Related to the subject, I felt this might be an appropriate time to make everyone aware of the Maine Coastal Public Access Guide, an excellent resource that the Maine Coastal Program has created to make it easier for the public to access the Maine Coast.

 

The Maine Coastal Program, housed in the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, has assembled information for over 700 coastal public access sites in a three edition, hardbound Guide set.  The wide range of sites - including beaches, parks, boat launches, nature preserves, hiking trails, rights-of-way, and other scenic areas - provide recreational opportunities for people of all ages, interests, and ability levels. These properties are a mix of federal, state, municipal, and publicly-accessible private lands.  Even for those who are already very familiar with the Maine Outdoors, there are plenty of new sites to discover through the Guide.  We employed an army of interns for site verification and inventory and the project took nearly two years to complete.

 

The Guides are currently for sale in person at the front desk of the Williams Pavilion at the AMHI complex in Augusta, by phone, or through our new online webshop found at http://www.maine.gov/dacf/mcp/coastal-access-guide.htm. 

 

We are also, and more appropriately for this listserve, currently working on a digital companion piece that will take all of the Guide sites, the vast majority of which have not been digitized (acknowledging of course the exceptional work that has gone into the State of Maine Conserved Lands Layer) and place the data online in spatial format.  At present, we are QA’ing a draft layer.  As you can imagine, there is an exceptional amount of work that needs to go into QA/QC, especially given the sometimes controversial nature of our beaches and private ownership of the shore, so we want to make sure we get it right.  When this layer is complete, we will have an accurate portrayal of square mileage of coastal access in Maine, along with a number of other value added derivatives. 

 

Just an FYI. 

 

                       -matt

 

 

Matthew Nixon │ Assistant Director

Maine Coastal Program

93 State House Station │ 17 Elkins Lane │ Williams Pavilion

Augusta, ME 04333-0093

P: (207) 287-1491 │F: (207) 287-2353 │ www.mainecoastalprogram.org

 

 

 

 

Who knew?

“Lining the ocean side of Mt. Desert Island, the golden grains of Sand Beach span 290 yards between two rocky headlands. The tranquil bay is one of the few places in Acadia National Park that lends itself to safe swimming. Browse the tide pools at either end of the strand, or scout for seabirds on Old Soaker Island.”

http://hashtagmaine.bangordailynews.com/2014/12/15/the-internets/think-warm-maine-beach-ranks-alongside-miami-maui-as-one-of-americas-best/#at_pco=smlwn-1.0&at_si=5492dc3aa5af0c17&at_ab=per-15&at_pos=0&at_tot=1

 

This might not be the day to go swimming though?

Stay safe everyone and get those skis waxed, it will be a great weekend at the mountains.

 

Joseph Young

Executive Director

Maine GeoLibrary

SHS 145

51 Commerce Drive

Augusta, Maine 04333- 145

VP 207-624-2664

FAX 207-287-1131

Subscribe to our List Serve learn more about the GeoLibrary

http://lists.maine.edu/cgi/wa?A0=geolibrary-l

 

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