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Federal Plan for Nature Center Has Sparked a Midcoast Competition

September 15, 2009 - ROCKLAND -- Federal officials are preparing plans for a new nature center where schoolchildren and tourists could learn about Maine's offshore islands and their seabird colonies.

The Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge so far has no funding for the project and no construction schedule. But the proposed center already is the focus of an intensifying competition over which midcoast community will host it.

"All of these towns would like to have this," said Beth Goettel, manager of the refuge. "Unfortunately, we can only build one."

A vacant building on the Rockland waterfront is the refuge's preferred choice, at least so far.

But a group of residents and public officials in and around Damariscotta are challenging that choice and trying hard to bring the project to their town.

"This is going to be a public facility that will draw people from all over. It will be a destination," said Mark DesMeules, executive director of Damariscotta River Association, a nonprofit land trust that's leading the effort. "This is a potentially huge decision for the town they locate in."

The Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge includes 50 offshore islands, as well as several mainland parcels on the Down East coast.

Protected islands such as Petit Manan, Cross Island, Seal Island and Matinicus Rock are home to puffins, terns and other rare and protected seabirds.

The refuge plays a key role in a long-term effort to restore seabird colonies driven away by egg collecting, hunting and other human disruptions.

Refuge officials and their partners were excited in June, for example, when a pair of penguin-like common murres laid an egg on Matinicus Rock, the first known nesting attempt by that species in Maine since 1883. The egg did not survive and hatch, but it is still considered a promising sign for the species and the restoration effort.

The refuge, which has offices in Rockport and Milbridge, has no visitor center. Visitors can see the islands and birds only by boat, and direct access to the islands is limited to protect the nesting colonies.

As a result, said Goettel, "we have a great national wildlife refuge that hardly anybody knows about."

The refuge has been planning for years to build a nature center that could connect schoolchildren and other mainland visitors to the islands and their birds. Such a center also would raise awareness about the restoration project, Goettel said.

"So many people come to Maine to see puffins," she said. "They're fascinated about the way puffins look, so let's take them the rest of the way There's a whole body of data and research we can make really interesting."

ROCKLAND SITE'S VISIBILITY TOUTED

Goettel plans to present a final proposal, including a recommended site, to regional officials in Massachusetts on Sept. 28.

If approved, the project could be submitted for possible funding in the 2011 U.S. Fish and Wildlife budget.

Goettel's draft proposal, released this summer, identified the Rockland building as the top choice, ranking it above Lincolnville, Searsport, Rockport, Damariscotta and Sears Island sites.

The former MBNA day care center just off Route 1 is on the market for $695,000. It would need about $300,000 in renovations, but it has classrooms, offices and handicapped-accessible entrances, among other things, Goettel said.

"It's a very good layout for us already," she said.

The Rockland building's biggest advantages, she said, are the convenient location in a population center with lots of schoolchildren and a steady flow of visitors, especially during the summer festival season.

While city officials in Rockland didn't actively recruit the nature center, they're glad to be at the top of the list.

"It would have great value for our community," said City Manager Rosemary Kulow. The center would provide new opportunities for local schools, she said, as well as "help draw more people to the community to spend more money, to shop and eat and do all those wonderful things tourists do."

The Rockland community in general also has been supportive, if not openly enthusiastic. Four people attended a public presentation of the plan there Thursday, Goettel said.

The reception was different in Damariscotta, where about 25 people attended a meeting a week earlier and insisted that their community should be ranked first.

Town officials, state legislators and the Lincoln County Economic Development Office have all urged Goettel to reconsider the rankings. They also are appealing to Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said DesMeules, the river association director.

"We've been trying to shed some daylight on this process," he said.

The Damariscotta River Association has offered up, free of charge, a renovated farmhouse at Round Top Farm, a nature reserve next to the Damariscotta River. The building would need about $237,500 in renovations, according to the refuge.

While a less costly option and one with appealing surroundings, Goettel's draft plan ranks the building lower in terms of accessibility and the size of the surrounding population, among other things. It also says the property isn't as attractive because it would have to be leased instead of acquired outright.

DesMeules and others, however, argue that the rankings are plain wrong.

"It was clear there were several areas where they had inaccurate or misapplied data factors or information that led them to an incorrect score," DesMeules said.

For example, Goettel's draft says Round Top farm "is not ideally located on Route 1."

Said DesMeules: "We are right on Route 1."

And though the draft recommendation states otherwise, he said, Damariscotta can provide water access for the agency's boats and can give the refuge ownership of the building. It cannot sell the land, however. "They could move into this building tomorrow without spending a penny," he said.

It's also clear that the Damariscotta community is embracing the project. And that, DesMeules said, "should be important to the federal government."

No final decision on the site has been made, Goettel said.

"They (Damariscotta supporters) did have some good points. I'm going to sit down and certainly rework (the scores). Some of that, I think, will go in their favor."

But while she won't know for sure until later this month, she said, "I don't think it's going to be enough to change our preferred alternative."

By JOHN RICHARDSON, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, September 13, 2009


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