Town of Mt. Desert, Maine - Comprehensive Plan Update

Mount Desert Island is teeming with natural resources. These resources, along with the landscapes and habitats that maintain them, are one of the principal attractions of our community and are thereby central to our region’s sense of place and economy. Maintaining these natural resources in as pure a state as possible is important to the well-being of the entire region.

Our town’s most distinctive natural features characteristics are the rounded mountain peaks intermingling with the crashing surf of the Atlantic Ocean. These characteristics have brought tourists to our island for centuries.

These mountain peaks were formed thousands of years ago as glaciers ground the granite down and formed the distinct U-shaped valleys. These valleys are especially noticeable on Route 3 next to Hadlock Pond and in the drowned Somes Sound. The valleys trend north-south, and are noticeable between any of the island’s peaks: Otter Creek, Hunters Brook, Stanley Creek, Somes Sound, Echo Lake, and Long Pond.

In addition to attracting millions of visitors each year, these mountains and valleys have played a large role in determining our town’s development pattern. Because of these mountains, travel east-and west across the island is challenging, and has resulted in numerous areas of the community identifying themselves as individual villages rather than a whole.

This village pattern is especially prominent in Mount Desert, as Somes Sound nearly divides the town into two halves, and Penobscot and Pemetic Mountains further divide the town. In addition, the boundaries of Acadia National Park further separate the community into thin strips of land. People on the west side of the town in Pretty Marsh are worlds away from those in Otter Creek on the east side of the town. Other villages in between include Seal Harbor, Northeast Harbor, and Somesville.

Not all soils are equal. Farmers like soils that produce high yields with minimal amounts of energy. Developers like soils that are deep, well-drained, and stable. The soils needs of important ecological areas vary depending on the particular habitat.

Our town is underlain by three major soil associations: TLyman-Lamoine-Scantic, Dixfield-Marlow-Colonel, and Schoodic-Rock Outcrop-Naskeag. A soil association is a distinct pattern of soil types, topography, and drainage. Note that these soil associations are broad generalizations for planning purposes and that future land use changes should depend on more detailed site surveys.

Northeast Harbor, Seal Cove, and Otter Creek are currently served by public water and sewer. Outside of these built-up areas, the primary method of wastewater disposal will continue to be septic systems. In order to ensure that these systems work properly, they must be located in areas with proper slope and soil conditions so that wastewater can move vertically through the soil column.

Mount Desert’s shallow depth to bedrock in much of the community suggests that the town will have limited capacity to handle on-site septic disposal in many areas of town. According to the Soil Conservation Service, low density residential development could occur around Pretty Marsh Harbor; around Long Lake; between Long Lake, Echo Lake, and Somes Sound; and along the southern shore of the east side of the island.

Current residential development patterns suggest that future residential development will occur largely in these more rural sections of town.

Tumbling creeks, placid ponds, tidal marshes, and the eastern United State’s only natural fjord characterize the diversity of our town’s water resources. Each water resource fills a different role in the town’s natural environment.

Southern Shore – bold headlands and pocket beaches (Hunters Beach, Seal Cove, Bracey Cove) define the southern shore. These areas are largely seasonal homes that are served by public water and sewer. Acadia National Park occupies the interior highlands. The Northeast Harbor and Seal Harbor wastewater treatment plants discharge into these waters, and recent upgrades to the Seal Harbor plant will help improve the quality of the discharge.

Tests in Seal Harbor in recent years have indicated poor water quality, leading to many days of beach closures during the summer. In 2005, the MDI Water Quality Coalition (MDIWQC) conducted a study of Seal Harbor and the Stanley Brook Watershed (which drains into Seal Harbor) in order to identify the impacts of various pollution sources of these waters. Results indicated that stormwater drains account for 50% of the problems in the watershed, and road-related erosion accounts for an additional 25% of the pollution sources. Sediment and nutrients were the most common types of pollutants, although toxins and bacteria were found to be very severe when they did occur.

Somes Sound – nearly divides our community into two sections. Much of the shoreline and interior of the sound is owned by Acadia National Park. Somesville is located at the head of the sound. This village has public sewer, which helps minimize nonpoint pollution. Halls Quarry is a neighborhood abutting the sound that relies on underground wastewater discharge.

Bartlett Narrows/Western Bay – is a relatively undeveloped stretch on the west side of the island. All of the development in this area relies on underground waste disposal.

Lakes (Long Pond, Echo Lake, Seal Cove Pond, Jordan Pond, Hadlock Ponds) – are spread throughout our community. Most of the interior shorelines are within the boundary of Acadia National Park. Those that aren’t generally have a lower-density residential development pattern.

Water tests conducted by the MDIWQC at the north end of Long Pond between 2001 and 2005 generally showed E. coli levels to be safe; however on one occasion – July 10, 2001 – E. coli levels exceeded EPA standards for swim beaches. High bacteria levels may be due to birds, poorly performing septic systems, babies without swim diapers, bathers with intestinal illness, dog waste, or stormwater run-off at the beach site.

Overall the tremendous amount of surface water that makes Mount Desert Island unique is relatively accessible and well-protected. Several of the ponds are located entirely within Acadia National Park, or are protected by other types of conservation land.

Streams, both perennial and intermittent, are another important resource for the community. These are located throughout the community. However, there is no single data source that can identify all of the streams in Mount Desert. Much of the time these streams are too small to be identified by satellite – field work is the only reliable way to locate these streams.

These shoreland areas provide greater levels of protection from the adverse impacts of land use change on the water quality of the town’s surface waters.

Groundwater is water below the water table that saturates soil and cracks in the bedrock. Precipitation, whether rain or snowmelt, percolates into the ground and flows at very slow rates downhill. Rural residences rely on wells that pump groundwater to the surface to be used for potable water. Areas of the town served by the public water system rely on surface water drawn from Hadlock Pond in Northeast Harbor.

When this groundwater can be pumped to the surface fast enough to be economically useful, the saturated soil or bedrock is called an aquifer. The northeast United States is almost entirely underlain by aquifers. An economically useful aquifer must be able to hold a lot of water, and that water must be able to ‘flow’ easily.

Two types of economically useful aquifers are common in Maine. Bedrock aquifers store water in cracks and fractures in the bedrock. Most of these aquifers are relatively small (about 10 gallons per minute), but large enough to supply individual households in Mount Desert. Because the bedrock fractures tend to be interconnected, these aquifers are particularly susceptible to contamination.

Sand and gravel aquifers store water in the pores between the grains of sand and gravel. The sand and gravel was deposited more than 10,000 years ago by the metlwater from glaciers. These aquifers can hold large volumes of water and can transport this water quickly, making these the most valuable groundwater aquifers with the most abundant yields.

The Maine Geologic Survey has produced maps that delineate the location and extent of high yielding sand and gravel aquifers in the state. Mount Desert has one of these aquifers located within Acadia National Park between Stanley Brook and Hunters Brook just south of Pemetic Mountain. The Maine Geologic Survey estimates this aquifer would yield between 10 and 50 gallons per minute in a properly constructed well.

The ecological and economic benefits of wetlands have been widely recognized. These wetland benefits can be loosely grouped into three categories:

Biological benefits include fish, shellfish, and wildlife habitat (for feeding, nesting, and cover) and as travel corridors between upland areas.

Water quality benefits include groundwater recharge and discharge, stream flow maintenance, flood prevention, water-quality maintenance, and shoreline protection from erosion.

Human benefits include recreational uses such as hunting, birding, fishing, boating, and hiking. The aesthetic and open space values of wetlands are also important to communities.

Using the Maine Natural Areas Program characterization, a wetland receives a point for each of these five functions it provides. Wetlands that provide all five functions will receive five points. Wetlands with more points are considered to provide a higher value to communities than those with lower points.

Our town has two concentrations of high-value wetlands. The first is located in the wetlands surrounding Somes Pond. The second is located in the wetlands at the head of Squid Cove. The wetlands in these areas perform five of the tasks identified by the Maine Natural Areas Program.

Wetlands surrounding the head of Somes Sound and a smaller wetland off of Jordan Stream perform four of the Maine Natural Areas Program tasks.

Maine’s harsh winters can be devastating to deer herds. The deep snow, frigid temperatures, and low quality food supply can create high mortality rates within the herd. To decrease this mortality rate, deer herds typically move to wintering areas. The typical deer wintering area is forested with a softwood canopy. The canopy helps maintain warmer than average temperatures, reduces wind velocity, and improves mobility in snow by retaining much of the snowfall above the forest floor, allowing ground accumulations to become firmly packed.

Many of the identified deer wintering areas in Mount Desert overlap Acadia National Park. The three larger deer wintering areas are on the east bank of Hodgdon Pond, along Hunters Brook, and around Upper

Hadlock Pond. The largest deer wintering area outside of Acadia National Park is near Lower Hadlock Pond just north of Northeast Harbor.

Large undeveloped blocks of land provide continuous habitat areas for animals with large home ranges, such as bear, fisher, and moose. For example, undeveloped blocks of land greater than 2,500 acres could hold the full compliment of species in a pristine Maine environment while small blocks of land (less than 250 acres) tend to support species more typical of a suburban environment (raccoons, skunks, squirrels, songbirds, and deer).

Mount Desert, along with adjoining towns, has several large blocks of undeveloped land. Since most of the town’s development is along the shorelines, interior areas both east and west of Somes Sound are largely undeveloped. Much of this undeveloped land lies within Acadia National Park. Approximately 9,500 acres out of the park’s 34,000 total acres are within the town of Mount Desert.

The availability of high value plant and animal habitat is essential to maintaining an abundant and diverse population for both ecological and recreational purposes. Mount Desert has several areas that offer quality habitat for a variety of species.

Mount Desert has three locations for peregrine falcons, a bird species that is on the State’s Endangered Species list. Since the late 1980s, the state has been trying to re-establish a population of Peregrine Falcon, with limited success. In Mount Desert, Peregrine Falcons nest on rocky cliffs overlooking Echo Lake, Jordan Pond, and Valley Cove. All three locations are within the borders of Acadia National Park.

While the state’s bald eagles population has been expanding, the species is still on the State and United States Threatened Species list. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife identifies six bald eagle sites in Mount Desert. One is on Bartlett Island; two are on Bar Island at the head of Somes Harbor, two are located on Somes Pond, and one is located on Little Round Pond.

The Maine Natural Areas Program (MNAP) identifies and maps rare plants and exemplary natural communities. A natural community is defined as an assemblage of interacting plants and animals and their common environment, recurring across the landscape, in which the effects of human intervention are minimal.

MNAP has documented three rare natural communities and seven rare plants in Mount Desert. Most of theses are located on the east side of town either within or straddling the boundaries of Acadia National Park.

Acadia National Park covers approximately 35,000 acres and includes lands on Mount Desert Island, Schoodic Peninsula, and Isle au Haut. Of this land, approximately 9,500 acres lie within the town of Mount Desert. This land within Mount Desert is split evenly between the west side of the town between Acadia Mountain, West Mountain, and Pretty Marsh and the east side of the town between Norumbega, Penobscot, Pemetic, and Sargent Mountains. In addition, the park holds more than 165 conservation easements on 11,000 acres across Mount Desert Island and surrounding islands.

From quiet marshes to bold shores, from dense spruce forests to bold mountain tops, Acadia National Park contains a wide variety of important habitats of state and federal significance. Of particular

importance are the large numbers of bird species that nest in coastal environments like Mount Desert (petrels, cormorants, eagles, ospreys, cormorants, terns, gulls, herons, and auks).

Acadia has a wide variety of plant habitats, including old growth spruce forests, wetlands, and jack pine stands. More than 150 rare plant species have been identified within the park.

Maine Coast Heritage Trust, while a state-wide land conservation organization, has its roots on Mount Desert Island and serves as the island’s local land trust. MCHT is a non-profit organization with offices in Somesville, Rockport, and Topsham. It is governed by a Board of Directors and has more than 30 staff members working full-time.

What Mount Desert lacks in active farming and forestry it more than makes up for in open spaces. Open spaces are owned or protected by Acadia National Park, the Friends of Acadia, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, and the Town of Mount Desert. Access to these areas is spread out across the town from west to east, but are concentrated in the eastern side of the community.

2. Lands that are marginally suitable for development, such as steep slopes, are under increasing development pressures, which could adversely impact natural resources.

3. Protecting Mount Desert’s open space and critical natural resources contributes to protecting the character of the Town, which is central to the Town’s existence.

5. There is the potential for private residential groundwater wells to become contaminated by failing subsurface disposal systems due to the poor soils across the town, particularly in the areas seeing high growth rates, Pretty Marsh and Hall Quarry.