Ecological Reserve System

  • Avery Mountain, looking west
  • View from Goose Eye
  • Stratton Brook Pond, Bigelow Range
  • Chamberlain Lake, Baxter Region
  • Big Spencer Mountain
  • Galilee Pond, Deboullie
  • Gero Island, survey work
  • Mahoosucs, steep slope
  • Goose Eye looking east
  • Moose at Great Heath
  • Survey at Salmon Brook Lake Bog
  • Stream, Mahoosucs
  • Mount Abraham
  • Nahmakanta Lake

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Ecological Reserves are state-owned lands specifically set aside to protect and monitor the state's natural ecosystems. As of 2009, Maine has designated approximately 84,000 acres of Ecological Reserves on 16 public land units managed by the Maine Department of Conservation. The original designation was enabled by an act of the Maine Legislature in 2000. As specified in the legislation, the purposes of the Reserves are (Public Laws of Maine, Second Regular Session of the 119th, Chapter 592):

  • "to maintain one or more natural community types or native ecosystem types in a natural condition and range of variation and contribute to the protection of Maine's biological diversity,”
  • "as a benchmark against which biological and environmental change may be measured, as a site for ongoing scientific research, long-term environmental monitoring and education," and
  • "to protect sufficient habitat for those species whose habitat needs are unlikely to be met on lands managed for other purposes".

Reserves were designated following a multi-year inventory and assessment project coordinated by the Maine Forest Biodiversity Project, with staff assistance from The Nature Conservancy and the Maine Natural Areas Program (MNAP). They range in size from 775 acres at Wassataquoik Stream in T3 R7 WELS to over 11,000 acres at Nahmakanta in Rainbow Twp.

In addition to the ecological reserves on state lands, many other public and private organizations (e.g., The Nature Conservancy, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service) are managing a subset of lands with similar ecological goals.