Water quality in Long Cove, an inlet of Deer Isle that hosts clamming, elver harvesting and an oyster farm, is set to be protected by a new conservation project upstream.
Island Heritage Trust, a land trust that preserves properties in Deer Isle and Stonington, is on track to acquire 77 acres at the headwaters of Meadow Brook for that purpose. Water there flows into the cove.
Protecting land at the headwaters from development will help preserve the working waterfront downstream, and is part of a general focus on preserving the island’s marshland and freshwater flowing to coves, according to Alex Drenga, the trust’s conservation director.
“We think this project was a chance to improve the odds that these practices will continue,” he said. “The resilient landscapes being supported through this grant will ultimately help support their communities.”
The trust will also get $250,000 to help it do so in the first round of funding through the state’s Climate Resilience Conservation Fund. That was announced Monday by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust in coordination with the Governor’s Office of Policy, Innovation and the Future. Five projects in the midcoast will also get funding for areas the trust said provide critical defense against storms, flooding, erosion and other climate-related challenges.
On Deer Isle, the health of waterways and the coastline is essential for traditional marine harvesting and other working waterfront activities, Drenga said.
The Department of Marine Resources lists six areas where shellfish harvesting is prohibited in Deer Isle and Stonington, totalling more than 500 acres. Three others are only open to harvesters under certain conditions.
The trust planned to pursue the Meadow Brook property even without the grant, which is still dependent on survey and appraisal work to meet the requirements set by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It currently hopes to close on it by next spring, according to Drenga.
The funding is part of a $69 million grant Maine received from NOAA in July of 2024. The program plans to distribute $4.1 million over three funding rounds for conservation projects that can provide protection against storms, flooding and erosion.
On Deer Isle, that kind of work is particularly important as numerous roads are “teetering” on their ability to survive storm damage, Drenga said.
The Deer Isle Causeway, the only road connecting the island to the mainland, flooded and became impassable during back-to-back storms two years ago. Efforts to raise it are waiting on federal funding.
Closer to Long Cove, the town also replaced a culvert under a road crossing Meadow Brook to a box design allowing fish passage in 2024.
Preserving a healthy landscape around a fresh water body is also crucial on an island, he said, and coastal marshes and wetland buffer areas are important for resiliency on the coast.
The property is within 3,000 acres of continuous forest, according to the press release, which it said will contribute “significantly” to long-term climate resilience and habitat connectivity.
