Natural Resources Chapter Comprehensive Plan Inventory & Analysis Adopted: May 20, 2006 Amended: November 5, 2013 November 6, 2007 Planning Board of York, Maine at time of chapter adoption: Glen MacWilliams, Chair Tom Manzi, Vice Chair Barrie Munro, Secretary Lee Corbin David Woods Lewis Stowe, Alternate ENACTMENT BY THE LEGISLATIVE BODY Date of Town vote to enact this Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan: ______________. Certified by the Town Clerk: _________________________________ on ___________. (signature) (date) Comprehensive Plan – York, Maine TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 II. ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................ 3 A. A GIFT FROM THE ICE AGE ........................................................................................ 3 1. Physical Resources..................................................................................................... 3 2. The Water ..................................................................................................................... 3 3. The Air ........................................................................................................................... 4 4. Living Resources ......................................................................................................... 4 B. NATURAL RESOURCE VALUES WE ENJOY .......................................................... 4 C. THREATS TO OUR NATURAL RESOURCES........................................................... 5 D. INTER-RELATED SYSTEMS, NOT ISLANDS ........................................................... 6 III. INVENTORY ......................................................................................................................... 8 A. TERRESTRIAL RESOURCES ...................................................................................... 8 1. Geology ......................................................................................................................... 8 2. Topography and Slope ............................................................................................. 11 3. Soils ............................................................................................................................. 12 4. Hydrology .................................................................................................................... 17 B. AIR RESOURCES ......................................................................................................... 28 C. COASTAL RESOURCES ............................................................................................ 29 1. Extent of Marine Influence ....................................................................................... 29 2. Marine Resources & Public Access to Coastal Waters ....................................... 30 3. Coastal Sand Dune Systems ................................................................................... 39 4. Coastal Island Registry............................................................................................. 41 5. Coastal Barrier Resource System .......................................................................... 42 6. Heritage Coastal Areas ............................................................................................ 43 7. Sea Level Rise ........................................................................................................... 43 8. Beach Erosion ............................................................................................................ 43 9. Coastal Bluffs and Landslide Hazards ................................................................... 43 D. HABITAT ........................................................................................................................ 45 1. Plants .......................................................................................................................... 46 2. Animals ....................................................................................................................... 47 3. Invasive Species ........................................................................................................ 54 4. Arthropod-Borne Diseases ....................................................................................... 56 E. PROTECTED CONSERVATION LANDS .................................................................. 57 1. Publicly Held Lands and Easements ...................................................................... 58 2. Privately Held Lands and Easements .................................................................... 59 F. SCENIC RESOURCES ................................................................................................. 60 1. Scenic Points ............................................................................................................. 60 2. Scenic Routes ............................................................................................................ 60 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................. 62 A: INDEX OF MAPS .............................................................................................................. 62 B: INVENTORY OF MARINE RESOURCES ..................................................................... 63 C: SCITUATE POND WATER QUALITY SUMMARY ...................................................... 65 Natural Resources Chapter – Inventory and Analysis i Comprehensive Plan – York, Maine NATURAL RESOURCES I. INTRODUCTION This Chapter is a portion of the Inventory and Analysis section of the York Comprehensive Plan. Its purpose is to provide information about York’s natural resource base. These are the physical foundations upon which municipal policies elsewhere in the Comprehensive Plan will be constructed. By law, comprehensive plans must contain an inventory and analysis of the town’s natural resources. Natural resources form a complex, interrelated system that is far more than the sum of the parts. The natural resources system includes living and inanimate components—from water and soils to plants and animals. The natural resources system includes components that go unnoticed and those that are obvious—from air and microscopic organisms to forests and the sea. This chapter must accomplish two distinct objectives. First, it must contain an inventory of the community’s natural resources. Second, it must analyze the natural resource. It is important to consider the meaning of each of these objectives. The inventory is simply a listing and description of all the resources in the Town, usually accompanied by maps. Topics are typically grouped by subject matter—geology, water, flora, fauna, and so on. The range of natural resources to be included in the inventory is specified in state law, although this can be expanded if desired. The level of detail of the inventory can range from quite simple to extremely detailed, and it will vary from one natural resource to another, as there is unequal information about all natural resources. The inventory is relatively static, as the natural resources typically do not change rapidly over time. The natural resources analysis must accomplish 3 tasks: 1. Describe the functions of the entire, inter-related system. 2. Identify and explain the inter-relationships between the various parts of the system. 3. Assess the susceptibility of component parts and the system as a whole to damage and degradation. To provide a framework for the analysis, the natural resources are considered from the point of view of the ecology. The key concept in ecology is the inter-relationships between all the component parts of the system. While an assessment of the ecology may not include all aspects of the natural resource systems at this time, the ecological framework allows for more specific information to be added when it becomes available. Development of this chapter begins with the inventory and proceeds to the analysis. Its presentation in the text, however, is reversed—analysis first and inventory second. The Natural Resources Chapter – Inventory and Analysis 1 Comprehensive Plan – York, Maine reason for the reverse order is that the analysis focuses on the big picture, not the details, so that we do not focus unnecessarily on the details and lose sight of the whole. This is especially important because information about a community’s natural resources and ecology may be incomplete or changing. With a good understanding about the overall system, however, it is possible to move beyond imperfect data. As an example, there may not be a detailed list of all insect species in York, yet we know that York does have the greatest known biodiversity of any town in Maine. It would be inappropriate to focus on the lack of complete data when, in fact, it’s the great biological diversity that is so highly important and which is at great risk of damage or degradation from inappropriate development. Armed with an understanding of the whole, the Town will be in the best position to understand the impact on the whole that would result from changes to any particular component. Natural Resource information is presented in this inventory and analysis in text and graphic form. This chapter includes some large (22” by 34”) maps that help us