News & Updates
Regional Advocacy Since August 2024
An IIT Advocacy Committee Update:
What is the status of the State of Maine’s plan to develop a major port on Sears Island and industrialize Penobscot Bay?
Last August, 2024, the Islesboro Islands Trust Advocacy Committee convened a well-attended informational meeting about the development threat to Sears Island and Penobscot Bay. Opposed to developing the offshore wind manufacturing, assembling and launching facility on Sears Island, IIT favors pursuing the offshore wind facility at Mack Point if any such facility needs to be built in Penobscot Bay.
For more than a decade, Maine looked to offshore wind as an essential component in the state’s renewable energy transition plans. In March 2020, Governor Mills announced an assessment of Mack Point to support offshore wind. In November of 2021, Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) consultants determined that a proposed offshore wind manufacturing facility could be built at Mack Point or Sears Island. Then, in February 2024, Governor Mills announced Sears Island as the preferred site for the offshore wind facility.
The IIT informational meeting advised islanders of this Sears Island/Penobscot Bay development threat. Eloise Lawrence, IIT Advocacy Committee Chair, moderated the presentations and discussion among Nickie Sekera, Community Water Justice Co-Founder; Jillian Howell, Upstream Watch Executive Director; Pete Nichols, Sierra Club Maine Chapter Director; and Steve Miller, Islesboro Islands Trust Executive Director.
But what has happened to the State’s offshore wind ambitions over the past rough and tumble year?
MDOT released a Draft Alternative Analysis on October 11, 2024, providing what appeared to be justification for developing the offshore wind facility on Sears Island. However, IIT and allies in the Alliance for Sears Island dug into the voluminous, biased material and identified numerous flaws.
Shortly after release of the Draft Alternative Analysis, eyebrows were raised on October 22, 2024 when we learned that the U.S. Department of Transportation rejected a MDOT grant application for nearly a half billion dollars that would have allowed development of Sears Island to proceed. In December, we discovered that another MDOT grant application failed. This fourth denial of a federal grant request effectively pushed financing of the facility on Sears Island into limbo.
None-the-less, in response to the failed grants, then MDOT Commissioner Bruce Van Note promised that, “Our work will continue as we examine other opportunities to secure funding to advance this critical [Sears Island] port infrastructure” and MDOT spokesperson Paul Merrill said, “Sears Island remains the best option for construction of a port for several economic, environmental, and logistical reasons…”
The ups and downs of offshore wind over the past year are perhaps best illustrated by the leasing of sites to deploy offshore wind turbines in the federal waters of the Gulf of Maine. Turbines located there would need to be manufactured, assembled and launched from one or more onshore locations, such as Sears Island or Mack Point or other Maine or New England places.
The proposed 12 turbine Research Array lease area, located offshore from Casco Bay, was approved and finalized in August and September last year. Then, in October, four commercial wind lease areas in the Gulf of Maine sold for nearly $22 million during a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) auction. Maine officials and supporters of offshore wind called this a “momentous step forward” for Maine’s renewable energy climate goals.
But when President Trump took office in January, he directed federal agencies to “temporarily” withdraw areas on the outer continental shelf, including the Gulf of Maine, from offshore wind leasing and to “review” the Federal Government’s leasing and permitting practices for all wind projects.
More recently, BOEM furthered that Presidential directive by rescinding designated wind energy areas in all federal waters. Although this BOEM action does not directly affect the existing Research Array and four commercial offshore wind leases, it is widely viewed as a major set-back for all offshore wind development.
The industrialization of Sears Island and the threat that poses to Penobscot Bay remains ever present even if the wind port is defeated. During a Maine Legislature March 12, 2025 hearing on a bill that would permanently protect Sears Island, MDOT spokesperson Matt Burns called Sears Island an “extremely valuable economic asset” and indicated that MDOT would “maintain options for development for other purposes.”
Amidst this turmoil of uncertainty around Sears Island and the future of Penobscot Bay, IIT’s legal team and consultants, as well as our extensive grassroots allies, continue to engage public interest, extoll the ecological importance of Sears Island, and remain ready to act when MDOT makes its next development move, as evidence suggests could be soon.
But not all is doom and gloom in the region. Positive efforts such as the movement to restore Little River to full ecological health, in which IIT Executive Director Chloe Joule represents IIT support, and creation of the Penobscot Bay Waterkeeper, which IIT also supports, prove that Islesboro is not alone when advocating for the health of Penobscot Bay.
IIT Nature Activity Kits!
IIT Nature Activity Kits - Music in Nature!
Music in Nature—available while supplies last!
IIT Nature Activity Kits are back again this Summer. Pick up your kit at the Alice L Pendleton Library to explore the theme: Music in Nature!
Follow the included directions to make your own birdsongs, discover our musical note scavenger hunt or test out the sound and pitch of different natural objects. Supplies are limited. Ask for your kit at the library front desk.
StoryWalk & Geocaching on the Trails!
IIT and the Alice L Pendleton Library partner again to offer another Summer of StoryWalk & Geocaching!
StoryWalk—The Music of the Sea @ the Hinkle Preserve
IIT and the ALP library present our 10th Annual StoryWalk at IIT’s Hinkle Preserve. This year’s book is The Music of the Sea written by Susanna Isern and illustrated by Marta Chicote.
Geocaching—10 caches, 6 Preserves, 10 Books
Geocaching on the IIT trails is back for another season! IIT and the ALP library have hidden 10 caches on 6 preserves. Write down the call number of the book inside the cache and then return to the library to find it on the shelves. Pick up your geocache guide at the library front desk.
Sounds of Spring - Birdsong
Most folks, when considering first signs of Spring, probably begin with the increased chatter of birdsong. After a long winter of hearing not much more than crows cawing, the croak of a raven, the cry of a gull or the sweet song that gives the chickadee their name, it is thrilling to hear returning birds add their song to the medley of music.
First, you might notice the blue jays, with their piercing scream and the robin’s lovely trill. The mourning dove’s tragic coo adds itself to the mixture and the Phoebe returns, rather vainly calling their name.
If you have bird feeders, you might one day look out to see it monopolized by brightly colored gold finches. The next day, there might be a hoard of grackles, squawking, crying and pushing each other and all other birds aside to get at the seed.
As evening falls or before first morning light, you can overhear the Barred owl ask its eternal question, “Who cooks for you?” – never satisfied with the answer.
Walking near reedy wetlands, a flash of red in a bed of black, is followed by the cry of a red-winged blackbird, cuck-la-ree! And the startled quacks of a mallard family make you feel guilty for intruding.
Heading down to the beach brings a cacophony of shorebird music. Bickering sounds of gulls, cormorants and terns are mixed with the quieter pipers and plovers. The indignant honk of a flock of Canada geese being disturbed almost drowns out the infamous haunting song of a young loon, not yet ready to venture to the mating grounds on lakes, further inland.
As Spring settles in, an early morning hike through May woods reveals dozens of returning birds and their unique songs. From the many variations of warblers, hidden high in the treetops, to the ethereal call of a hermit thrush in the brushy understory and all of the sparrows, wrens, vireos and kinglets in between, Islesboro’s forests provide incredible habitat for many bird species.
If you are a bird lover and interested in learning more abut how to steward your forests to support bird habitat, join IIT with the Maine State Forest Service and Maine Audubon on Friday, June 13, for a Forests for Maine Birds workshop! For more information, visit our Programs & Events page on our website. To sign-up, contact Chloe Joule (cjoule@islesboroislandstrust.org).
Colors of Spring - Trail Update
Spring in Maine comes in fits and starts of color. The snow melts, dingy and wet, and bares the brown remains of yesteryear. Then we get another snow flurry, and everything is briefly clean, white, tidy - the tree limbs dripping diamonds back into the earth. And by noon it is brown again. Brown and wet, messy and muddy. Maine’s least flattering look.
After a few warm days in late April the skunk cabbage unfurls its huge leaves, turning the shady swamps into a sea of verdant life. In drier areas, the daphne follows next, tiny purple flowers blooming directly from the skeletal limbs, releasing an intoxicating jasmine scent for a few days of glory before the scraggly shrubs become entirely unremarkable again for the rest of the year. Then the grass begins to flush green and grow quickly, luring still-mottled snowshoe hare and deer out of their winter cover. The fruit trees are now starting to bud, hinting at the clouds of pink and white blossoms to follow. Soon the hardwoods will bud, turning a gold-tinged chartreuse.
The long, sunny days instill a sense of urgency in busy creatures. There is work to be done. I am currently working on this year’s bridges. Starting with the elongation of the boardwalk at the north edge of the Blueberry Hill trail, now almost complete, to be followed by a section on the new west branch of the Broad Point trail. I am excited to open this new spur which passes through a grove of stately hemlock on its way to the shore, where it skirts Broad Cove for hundreds of yards before returning to the main trail. I will also be reinstalling the bridge over the breach at the Hutchins Preserve, and moving another short section of bridge over one of the drainages further into the preserve, made wobbly by erosion. A stack of ten-foot-long rough-cut hemlock planks is depot-ed at the Cregar Center, waiting to be installed over muddy patches at Lily Guest and Blueberry Hill.
In between bridge work, I’ll be planting apple trees at Blueberry Hill. We plan to expand the orchard across the hill side below the lower garden, filling in gaps in the old orchard and connecting the far-flung trees near the south trail head to the larger group to the north. IIT has been selecting a variety of hardy heritage varietals for the past few years, and with any luck there will be a large productive orchard there for many years to come.
Also at Blueberry Hill, I envision a sun scoop area built from a series of hugulkultur terraces just off the south-east edge of the blueberry fields. A sun scoop is a landscape feature consisting of a terraced concave arc open to the south that creates a warmer microclimate. A hugulkultur - “hill culture” in German - is a technique of burying cut logs and brush in a mound to create a fertile bed for planting. As the wood rots it releases nutrients into the soil and retains moisture, providing an ideal planting environment. Wood will be used from trees cleared around the parking area for the nature center. A two-fold benefit of burying the wood is carbon sequestration, instead of the release of carbon from the common practice of burning the material. The goal here is to create a food forest and permaculture garden as an educational site not far from IIT’s planned Miller Center for Environmental Education.
As you may know, I have taken on running the Islesboro Island News from Maggy, which is turning out to be a lot more work than I expected. My goal at IIT is to finish the projects I have planned, along with the usual trail maintenance, and once a replacement is found I expect to bring them up to speed. I am grateful for the experience and proud of the work I have done. Many of my favorite places are in IIT’s preserves, and I’ll continue to see you out there.
Thank you,
Daniel Hatch Tutor
Sounds of Spring - Amphibians
One of the earliest sounds heralding Spring on Islesboro are the peeps and quacks – not of young chicks and ducklings – but from the variety of amphibian life on the island. The first warm, wet day of April brings out the “peepers” – a small native amphibian in the tree frog family. Those early peeps fill the wetlands, ditches and pond areas all over the island, announcing the longer days to come.
Not long after that, the peeps give way to the sound of peculiar “quacking,” in mid-late April. These sounds are attributed to the quirky, masked amphibian, the wood frog – the presence of which indicates something rather significant. They are an outlier in the frog family. Where most frogs are known for living in and around water bodies their whole lives, wood frogs only visit water in the Spring for the purpose of mating and laying eggs. They spend the rest of their lives in relatively dry, forested areas.
Hearing a chorus of wood frogs means that a unique and highly protected ecosystem is nearby – the vernal pool. A vernal pool is one which is most evident in the Spring, having collected snow melt and early rain. It then dries out considerably, or sometimes disappears, with the heat of Summer. A vernal pool supports no fish or year-round aquatic animals, thus providing a fairly safe and sheltered space for indicator species (wood frogs, spotted salamanders and fairy shrimp) to lay eggs. IIT has been excited to steward vernal pools on two IIT properties. The most consistently used pool is on our Herbert/Mill Dam Preserve. What was once a manmade area, dug originally for a purpose no one is quite sure of - perhaps a small foundation, a well or a watering hole for livestock - has now evolved into a seasonal pond. Most years, the telltale quack of wood frogs can be heard here, followed by large egg masses that can be seen floating, lightly attached to the reeds, grasses and cattail growing in the wet.
Click on the video link above, to hear what this event sounded like in April 2023 at our Herbert Preserve. If you’re interested in learning more about the amphibians and reptiles of Islesboro, go to the Recorded Talks Library on our website and click on the Spring Amphibians and Aquatic Reptiles of Islesboro talk, led by herpetologist and University of Arkansas professor, JD Willson.
IIT Winter Newsletter - Winter Skies on Islesboro
From the Director’s Desk - Winter Skies on Islesboro
Winter in Maine is marked by long nights that make you want to curl up by the fire and hibernate. BUT, if you get outside on a clear Winter's night on Islesboro, you will find the sky alight with an unimaginable amount of energy! We are fortunate, on the island, to be able to see such an unimpeded sky, with the lack of light pollution our rural living provides.
But, it could be even better! Dark Sky Maine is an initiative to retain and reclaim our nights' sky throughout Maine. An organization fostered by the appreciation of our night sky and the knowledge of the harmful roll that artificial lights play on wildlife and our own circadian rhythm. Dark Sky Maine works to inform and educate organizations, individuals and communities on changes they can make. IIT hosted, John Meader, local astronomer and then, Vice President of Dark Sky Maine to lead a Zoom talk in 2022. John discussed not only the importance of downward facing outdoor lighting for wildlife and human health, but the remarkable improvement it has on cost and effective lighting. If you’d like to hear the entirety of John Meader’s Dark Sky Maine talk, click on the link below.
Interested in learning more about Maine’s Winter Skies? IIT will be hosting a Star Party, led by John Meader, on Wednesday, February 26th at IIT’s Blueberry Hill Preserve @ 7:00pm. Join us then!
Interested in more resources? Follow the links below to learn more about Dark Sky Maine and the International Dark Sky program. Both sites provide excellent information on the Dark Sky initiative as well as links to Dark Sky approved lighting and other tools and resources.
IIT Winter Newsletter - New Data Tools for IIT!
IIT has some exciting new Data Tools we are using! Little Green Light, a membership database and Landscape, a land management program.
Exploring Little Green Light with Kizzi Barton
An essential part of IIT's fundraising efforts involves tracking donations and donor information. For nearly 20 years, the trust relied on Giftworks, a database commonly used by many charitable organizations. However, in October 2024, we made a significant shift to a new, cloud-based database: Little Green Light. The program had been on our radar for several years and we had heard from other landtrusts that made the switch and were very enthusiastic about LGL. Key factors in our decision included waning customer support from Giftworks on what was a bulky, difficult-to-navigate software, and the significant price difference. To ensure a smooth transition, we brought in an external consultant to manage the data migration and provide staff training.
So far, we’ve been thrilled with the switch! The new system has offered deeper insights into donation levels and trends, is far more intuitive, and provides the ability to access information remotely—a feature that has proven to be incredibly useful.
Exploring Landscape with Dan Tutor
When the weather has been especially bitter, and the trails are in good shape, I’ve been working with the new Landscape Conservation software Chloe discovered at the 2024 Land Trust Alliance Rally. It is proving to be incredibly useful in a variety of ways, from mapping trails to project management. We are looking forward to testing out the programs ability to aid in conservation easement monitoring. The software includes a mobile app specifically to be used by conservation easement monitors. It allows a monitor to fill out the reporting form, take photos and locate them on a property map using GPS, then submit the report to the office all at the same time, from their smart phone. This is a big improvement from the current method of filling out a paper report, taking photos with a smart phone or camera, and marking the approximate location and direction the photo was taken on a paper map before delivering it to the office along with emailing in photos.
I’ve so far mapped the boundaries of the preserves, and now I’m working to map trails by GPS, adding bridges and points of interest, and marking current and future projects. The software also can keep track of recurring and one-time tasks, site visits, along with many more functions, enabling more efficient project and time management.
IIT Winter Newsletter - On the Trails
On the Trails - Bridge Woes by Dan Tutor
This can be a quiet time for visitors to the trails. The ground is often frozen and streams are glazed with ice. Some days the wind howls and bites, like it did last Monday when Chloe and I walked the sandbar out to Hutchins Island. When it blows especially hard, as it has several times already, trees come down, and it takes a flurry of cutting and clearing to open them up again. I like to have this done within a week of a big blow, but sometimes it takes a little longer, especially if falling trees have damaged a bridge.
We had a few of these this year. The first was when a massive 30” diameter hemlock stub crushed a bridge section on Elaine’s trail. The 35’ tall stump was thoroughly colonized by Ganoderma tsugae mycelium that had turned large portions of trunk to the consistency of wet cardboard. The hemlock varnish shelf is closely related to the reishi - a renowned medicinal fungus with a glossy, lacquer red exterior. I love harvesting them to make tinctures or display around my house. I was impressed, but not pleased, when the rotten hemlock drove the 5’ steel posts holding up the bridge straight into the ground like finish nails. Luckily, the portion of the bridge effected isn’t essential, it was built at a time when beavers had dammed this portion of the waterway. The dam has since disintegrated, and the formerly flooded gully is now a small stream, easily crossed by the unaffected portion of the bridge.
The second bridge was a portion of the bog bridging at Broad Point that lifted and torqued. The cause of this is something of a mystery. No trees were down nearby, but its possible nearby spruce roots levered it up from beneath as the tree rocked in high southeasterly winds. In a testament to the bog bridging system we have adopted, this was thankfully easy to isolate and fix.
In other bridge news, we have removed the bridge we installed over the Marsh Pond breach at Hutchins beach for the season. This was the plan from the beginning, as we feared any winter storms, like the ones that caused the breach last year, would seriously damage it. The bridge has been moved to safety for the winter, and will be reinstalled on taller posts in the spring. This fall extreme high tides (over 12’) left the bridge submerged at peak high water. Raising the bridge, a foot or more would keep it above the highest tides. The tide also flooded a significant portion of the dune leading to the bridge, so we are considering adding sections at both ends to extend it.
If you’re out hiking the trails this Winter, make sure to take care on snowy, icy slopes, and enjoy the beauty that Winter in Maine holds.
Did You Miss One of Our Talks?
Many of Our Zoom Talks are Recorded. Click on a link below to view some of our past topics!
Bluebird Nesting Habits w/ Dr. Sarah DuRant
December Stars and Planets - Star Party w/ John Meader
Predicting Sea Level Rise and Flooding in the Gulf of Maine
Art Installation, Broad Point Preserve
Art Installation by Corinna DSchoto at Broad Point Preserve
“Interiors” Installation by Corinna DSchoto
Its not often we encounter something unexpected on the IIT trails. Maybe you will see a new animal or plant, or perhaps a new piece of bridging, more often someones lost hat. This summer we experimented with something new and a little surprising on the Broad Point trail - a public art installation by the sculptor and artist Corinna DSchotto. Her piece, interior, fresh from its debut at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland was installed on the site of the old cabin out on the Broad Point trail looking down Gilkey’s Harbor. You may remember the old stone fireplace there, harkening back to a different time.
I came across Corinna’s work in February of this year, through my friend Rachel Romanski, who was the assistant curator for the CMCA at the time. Corinna is a professor of sculpture at Mass Art, and runs 10b, Boston’s only alternative art space, a hole in the wall lab for artistic experimentation. Living in a city where storage space is a luxury, she was looking for a home for the large steel sculpture after the show at the CMCA closed. Her request was that it could be experienced by the public in an outdoor setting. Rachel floated the idea out to a group of friends, and I was immediately interested. I was intrigued by the geometric lines of the piece. It looked like a drawing made in two point perspective rendered in three dimensions.
The sculpture is based on the architectural drawings for a widely available modular home design. It consists of a number of rectangular frames, which, when viewed from different angles, suggest the lines and planes of the proto house they take their inspiration from. In a gallery setting, these frames create an experience akin to the inverse of looking at static art on walls. As the viewer walks around the piece, each rectangle frames a different angle of the gallery and its art and occupants, shifting with the viewers changing perspective.
Only a few months into my job with IIT, I was apprehensive about bringing up the bold concept of installing a public art piece in one of the preserves, but Steve, Chloe, and Robyn received the idea enthusiastically and encouraged me to move forward. I contacted Corinna and we exchanged a flurry of emails, then met for coffee in Rockland, and finally she came out to tour some of the preserves. There were several locations that I thought could be good candidates for a sculpture. The Hinkle Preserve came to mind, with its easy access and short, neatly looping trail. Another option I thought of was putting it somewhere out on Hutchins Island. I imagined the impression of surprise and wonder it would elicit as it was discovered by hikers. But perhaps the most intriguing idea was the old cabin site Broad Point. As it turned out, this was Corinna’s favorite spot too. Coincidentally, the footprint of interiors is precisely the same size as the foundation of the old cabin that once stood there.
Once we had the spot located, the next challenge was getting all the materials out to the end of Broad Point. This was no easy task. The deconstructed sculpture was in 14 steel frames of various sizes, with the largest being 8 feet by 10 feet. We considered carrying the frames out one by one, but this would have been a considerable physical challenge. After some thought, we decided to use the IIT canoe as a kind of barge to float all the frames out in one trip. To accomplish this, we laid all the frames flat across the canoe, then gathered 4 pieces of blue dock foam from around Broad Cove, and lashed them to each corner of the stacked frames where they hung off the sides of the boat. This created a kind of outrigger craft, with the frames balanced on the canoe and held stable by the foam. Our plan was to load the canoe up near the Mill Creek bridge at high tide, and ride it out to Broad Point as the tide receded. We partially succeeded, but loading up took a little longer than anticipated, and the first part of the voyage consisted of dragging the cargo-laden canoe across the shallow mudflat until we had enough water to paddle. From there it was a short cruise to the end of the point, where we unloaded everything and carried it up the bank to the chimney.
Cleaning up the site was another challenge. The old cabin had been intentionally demolished by controlled fire, but what Corinna found when she started to dig channels for the base of the sculpture was a layer of broken and melted glass, along with hinges, door knobs, and other household hardware. We collected several buckets of glass and artifacts in the process of putting up the sculpture.
The sculpture was installed in July, and piqued the interest of many who walked the trail. On August 5th, a reception was held out on the point. Rachel Alexandrou, a local forager and food artist based in North Haven made the evening magical by preparing a feast of locally collected flora and fauna. The tasting menu included such delicacies as black trumpet jam, local oysters with lovage mignonette and pickled magnolia flower, spruce tip Irish moss pudding with chokeberry sauce, and green crab broth with wild greens. Approximately 50 people showed up to see the piece in its new home and hear Corinna talk about its genesis and journey to the preserve. In contrast to the gallery setting, out on Broad Point the lines of the sculpture become frames for the stunning natural setting. As the viewer walks around the installation, these windows hold views of fern fields, a grove of hardwoods, oak and apple trees hanging over the beach, the view down brackets channel, and our ubiquitous gaunt-but-charming spruce forests. The response from the public has been enthusiastic.
