About the Mt. Agamenticus to the Sea Region
The area around Mt. Agamenticus is the largest unfragmented coastal forest between Acadia National Park and the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Due to the convergence of southern and northern forest types, it is also the most biologically diverse place in the state of Maine, with the largest number of threatened and endangered species. Three animal and twenty plant species found in the MtA2C area are found nowhere else in Maine. The region also supports:

• Forty miles of streams that feed the lakes and ponds on which nine communities depend for drinking water;
• Two forest types–northern softwood and southern hardwood–that overlap to create a range of habitats supporting both the richest species diversity and the largest number of plant and animal species in the entire state of Maine;
• Rare and endangered plant and animal species such as the Blanding’s turtle, ringed boghaunter dragonfly, and Atlantic White Cedar. Large mammals, such as moose and black bear, have the room they need to roam and thrive.

The Mt. Agamenticus to the Sea focus area is also home to the headwaters of the York River that has a tidal flow of over eight miles to the sea through salt marshes, farms, forests, residential development and the port of York Harbor. Research conducted by Michelle Dionne, Ph.D., from the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve found 28 species of fish in the York River, or one half the species found in the Gulf of Maine.

To the south, the Brave Boat Harbor estuary and an adjoining 800-acre unfragmented block of land in Kittery have been identified through the Maine Natural Areas Program as areas of statewide significance as habitat for a wide array species of plants and animals. Kittery’s Cutts Island and Gerrish Island include pristine salt marshes, undeveloped shorelines and dense upland forests.

This exceptional ecosystem is right here, only 65 miles north of Boston and 45 miles south of Portland. In addition, the area boasts a 350-year history of settlement that produced the working landscape still evident.

Threats to the Mt. Agamenticus Region
An unprecedented rate of population growth and development are putting wildlife habitats and human communities at risk in the six towns within the Mt. Agamenticus to the Sea project area. There are numerous reasons for these threats:

• The region’s six towns are changing. They are moving away from communities where residents still make their living from the land and the sea to bedroom communities for people commuting to jobs in Boston or Portland.
• The overall growth rate for York County was four times higher than the state of Maine average. York, Eliot, Wells and South Berwick have enacted growth caps in an effort to control school, road maintenance and water use costs.
• The population of the Town of York alone increased 30% in the past decade. Just five of the region’s towns made up more than 8% of the state’s entire housing unit growth during the same ten-year period.
• Public access to both land and water continues to be lost.

As people continue to stream into southern Maine, local residents who farm, fish or harvest trees are finding that their land is worth much more as development property than as a working landscape. Simply put, if a family needs to sell, the highest bidder is probably a developer. The resulting new homes add costs to the municipal budget and detract from our sense of place.

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