BELFAST – Those wanting to preserve Sears Island in a mostly natural state were out in force on Saturday at a daylong information gathering session, and their vision for the state-owned island dominated discussions.

The facilitated meeting at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center drew more than 60 participants. It is the first of two sessions in which public input is being gathered by a steering committee to guide a planning process for the 941-acre island, linked to the mainland in Searsport by a causeway.

The Department of Conservation is leading the process, which will result in a set of recommendations to be delivered to the governor and Legislature, probably by the end of the year.

The Saturday session used a process that allowed participants to brainstorm ideas for an agenda and then meet in small groups to flesh them out.

Sue Inches, State Planning Office deputy director, who led the meeting with facilitator Jonathan Reitman, said at the outset the first rule in the process is “whoever comes is the right people.”

The process “runs on passion and responsibility,” she said, urging participants to discuss what they cared about, while narrowing their focus to three or four items by the end of the small group meetings.

Among the topics were: developing the island as a managed nature park, the impact of development on fisheries, the best use of the island to improve the state’s economic competitiveness, eliminating heavy industry as an option and intermodal transportation and economic development.

In the session on developing a nature park on the island, Searsport’s Jay Economy distributed a brochure about the Irving Nature Park in Saint John, New Brunswick, an example of what could be achieved on Sears Island, he said.

Jim Freeman of Verona Island supported the idea, but said preservationists should offer economic development for area towns. By restoring tidal flow through the causeway, which was built in the late 1980s, the island’s fresh water wetlands could help create “an ideal fish nursery,” he said, since lobsters lay eggs in less saline water.

Don White of Bucksport said enhancing the public’s opportunity to enjoy natural places is a form of economic development.

“People understand now that long-term sustainability will create money. You turn environment into money,” he said.

Harlan McLaughlin of Searsport and the group Fair Play For Sears Island said using the island to draw visitors would create business for area inns and stores.

While ideas were the currency of the day, questions emerged as well.

In several sessions, the future of Mack Point, the industrial port just a half-mile from Sears Island on the mainland, dominated discussion.

Scott Dickerson of Lincolnville, executive director of Coastal Mountains Land Trust, suggested environmental groups work to help Mack Point operators Sprague Energy and the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway expand operations there as a part of a compromise that would permanently preserve Sears Island.

But David Gelinas of Penobscot Bay & River Pilots said getting permits to do further dredging at Mack Point would be more difficult than securing permits to build a pier on Sears Island, where dredging and jetty work was completed in the early 1990s.

Wayne Hamilton of Searsport, owner of Hamilton Marine and the town’s harbormaster, argued the 40-foot-plus deep water off Sears Island should be preserved for future shipping needs.

The question of how much Mack Point could be expanded was debated. Gelinas and others said business at the port is growing, making Searsport the second busiest port in Maine to Portland.

“The number of ships at Mack Point is increasing, not decreasing,” Gelinas said. He believes port facilities can be expanded.

“What is the full range of potentials? That is a big question,” Gelinas said.

In another session, Bob Grindrod, president of the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic, said Mack Point was near to reaching its full capacity.

“Mack Point could be oversubscribed in a year. I think you need to reserve the ability to build something on Sears Island,” he said.

During a break, Inches and Reitman read the summaries of the small group sessions and created a list of the dominant topics:

. Gathering more information on Mack Point’s capacity, shipping trends, and the value of nonport development.

. Restoring the natural habitat on the island and returning a tidal flow through the causeway.

. Finding a balance between conservation and compatible economic development and fisheries.

. Creating a people- and nature-friendly ecotourism experience on the island.

. The need for coordinated management of current and future island uses.

. Drawing up principles to guide development.

. Keeping the steering committee process open and transparent.

Typically, participants would affix stickers to the topics they thought were most important, thereby creating an emphasis. But by an overwhelming vote, people chose instead to forward the key points to the steering committee, along with transcripts of the bullet points from the small group discussions.

The steering committee will meet at 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 12, at the Hutchinson Center.