How We Conserve Land
For thirty years, FBC has worked to protect the beauty and integrity of this magical part of Maine where wild lakes, bogs, and forests meet unspoiled coastlines and islands.
Frenchman Bay Conservancy operates at both the community and landscape scales. The organization conserves distinctive and locally significant places of particular relevance for local communities. FBC also works at a landscape-scale to conserve large, intact ecosystems that provide clean water, and critical habitat and corridors for wildlife.
Community Conservation Example: Tidal Falls
Frenchman Bay Conservancy’s conservation of special places for public access and enjoyment is best reflected by its Tidal Falls Preserve. Almost twenty years ago, FBC acquired the original Tidal Falls Preserve with broad public support and a grant from the Land for Maine’s Future program. It is still one of our crowning accomplishments, and our most visited preserve. Thousands of visitors annually picnic, walk, paddle, photograph wildlife, or exchange wedding vows at this preserve, marveling at the stunning twelve foot tides of the reversing falls between Hancock and Sullivan.
As the only reversing falls in the Frenchman Bay watershed and the largest, most dramatic reversing falls in the region, Tidal Falls is a unique scenic and recreational asset. Bald eagles, osprey, blue heron, eiders, kingfishers, seals, river otters, and other wildlife are commonly seen at this popular picnic destination.
Landscape Scale Conservation Example: Schoodic Peninsula to Schoodic Mountain
Frenchman Bay Conservancy is part of The Schoodic Partnership, 15 local state and federal partners, working with private landowners to protect a landscape-scale conservation corridor linking the 2,600 acre Schoodic District of Acadia national Park at the southern tip of Schoodic Peninsula and the 15,384 acre Donnell Pond Unite owned by the state at Schoodic Mountain.
The Schoodic Region includes the Schoodic Peninsula and its adjacent coastal waters. This peninsula is surrounded by large areas of protected lands, as it is strategically located between Acadia National Park to the west, Petit Manan Wildlife Refuge to the east, and more than 15,000 acres of state-owned land to the north. Protection of the Schoodic Peninsula represents a unique opportunity to increase the protected acreages of high-quality coastal wetlands and islands and greatly increase the linkage between the coastal habitats and the extensive inland freshwater wetlands and forest to the north. Schoodic Peninsula is one of the largest blocks of minimally fragmented wildlife habitat remaining along the Maine coast. Its interconnected wetland complexes and streams are surrounded by a largely undeveloped mosaic of upland forests, which allow for free movements of wildlife throughout the landscape, and provide a highly resilient landscape in the face of climate change.
