Event Celebrates Carson NWR Addition (ME)

Kennebunk, ME, 8/27/01: Senator Susan Collins joins the Trust for Public Land and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today to celebrate the recent addition of 157 acres on the Mousam River estuary to the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge and to formally release the new publication, Where the Rivers Meet the Sea: Fulfilling the Promise of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. Representatives from the offices of U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe and U.S. Representative Tom Allen are also attending.

Previously owned by the Dwight family, the newly protected land lies near Parsons Beach on the Mousam River. Its unique mix of pitch pine forests and open fields supports nesting populations of several declining bird species, including bobolinks, black-throated green warblers, and scarlet tanagers. The property lies adjacent to other Refuge holdings along the Mousam River estuary, one of the principal estuaries that the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge was created to protect.

The Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge owns and manages more than 5,000 acres between Kittery and Cape Elizabeth. This stretch of southern coastal Maine has, over the past decade, been increasingly threatened by urban sprawl. The publication of Where the Rivers Meet the Sea: Fulfilling the Promise of the Rachel Carson National Refuge by the Trust for Public Land and the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, directly addresses the impacts of development on southern coastal Maine’s environment. In light of the challenges facing the region, the report recommends that the Refuge’s acquisition focus area be expanded to include critical inland and coast habitat, upland buffers around refuge marshes, and corridors along the rivers that feed refuge marshes, thus securing the well-being of refuge ecosystems for wildlife and appropriate recreation.

The Trust for Public Land is a national conservation organization dedicated to conserving land for people to enjoy as parks and open space. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than 1.2 million acres nationwide, including nearly 30,000 acres in Maine.

Note to Editors: The event will be held at a private residence, 41 Parsons Beach Road in Kennebunk, and will start at 3:00 pm, with formal remarks beginning at 3:20 pm. For a free copy of Where the Rivers Meet the Sea, call Heather Wiggins at (617) 367-6200 x308.