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January 3, 2006
Project Coordinator Contact:
Stewart Fefer
(stewart_fefer@fws.gov;
207-781-8364 x17)
Gulf of Maine Coastal Program Helps Protect Thomas Island
Sixty-four acre Thomas Island, surrounded by 58 acres of intertidal wetlands and located in the biologically rich Mount Desert Narrows was permanently protected on Thursday, December 29 with a National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant. Thomas Island is the largest of the islands in a three-island archipelago, located near Acadia National Park and adjacent to South Twinnie Island, an eagle nesting island owned and managed as part of Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Located in the middle of the Mount Desert Narrows, the swift currents and shallow waters surrounding Thomas Island provide important habitat for wintering and migrating black ducks, other dabblers, divers and sea ducks, migrating shorebirds, wading birds and foraging, migratory, and wintering peregrine falcons and bald eagles. Thomas Island also provides undisturbed foraging, loafing and roosting habitat, as well as alternate nesting sites for the South Twinnie eagles.
Thomas Island is now permanently owned and managed by Maine Coast Heritage Trust. Acquisition was funded with a $453,000 National Coastal Wetland Grant, a bargain sale from the landowner, and additional financial support from Maine Coast Heritage Trust and Ducks Unlimited, Inc. Maine Coast Heritage Trust played the lead role in negotiating with the landowner, writing the final grant proposal and following through on all legal requirements that led to the transfer of ownership. Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife served as the grantee for the Coastal Wetland Grant, and agreed to transfer the acquisition funds to Maine Coast Heritage Trust, identified in the Coastal Wetland Grant proposal as the subgrantee.
Gulf of Maine Coastal Program staff played an active role in facilitating the permanent protection of Thomas Island. Outreach Specialist Lois Winter coordinated with partners to finalize the proposal and successfully meet the end-of-year closing deadline. Lois also played a significant role in providing technical support, reviewing and editing the grant proposal, writing a letter of support, and interpreting biological data from our GIS habitat analysis and that helped characterize the considerable biological values of Thomas Island and its surrounding mudflats. Bob Houston and Jean Fujikawa at Gulf of Maine Coastal Program also provided maps and wetland calculations used in the final proposal. Andrew Milliken, NAWCA Regional Coordinator conducted a site visit that helped support the proposal through the nationwide grant selection process. Dan Leahey, Federal Aid Coordinator at the Regional Office, deserves special accolades for supporting the grant proposal through the competitive grant approval process and lending technical expertise to partners in shepherding partners through the required paperwork, processing the grant application, and finalizing the grant award by the end-of-year deadline required by the landowner.
Permanently protecting Maine’s coastal habitat for waterbirds, endangered species and diadromous fish has always been a primary purpose of the Gulf of Maine Coastal Program and our conservation partners. Thomas Island represents our tenth successful Coastal Wetland Grant proposal. In total, Coastal Wetland Grants have provided $2.863 million in federal funds to help protect five islands, five mainland properties and nearly 2,500 acres in coastal Maine. “The Thomas Island success story serves as another great example of how conservation partners draw upon collective skills and strengths to accomplish projects that might otherwise remain lost opportunities. We are grateful to the landowner, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Ducks Unlimited, Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and our Regional Federal Aid staff for helping us make this project a success,” commented Gulf of Maine Coastal Program Project Leader Stewart Fefer.