Winter 1998 TheNatureConservancy Forested Peninsula Above a tangled maze of roots and hollows, fallen logs and broken branches, six saplings stand straight in a row. They are an arresting sight: order within a forest of tall and tumbled trees where Nature alone decides what stands or falls. One could guess that these began as hopeful seeds released from cones of the hundred-year-old hemlock trees nearby. They sank their tendril roots along a moist, rich mound of moss and humus, marking the length of a single tree which had lain decomposing many years upon the forest floor. And the light, into which the young trees now grow, penetrates the forest canopy through the The 721-acre peninsula dominating very hole tom open - as if by foresight - when that nurse log first fell. Cathance Lake in Cooper, will stay forever wild. his densely forested peninsula, In 1930, when the Pike and Alden This commitment to conservation T which nearly bisects Cathance families looked across Cathance Lake was passed on to eleven hiers from Lake in Cooper, has many such stories at this peninsula, many of the forest Maine to Thailand. They concluded to teach about life within a forest left stands had not been harvested in some that as their families grew and shares to its own devices. And many more 30 years. Moses Pike purchased the were further subdivided, the chal­ generations will have the opportunity land with its six and a half miles of lenge of maintaining these lands in to learn them within this 721-acre shoreline on behalf of the families. their natural state would become ever forest, thanks to the Bailey Wildlife Together they watched as loons nested more complicated. Foundation, The Nature Conservancy in its coves, area fishermen pulled their W ith this in mind, they have and a 67-year tradition of private boats ashore and the forest followed its explored conservation alternatives stewardship by two Maine families. uncharted course. with The Nature Conservancy over the years. And with their permission, the Conservancy introduced the Bailey Wildlife Foundation to this maturing Downeast forest. Together with the families, the conservation partners agreed upon a new way of fulfilling the tradition of stewardship. Already a supporter of land pro­ tection in Maine (at the Waterboro Barrens Preserve), the Bailey Wildlife Foundation moved decisively: a $425,000 grant to the Conservancy is the largest in the Foundation’s history. In turn, The Nature Con­ servancy committed to raising the remaining $151,000 to complete the purchase. A National Fish & Wildlife Foundation grant of $75,000 has brought our fund-raising challenge Continued on page two e , & borders. Instead, they and resources of partners through the are defined by the pat­ kinds of community-based work terns of nature. underway in Cobscook Bay and around We will evaluate the Mount Agamenticus. At Mt. A, for . & J ? / importance of sites example, our work has included based on their eco- traditional land acquisition but has 4 - region-wide import­ also involved work with other land- a - ^ o ° aS ance as well as their owners to establish managment plans importance within that will protect elements of the larger Maine. The key con­ landscape. cept, I think, is that we Despite these new emphases, there n this issue of Maine Legacy, we will be able to set our priorities much is much that is not changing. For Iintroduce you to a work in progress. more strategically. Every project will instance, our mission remains focused It is called Conservation by Design and be seen in this larger context and on protecting the plant and animal the article appearing on pages 6 and 7 contribute to a larger vision. habitats that together represent the describes its origins and its impor­ Conservation by Design marks a new richness of earth’s bounty. Guided as tance. In short, it establishes a new way beginning for The Nature Conservancy, always by the best conservation of measuring conservation success, a change of tremendous importance, science, we continue to focus our on- using a yardstick that is much more not just for our organization, but, we the-ground protection efforts on ambitious and far less forgiving. fervently hope, for conservation specific sites where protection will Seeing Through Nature’s Eyes will worldwide. In addition, we have set make a significant and lasting describe why we believe it is important our sights on protecting significantly difference. to look at habitat on a broader scale in larger sites and landscapes. We will do We continue to work in the non- large naturally defined areas we call this, in part, by leveraging the interest confrontational manner that has been ecoregions. These ecoregions ignore state boundaries and even national Forested Peninsula continued from page one down to $76,000 for the coming months. Today, the Bailey Wildlife Founda­ tion holds title to the property while the Conservancy holds a forever wild conservation easement. Both organi­ zations looks forward to working in partnership to protect this naturally evolving forest and have agreed that traditional uses important to local residents, such as hunting, hiking and fishing, will continue. The peninsula is dotted with small wetlands, adding to its diversity and beauty. That continuity of protection and neighborliness is very satisfying to the “I have lived by or visited the lake “I like to plunge into the forest. I families. Moses Pike’s daughter, Mary every year for my 66 years,” she says. always find something new. One year Collegeman, travels back to Cathance “And I always make for the peninsula I remember striking off and the Fake every summer from her home in first thing and fetch up on one of those walking was very rugged. For balance, Washington State. The forested penin­ rocks along the shore. The peninsula I reached out to this large moss- sula is among her earliest memories. has survived as a remnant of the great covered boulder and my hand just Her father had purchased it just northern forest. It is healthy and went down and down and down. I’d months before she was born. beautiful and untouched.. never seen moss so deep and so rich. 2 - Maine Legacy, Winter 1998 Head of Tide Abagadasset River eer tracks, dark cloven imprints in the early Dwinter snow, lead to the shore of the Abagadasset River. A gently rising tide buckles the coating of ice which has glazed the estuary, sending low resonant pings along the marshy shoreline. Midstream and unfazed by Cathance Lake shore the sounds of cracking ice Life beneath the ice. WILLBRUNE so successful over the years and we (or of hushed human voices nearby), the conservation easement on this continue to enlist partners from all a great blue heron stands, gray as dusk stretch of the Abgadasset. walks of life. We will also continue to and rigid as statuary, waiting for an Snow was on no one’s mind when work through our decentralized struc­ unwary fish to swim beneath its sharp this story began last summer: the ture of offices and within the political and ready beak. Conservancy had written landowners boundaries that best serve human Under the snow near water’s edge, a along the tidal river seeking per­ governance. suite of rare plants awaits the spring: mission to enter their property to In other words, we continue to seek Estuary monkey flower (Mim u lu s inventory the vegetation in this part better ways to accomplish our mission ringens), Pygmyweed (Crassula aqua- of the Merrymeeting Bay watershed and reward your trust. tica), and Estuary Bur-Marigold (Biden (the river is one of seven that feed hyperborea) among them. It is about Merrymeeting Bay). Leyman and the plants the human voices murmur. Detweiler readily granted that request, These belong to Fran Leyman and as did others, but they believed they John Detweiler, who have placed over could do more. “I am glad it will remain open to the 1,700 feet of Abagadasset River front­ Their deep charitable sale of the public. We’ve had some very good age in Bowdoinham under conser­ easement covers 41 acres at head of neighbors who have been kind and vation easement with the Friends of tide, where uplands of red pine, oak helped us protect the land from harm. Merrymeeting Bay. Along with Betsy and maple are cut by ravines slicing They value what this undeveloped Ham, Executive Director of Friends of to the Abagadasset. At the base of the shoreland with its rocks and sandy Merrymeeting Bay, and W ill Brune, ravines, at the water’s edge, the rare stretches and deep coves means to the Assistant Director of Land Protection plants, which occur only in estuaries quality of the water and the quality of for the Conservancy, they have made and have their greatest concentrations their lives. their way through boot-deep snow to in Maine in these Merrymeeting Bay “And I’m glad for the loons” Mary inspect boundary markers to finalize environs, will emerge next spring. Collegeman says with a smile. Within the easement, the couple has “I’ve watched over the years as reserved a building lot well away from they’ve extended their nesting the marshland plants and the river. habitat from Loon Cove to Loon The Conservancy provided the land Point and on along the shore to trust funds to cover the nominal costs the east. They’ve been good of the easement. And now, as these neighbors too.” conservation partners and other members of the Maine Wetlands Coalition plan work around the H ead o f tide on the nationally significant resources of Abagadasset River.