » Encourage best management practices for forestry, Birch - Oak Rocky Woodland vegetation clearing, and soil disturbance activities Brackish Tidal Marsh near significant features. Coastal Plateau Bog Ecosystem » Minimize recreational impacts on sensitive areas Dune Grassland through careful siting of trails, combined with educa- Jack Pine Woodland tion and monitoring for overuse. Low-elevation Bald » Monitor and remove invasive plant populations. Maritime Spruce - Fir Forest Pitch Pine Woodland » Protect sensitive natural features through careful Raised Level Bog Ecosystem management planning on conserved lands. Red and White Pine Forest » Work with willing landowners to permanently pro- Red Pine Woodland tect undeveloped areas and significant features. Spruce - Northern Hardwoods Forest Spruce - Pine Woodland For more conservation opportunities, visit the Streamshore Ecosystem Beginning with Habitat Online Toolbox: www. White Cedar Woodland beginningwithhabitat.org/toolbox/about_toolbox. Significant Wildlife Habitats html. Inland Waterfowl and Wading Bird Habitat Tidal Inland Waterfowl and Wading Bird Habitat Deer Wintering Area Photo credits, top to bottom: Maine Natural Areas Program, B. Nikula, Maine Natural Areas Program, Sally Colt (bottom 2 photos) 1 Focus Areas of Statewide Ecological Significance: Acadia East and West Jordon Pond, Acadia National Park, Sally Colt FOCUS AREA OVERVIEW Mount Desert Island has an almost 300-year history of settle- ment, including extensive land-clearing and the peninsulas Public Access Opportunities and other islands in Penobscot Bay have been likewise settled » Acadia National Park or at least used for pasture and/or timber for centuries. Ecologically, Mount Desert Island is at the transition from the southwestern portions of our coastline, which share many “Isle of the Barren Hills”). Glacial and post-glacial activity characteristics with the Atlantic coast south of Maine, to the has left a series of north-south trending ridges separated by Down East coast, which shares more characteristics with the deep U-shaped valleys. The ridges are rounded along their Canadian Maritimes. The overlap of features from both eco- crests, and extensive windswept areas are treeless, standing logical regions is unique along Maine’s coast. “Southern” fea- out sharply above the predominant forest cover of the lower tures include pitch pine woodlands reminiscent of areas in the slopes. Cadillac Mountain is the best known; other prominent Mid-Coast region. The more boreal features include headlands hilltops are Pemetic, Parkman, and Penobscot Mountains on with roseroot (Rhodalia rosea) and beach-head iris (Iris setosa), the eastern half of the island; and Western, Acadia, and St. Sau- or rocky woodlands with patchy black spruce and heaths. veur Mountains on the western side. These dramatic ridges Much of the region is characterized by spruce-fir forests in vari- are juxtaposed against the rocky coastline, with a diversity of ous stages of post-disturbance succession. wetlands in the low-lying areas in between. Somes Sound, which bisects the island, is the only true fjord on the east coast Mount Desert Island’s prominence derives not only from its of the U.S. The upland soils are mostly thin and granitic, with biogeographic placement, but also from the exceptional many areas of bedrock or talus where soil development is combination of physical features that make up the island. minimal at best. Wetlands are underlain by marine deposits or The landforms of Acadia are among its best-known features, poorly drained tills, and include both mineral soil and organic and gave origin to the name Mount Desert Island (roughly, 2 Focus Areas of Statewide Ecological Significance: Acadia East and West soil wetlands. Fire is an important factor in Acadia’s natural history. The famed 1947 fire that burned most of the eastern side of Mount Ecological Services of the Focus Area Desert Island is the most recent extensive fire, but evidence • Supports regional biodiversity by of past burns is present in trees and soils throughout the Park. providing habitat for rare plants, animals, Post-fire aspen-birch communities are still abundant. The and natural communities spruce-fir forests, the dominant closed-canopy forest type on • Major migratory stopover, feeding, the island, include a large component of earlier-successional breeding and roosting area for myriad birch and red maple within the area that burned, along with bird species the maturing spruce and fir. Vegetation on the western half of • Nursery for juvenile fish and shellfish the island, which escaped the 1947 fire, reflects more clearly • Provides habitat for rapidly declining the underlying edaphic characteristics rather than the effects horseshoe crabs and marine worms of recent fire. Eastern Mountains Economic Contributions of the Focus Area The ridges on the eastern half of the island include the most • Attracts hikers and campers to Acadia prominent of Acadia’s mountains. These feature expansive National Park open ridges where harsh conditions limit tree growth, and • Attracts tourism for wildilfe viewing, leaf- trees are either very sparse or occur as stunted woodlands. peeping, paddling, hiking, and biking Cadillac Mountain has the most varied vegetation as well as • Contributes to recreational value of the the greatest concentration of rare plants. area, including nearby coastal areas, by protecting water quality, fisheries, and The open areas running from the summit of Cadillac south wildlife habitat along its ridge include areas of low-elevation summit bald, • Provides scenic vistas that contribute to subalpine heath – krummholz, pitch pine woodland, and jack Maine’s natural character, including views pine woodland. The slopes of Cadillac display the full altitu- from the top of Cadillac Mountain dinal range of post-fire aspen-birch woodland/forest complex • Supports local marine resource industries. vegetation, ranging from forests to woodlands to scrubby • Valuable recreational resource for local shrublands on the upper slopes. Rare plants on Cadillac residents and visitors from around the include Appalachian fir-clubmoss (Huperzia selago), alpine world blueberry (Vaccinium boreale) at its only low-elevation site in Maine, and smooth sandwort (Minuartia glabra). example of a red pine – white pine forest. Nearby mountain ridges—Champlain, Dorr, Pemetic, Penob- scot, Sargent, and Norumbega—have similar pitch pine wood- Near-Coastal Low Hills land and subalpine heath – krummholz vegetation, with some The lower hills near the coast show the conifer woodlands in smaller areas of low-elevation summit balds. The side slopes a slightly different expression. On Mount Desert Island, good of The Bubbles have good examples of birch – oak talus wood- examples of pitch pine woodlands are seen on many of the lands, which are different in both tree and herb flora from the low hills near the coast, including Kebo Mountain, the area more common spruce talus woodlands. Together, Cadillac and northwest of Thunder Hole, and along the Beachcroft Trail. the other eastern mountains form an extensive network of Rocky woodlands dominated by northern white cedar (Thuja these uncommon community types. occidentalis) can also be found on some of the lower hills (rarely on the mid-to-upper slopes) on Mount Desert Island. Western Mountains These white cedar woodlands have not been documented The mountains on the western side of Mount Desert Island anywhere else in the state; if they occur elsewhere, it would tend to be more fully vegetated, in part because they escaped almost certainly be along the coast. Two variants have been the 1947 fire, but also because most are somewhat lower seen on Mount Desert Island: a fairly dry and acidic expression than the eastern mountains. Western Mountain and Bernard with cedar and heath shrubs, and a more mesic setting with Mountain have good examples of spruce – fir – broom-moss white cedar and ash over thin seepy soils. forests, including some areas of old-growth. The pitch pine woodlands that are so characteristic of Acadia and Mount Des- RARE AND EXEMPLARY NATURAL COMMUNITIES ert Island occur on the western mountains as well—e.g. Acadia Wetlands Mountain and St. Sauveur, including an interesting variation The