Mason Bay Project Area
The most easterly of our Project Areas is Mason Bay which straddles the Jonesboro/Jonesport town line just east of Addison and at the head of Englishman Bay. Mason Bay is 1½ miles long and ½ mile wide. Nearly the entire bay drains at low tide, exposing roughly 500 acres of mudflats. The four streams that feed into the upper part of the bay, Southwest Creek, Mansfield Creek and both branches of White Creek, all have extensive salt marsh systems.
Mason Bay and its surrounding uplands provide exceptional habitat for migratory and wintering waterfowl, migratory shorebirds, bald eagles, woodcock and sea-run brook trout. Mason Bay is a popular spot for birdwatchers who have documented at least 16 species of shorebirds and 17 species of waterfowl using the area. Occasionally, birders have been treated to the rare sight of a peregrine falcon stooping on teal or plovers.
The habitat for over-wintering black ducks is particularly impressive. Because Mason Bay’s mudflats are open to the east they benefit from both wind-driven and tidal flushing and they rarely freeze over. Black ducks can feed here even in bitter cold winter weather. The gravel bars, high bluffs and tall trees break the wind and waves in the upper bay offering welcome shelter in coastal storms. In addition, several of the bay’s spring-fed brooks never freeze, providing reliable year-round sources of fresh water.
Shorebirds staging for their long trans-oceanic migrations are especially dependent on places like Mason Bay, where feeding areas are in close proximity to undisturbed roosting sites. Particularly notable are the high concentrations of whimbrel, a shorebird Species of Special Concern in Maine.
Currently the shores of Mason Bay are largely undisturbed. However, there are a number of threats to the area’s fragile environment. When the next wave of residential development breaks on the Downeast Coast, scenic waterfront properties in places like Mason Bay will again be in great demand. Because the lands surrounding the bay are predominantly glacial deposits, gravel mining and expanded commercial blueberry farming also pose threats.
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By December 2009 PRWF had acquired four superb properties, totaling over 425 acres of wetlands and upland buffer and nearly three miles of frontage along the north shore of the bay and fronting Southwest Creek and both branches of White Creek. Bargain sale gifts from conservation-minded landowners played a vital role in helping us protect their properties while major funding came from a Land for Maine’s Future grant as well as US Fish and Wildlife Service grants under the National Coastal Wetlands Program and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. We also received financial backing and technical support from our Heads of the Estuaries Partners.
By mid-2010 PRWF had acquired three additional properties and had a contract to purchase a fourth. When PRWF closes on this eighth property it will own over 650 acres of upland and associated wetlands with 4.2 miles of frontage on Mason Bay.
PRWF’s eight Mason Bay properties represent a significant new public resource near both Roque Island and Roque Bluffs State Park. Our Mason Bay properties offer roadside access to walking trails and birdwatching sites on both sides of the upper bay, and nearby boat launch facilities provide easy water access.
PO Box 154 • Addison • Maine • 04606 
207-518-7793 • info@pleasant-river.org