Bob Cummings, one of the founders of Phippsburg’s Land Trust, observes that Phippsburg recently acquired a status that is rare, possibly unique among Maine’s coastal towns. It can now boast of having 27 percent of the town’s property in protected status: about 900 acres at Popham Beach State Park, 300 to 400 acres owned by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, 600 acres at Morse Mt., 450 owned by the Phippsburg Land Trust, and the most recent addition, about 1,900 acres given to The Nature Conservancy (TNC) by an anonymous donor.
Although the donor was listed as anonymous, Phippsburg residents had been wondering for years what the owner of the land, Richard Hatch, was going to do with it. Many were filled with trepidation that it would be lost to development and closed to the public. Now they can rest assured that this valuable natural resource and public access will be protected.
The Basin Preserve, says Nancy Sferra, who as Director of Science and Stewardship oversees stewardship of this new parcel in addition to all other Nature Conservancy holdings in Maine, is an especially interesting tract because of its ecological diversity. Visitors will have a difficult time deciding which of its treasures to explore.
They can choose to park at the “County Car Wash” (so dubbed because local people liked to drive vehicles through a small pond to clean the underpinnings, one traditional use that will no longer be permitted) and hike through hemlock, pine and hardwoods to the New Meadows River. There, they can sit on granite outcroppings and enjoy cool sea breezes and a view of Cundy’s Harbor, Malaga and Bear Islands and neighboring wharves in Sebasco. They might spot an osprey or bald eagle, certainly some type of waterfowl. Or, they can drive up Meadowbrook Road to a small parking area and hike a well-maintained trail to an abandoned mica mine. Continuing on the trail, they can stop to enjoy inland breezes and the songs of woodland birds along ledges dotted with red and pitch pines. This is one of several stands in the preserve of the latter, which is at its northernmost habitat in Phippsburg.
Or, along the preserve’s four miles of shoreline, there are places visitors can reach either by driving or hiking, where they can picnic beside The Basin, a saltwater inlet on the New Meadows River long valued as one of the most protected and beautiful mooring spots for yachts cruising the Maine coast. At The Basin’s southern cove, once the location of two tidal mills, and still partially crossed by the remains of a mill dam, canoes or kayaks could easily be put in, except at or near low tide.
In another section of the preserve, past a cleared area on the Basin Road known as the Green Piece, visitors can explore trails in the woods beyond the field and may come upon one of many stone walls and cellar holes scattered in the parcel. This stone wall, though, is different, nearly five feet tall, a reminder of an impressive amount of labor in earlier times when much of the preserve was cleared for farmland.
Sferra says her short range goal is to establish a 20-mile trail system this summer, including one six-mile loop in the eastern section. (Walkers will not be limited to the trail system and may choose to bushwhack.) She plans to close several ATV trails to restore and protect wetlands that are between ridges that run north/south through the preserve and build bog bridges to cross the wetlands on the six-mile loop. She also aims to begin cataloging the preserve’s diverse plant and animal species and the varied natural communities.
Much of the work will be coordinated by Chris Cabot, who will serve as the first full-time steward of the property during the summer. Cabot brings broad environmental experience to the job, including outdoor education work at the Chewonki Foundation and in New Bern, North Carolina. He and Sferra hope to attract volunteers from the Phippsburg and larger community to help with the work. TNC has begun a fund-raising drive to establish a $750,000 endowment for continuous stewardship.
Other projects include asking Professor Drew Barton of University of Maine at Orono to conduct a fire history of the area, talking further with local residents about the history of the preserve, establishing GPS points for the location of historic features like cellar holes, old cemeteries and former industries, and to locate and remove invasive plant species like Japanese Knotweed and Broom Crowberry.
Sferra says in the future, TNC would like to develop GPS points for “earth caching,” a type of scavenger hunt where people who have GPS units hike to a GPS point and there discover information about an aspect of the preserve: a particular plant, industry, cemetery, habitat for animals, etc. Also, TNC will conduct more guided tours.
During the years since Hatch accumulated this property in the 1940s and 1950s, it has served as a vast recreational area for Phippsburg and neighboring towns’ residents with few restrictions, only those imposed by the local ATV club, Winnegance Wheelers, and the Phippsburg Sportsmen’s Club. They have maintained a network of ATV trails and have done their best to protect the area from misuse. But some people have chosen to abuse the property by straying from marked ATV trails and by dumping trash. “We’ve taken out eight pickup loads of trash, says Sferra. Judging from what is still visible, as at one spot on the Basin Rd., where numerous tires, a refrigerator, many parts of junked cars or trucks, and a concrete road barrier lie strewn with a deer skeleton, old pots and glass containers and a mattress; or the plastic containers and soda cans in a pit at the mica mine, there will be at least that many or more loads yet to be carted out. Sferra hopes TNC will be able to eliminate the dumping, which is also a big problem at the Green Piece. There, people have taken old computers, television sets and other discarded items for target practice and left them in shambles. In the future, target practice will no longer be permitted.
TNC is planning a long north/south multiple use trail for ATVs, horses and bikes which will link the northern end of the preserve to Route 217, the Sebasco Road. Sferra and Cabot have met with Winnegance Wheelers to discuss the trail’s location and TNC’s expectations as landowners. “It’s not usual for us to include an ATV trail within our preserves,” says Sferra, “but because there is a club here and a long standing history of use, we think we’ve come up with a good compromise situation.”
By the end of the summer, Sferra believes TNC will have a map of the trail system that includes roads that are open for cars and the location of parking areas and historic features. She will be able to provide maps for all local organizations and law enforcement officials and clarify what is allowed on the preserve and what is not acceptable use.
Hunting will continue to be allowed on the preserve, a policy Sferra says TNC follows for all but 650 acres of its 270,000-acre holdings in Maine. In addition, local shellfishermen will still be able to harvest clams and mussels on traditional flats.
Some Phippsburg residents have voiced concern that having the land in protected status deprives the town of much needed tax money. Others point out that TNC has committed to an annual $10,000 donation towards taxes (last year’s were $30,000), and agree with Phippsburg Elementary School teacher Merry Chapin, who observed at a meeting held in March that “This is a priceless partnership.”
“The school kids are benefiting,” Chapin said. (Sferra and others helped students plot GPS points on a nature trail they have constructed behind the school.) “The town benefits and real estate in Phippsburg is more appealing because we have this land. It’s a great advantage for us to have it.”
Cummings agrees. He adds that “I’ve worried for years that this 1,900 acres would go into development. That would have meant building a new school, and our taxes would have been even higher. It’s a tremendous benefit to the town.”
Now that TNC owns the property, Mike Tetreault, Executive Director of TNC in Maine, vows that the organization accepts “the substantial responsibility of managing the preserve in a way that both conserves its wonderful natural resources and provides good public access.”