Sears Island wetlands may affect port plans

SEARSPORT – A committee charged with delineating acreage on Sears Island for a possible port and a conservation area may run into the same obstacles that led the state to drop a port proposal there in 1997.

At its meeting Thursday, the second since a yearlong planning initiative reached consensus on dividing the island between port and conservation, the group heard reports about the natural resources on the 941-acre island.

According to officials from various state agencies, there are 73 identified wetlands on the island, totaling about 223 acres. The impact a potential port on the northwest side of the island would have on those wet areas could create permitting hurdles.

The island has three vernal pools that were, ironically, created in the early 1990s after a contractor working for the state inadvertently filled wetlands near the site of the planned port. Those pools continue to function as wildlife habitat for species such as frogs and salamanders, resource specialists told the committee.

The pools were created, committee members Scott Dickerson and Steve Miller said, as part of a consent decree reached with the Conservation Law Foundation, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Transportation.

Eel grass beds, an apparently unused eagle’s nest, and habitat for the ribbon snake were also identified on a map for committee members.

The committee also briefly reviewed information that suggested a two-berth container port would require 272-320 acres, and heard an explanation of how the conserved portion of the island could be used for federal land banking, which would free up other land for development.

At its next meeting, the committee will hear presentations on drafting conservation easements, which are expected to be created for the 600 conserved acres, and on the prospects for further development of the Mack Point port facility on the mainland.

The committee meets again from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, in the Searsport Public Safety Building.