Heads of the Estuaries Partnership
In 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 mouth of the Narraguagus River northeast to the mouth of the Machias River. Together, we and our partners are undertaking a series of projects to preserve more than:
25 miles of coastal wetland frontage
- 5,000 acres of coastal uplands
- 2,500 acres of intertidal and freshwater wetlands
Five Priority Areas were selected for their large pristine expanses of saltmarshes and intertidal mudflats and for nearby uplands with mixed growth forests drained through a network of freshwater wetlands:
- 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 furbearing mammals, as well as 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.
The footsteps of man have been light on this landscape and the visitor will both experience undisturbed wilderness and see small 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