Heads of the Estuaries Partnership
In early 2008, Pleasant River Wildlife Foundation helped bring together a consortium of governmental agencies, regional conservation organizations and local land trusts in a landscape scale collaboration to protect the heart of the Downeast Coast of Maine. The Heads of the Estuaries Partnership Region extends along a largely undisturbed coastline from the Schoodic peninsula northeast to Machias Bay. Together, we and our partners are undertaking a series of projects over five years to preserve more than:
25 miles of coastal wetland frontage
- 5,000 acres of coastal uplands
- 2,500 acres of intertidal and freshwater wetlands
Now, roughly half way into the effort, the Partnership has made dramatic progress. Over 2,400 acres with 13 miles of frontage have already been acquired and protected by the partners or are under contract and funded for near term closings. Agreements with owners are in place to protect a further 1,780 acres and 7.3 miles of frontage and applications for the grants necessary to fund these purchases have already been submitted.
In July 2009 the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Atlantic Coast Joint Venture recognized the Partnership’s success in identifying high value estuarine habitats, negotiating with land owners for their long term protection and raising the funds necessary to acquire fee interest or conservation easements. “The Heads of the Estuaries Partnership seems poised to quickly join the ranks of some of the ACJV’s most successful focus area partnerships in wetlands conservation, including areas like South Carolina’s ACE Basin, New Hampshire’s Great Bay and Maine’s Kenenbec Estuary.”
The HEP partners elected to focus their efforts in five Priority Areas selected for their large pristine expanses of salt marshes and intertidal mudflats. The uplands in these Priority Areas are covered in mixed growth forest and typically drain into the estuaries through a network of small streams, beaver flowages and other fresh water wetlands. The Priority Areas are:
- Back Bay/Flat Bay
Pleasant Bay/Crowley Island
- Mason Bay/Chandler River
- Little Kennebec Bay
- Machias Bay
The varied and interconnected habitats of the Priority Areas support abundant shorebirds, waterfowl and wading birds as well as woodcock, grouse, songbirds and raptors, over 250 bird species in all. A host of mammals, as well as amphibians, fish and other wildlife, all depend on the wetlands of these estuaries or their adjacent uplands. Public access on these lands remains critical for local residents who make their living from the sea and for both residents and visitors who enjoy coastal recreation.
Human footsteps have been light on this landscape and the visitor will experience undisturbed wilderness as well as seeing small rural communities in balance with their natural surroundings. However, the next wave of housing development already threatens. The Heads of the Estuaries Partnership is committed to seizing this rare opportunity to preserve forever some of America’s most biologically rich, gorgeous and intact coastal habitat.
PO Box 154 • Addison • Maine • 04606 
207-518-7793 • info@pleasant-river.org