Seabird center off Searsport proposed Sears Island group eyes educational use

SEARSPORT – A group eager to keep a liquefied natural gas terminal off state-owned Sears Island says it is launching a bid to establish a seabird education center on the 941-acre Penobscot Bay landmark.

The effort by the advocacy group Friends of Sears Island comes as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge along the Maine coast, is considering a 15-year conservation plan that calls for establishing a center somewhere in the region.

The refuge is made up of 46 islands and three mainland areas totaling 7,600 acres, mostly devoted to providing habitat for migrating and indigenous seabirds.

Friends of Sears Island, which formed when the island was being considered for an LNG terminal last fall, believes the island and the education center would be a good match.

The friends group is urging its members to attend a June 1 public hearing in Rockland on the refuge’s long-range plan to advocate Sears Island as a good location for the seabird education center.

But as much as the group supports the concept, the island is still owned by the state. And according to Lee Umphrey, Gov. John Baldacci’s spokesman, the state will not close the door on industrial development for the island.

Umphrey said this week that the state is working on a “dual use” plan for the island to allow some transportation-related industrial use, along with recreational or conservation use.

“The governor wants to create jobs in Maine and doesn’t want to close the door on development” for Sears Island, he said.

But a seabird education center could be compatible with industry, he said.

Charles Blair, refuge manager, said Wednesday the comprehensive conservation plan is in draft form, but he hopes the bid for an education center gets approved by federal officials.

“It’s going to be one of our priorities,” he said, and the plan is to have it established within five years.

“Many people don’t get a chance to visit the islands,” he said, and the education center would give the refuge the opportunity to highlight the seabirds.

“They’re so important,” Blair said. “They’re a resource for everyone in the country.”

The refuge wants to locate its center in the midcoast – somewhere between Brunswick and Bucksport – on or near Route 1. “We need to capture the most people,” he said.

Nancy Galland of Stockton Springs, a member of the friends group, said a seabird education center would be a perfect match for the island, but she and other members of the friends want to see the remainder of the island preserved and possibly given to a land trust.

Galland wants Searsport residents to weigh in on the seabird center plan. The federal government may be able to pay the town in lieu of lost property taxes if the center is built on the island, she said.

Blair has been in contact with the friends group, but stressed the refuge will not investigate a site unless the owner, in this case, the state, invites it to evaluate it.

The refuge hopes to include several like-minded organizations in the operation of the center, he said.