It was a low-key celebration, one that you or I might overlook, or maybe have never heard of in the first place. Invitations were sent out and space was limited. It was a celebration of a partnership.

So it was with some uncertainty I struck out for Tanglewood 4-H Camp and Learning Center in Lincolnville last Friday, apprehensive of what I’d find to write about. The invitation said there’d be a Ducktrap Celebration hosted by Land for Maine’s Future and the Coastal Mountains Land Trust.

I learned that this partnership – a cooperative effort of 20 conservation groups – is dedicated to preserving, for future generations, the nine-mile-long river corridor of the Ducktrap River and its 35 square-mile watershed.

While that may not seem big when you compare it to the huge watersheds of the Penobscot and Kennebec Rivers, consider that the Ducktrap River watershed, sandwiched between rapidly developing Camden and Belfast, is a pristine spawning and juvenile habitat for Atlantic salmon and one of only seven rivers in the United States that continue to support wild Atlantic salmon.

Protecting this gem of a river has become the major project for Coastal Mountains Land Trust, which since 1986 has permanently protected more than 1,370 acres of land in the area between Northport and Rockport and inland to Belmont. The land under permanent covenants deeded to the trust or in preserves contains wildlife habitat, scenic vistas, and important agricultural, forest, and water resources.

To preserve the watershed the Ducktrap Coalition was formed with the vision that lands beside the river will remain forever wild. In the words of the Coastal Mountains Land Trust, their’s is “a campaign to protect the critical river corridor. We envision that the lands beside the river will remain forever wild, permanently conserved, a legacy for future generations and for the salmon, white pine, scarlet tanagers, black cherry, otters, and all the other wild species that depend on the river corridor, riparian wetlands and forested slopes.”

What has made the project so successful has been the voluntary participation by landowners who have either sold or put their land into conservation easements ensuring the permanent protection of their lands from future development, said Scott Dickerson, executive director of Coastal Mountains Land Trust. Use of their property is restricted to residential development, timber harvest, agriculture, and recreation such as hunting, fishing, and hiking. Already more than a third of the river corridor has been conserved. Much of at least one riverbank is protected nearly all the way to the headwaters in Tilden Pond.

The list of partners in this project is impressive. That they are all able to work toward a common goal of protecting this watershed is noteworthy. Here’s the list: Atlantic Salmon Authority, Atlantic Salmon Federation, Belfast-Northport-Lincolnville Land Trust, Belmont Planning Board, Coleman Pond Association, Ducktrap Preservation, Island Institute, Lincolnville Conservation Commission,

Also, Maine Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Maine Department of Conservation, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Maine Department of Marine Resources, Maine State Planning Office, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Tanglewood 4-H Camp and Learning Center, Trout Unlimited, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

While preservation of salmon habitat is high on the list, rare and endangered species will also be included. An inventory is cur See Strout, C8, Col. 1 Strout, from C6 rently being done of the area, Dickerson said. It’s important, he added, that public access be maintained. The organization is working with the Lincolnville snowmobile club to keep and develop trails. Another goal is environmental education. Tanglewood 4-H Center, which is located within the 941-acre Camden Hills State Park, brings thousands of children and adults through the area and they learn as well as see appropriate environmental management.

Another goal is to restore or improve those areas within the watershed which may be contributing to degradation of the watershed. One example is reclamation of a former gravel pit off Route 52 which is adjacent to Ducktrap River. As Dickerson led a tour of the site, he pointed out replanting and berming which have taken place as a first step in reclaiming the pit. It is the site chosen by Five Town Consolidated School District as wetland mitigation for building its new area high school on Route 90 in Rockport.

Because there some wetlands on the 56-acre school site that needed to be filled, the district had to find another area to reclaim, explained Taylor Allen, CSD board member. A comprehensive search of the area produced the gravel pit, which is part of a parcel connecting some two miles of the upper Ducktrap under conservation easement. When restoration is complete, there will be several smaller wetlands appropriately bermed, and the land will be regraded and planted to prevent siltation of the river. It is in close proximity to prime salmon spawning area, Dickerson said.

What has been good for the Ducktrap Coalition’s efforts to obtain conservation easements as well as land is the willingness of many longtime property owners in the area to keep the land as it always has been, a forested corridor.

The Ducktrap is a good salmon spawning and rearing habitat because of its cold water, gravel aquifier. The gravel provides excellent bottom material in which salmon make redds (nests of eggs). A good forest canopy helps keep sunlight from warming the naturally cool waters, Dickerson pointed out.

Speaking to guests before lunch Dickerson pointed out the “amazing accomplishment” of the Ducktrap Coalition in being able to put 7.25 miles of the river and 1,240 acres under conservation protection.

Evan Rickert of the State Planning office and chairman of the Land for Maine’s Future Board gave the organization a pat on the back, but reminded everyone that the state needs to redouble its efforts to acquire land.

In 1987 Maine voters approved a referendum of $35 million for that purpose. In the years since, the state purchased 63,355 acres of land in 40-plus acquisitions in all 16 Maine counties. These parcels include 150 miles of shorefront land and 75 miles of former rail line, mountain summits, river shore, lakes, ponds, coastal islands, pristine beaches, and wetlands as well as irreplaceable natural areas providing permanent protection to eagle nesting sites, spotted turtle habitat, and critical spawning habitat for Atlantic and landlocked salmon.

Some of the more notable parcels include Nahmakanta Lake, Mount Kineo, the Cutler coastline, and Kennebunk Plains. Lands purchased through the Land for Maine’s Future Program are managed primarily by the Department of Conservation and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

According to the November 1997 report of the Land Acquisition Priorities Advisory Committee prepared by the Maine State Planning Office, there are approximately 1 million acres of conservation and recreation land owned in fee or conservation easement by the state and federal governments in Maine. Most is in state hands.

While this sounds impressive, it amounts to less than 5 percent of the state’s land area, one of the lowest percentages of any state in the country, Rickert said. The Land Acquisition Priorities Advisory Committee would like the state to seek a $45 million bond to support the LMF’s work, and the Maine Economic Growth Council has proposed that Maine increase conservation land acreage by 10 percent by the year 2000. The challenge will be to find the necessary funding.

The last legislature approved only $3 million for that purpose. Already there are some 53 parcels with a total value of some $35 million nominated as potential state purchases, and this does not include parcels identified as high in recreation value on recently sold Sappi or Bowater land.

Does the state need more land for recreational pursuits? The Priorities Advisory Committee thinks so. Consider: Use of the Appalacian Trail in the Mahoosucs increased more than 300 percent since the early 1970s; camping in the Bigelow Range rose 230 percent in just five years; in the past year, day use at Gulf Hagas jumped by 130 percent; visitor use at Acadia National Park increased 260 percent since 1960; 13 percent of Maine’s public land acreage is in the southern third of the state where most of the state’s population resides. And the list goes on. The committee’s report states it “looked at the question of need for additional public lands from a variety of different angles. The committee found a consistent and compelling case for an ambitious acquisition program that would significantly expand conservation land ownership in Maine.”

It’s something to think about.

Jeff Strout’s column is published Tuesday and Thursday. He can be reached at 990-8202.