Black Woods Scenic Byway
Cherryfield Academy Building
9/23/2009
Minutes

Note: Sunrise Trail Meeting September 30th 1:00 – 4:00 PM at UMM – see www.sunrisetrail.org

Next Black Woods Byway Meeting: Not scheduled, see note at end

Attending:

• Rex Turner – Parks and Lands,
• Misha Mytar – Parks and Lands
• Greg Burr – Fisheries Biologist – Tunk Lake, Parking area, trail head opportunities
• Ashby Bladen – Friends of Tunk, brought map of the watershed
• Travis Bullard – Renewable Energy
• Larry Johannesman – MaineDOT, landscape architect, help with design of byway projects
• Holly Hitchcock – horseback rider
• Peter Witham – Englishmans Bed and Breakfast
• Charlie Hitchings – live on Route 182
• Jim Fisher – HCPC – planner
• Judy East – WCCOG – planner

Eolian Wind Power – Travis Bullard

• Distributed energy model
• Approached by land owner of Burke Hill about possible location, but also looked at Mount Bracy (Sprague Falls),
• Three criteria
• Wind
• Distribution lines
• Transportation
• 1 to 2 megawatt machines – would install up to six in one location
• Fatal flaw analysis
• Habitat
• Scenic impacts
• Model of turbine depends on wind
• Would put anemometers at various heights on a 200’ tower
• Ideally collect data for 18 months
• Typical setbacks
• 1 ½ times the height of the tower
• 750 meters apart
• Sufficient distance from residences
• Finished machine would be 300 feet to the tip of the blade
• Required for a DEP permit
• Noise
• Visual – views from ecological reserves, road, trails, buildings
• Flicker
• The power would go to a substation near Cherryfield
• Experience
• Some small one-off projects
• Some projects in early development
• Judy – UMM Fred Pellon Center is holding an alternative energy expo
• First Wind, etc.

Updates
Bureau of Parks and Lands – Misha and Rex

• Misha now working here full time
• New picnic table at the Spring River Lake – needs to be moved from the parking lot to the lake
• Outhouse at Tunk Lake – very problematic
• Maintenance has been a problem – people are putting trash into the outhouse hole
• Charlie Hitchings recommends trash cans
• Ashby recommends animal proof dumpster – large capacity, easy to dump
• Will the privy be locked in the winter? Don’t think so.

Action

• Misha and Rex will look at designs that are being used
• Larry will investigate MaineDOT strategies and capacity of the
• Mark Wright carries trash from the region
• Jim will look for best practices from byway
• Long Pond – Boat facility

• Is completely permitted
• Construction will being in the spring
• Entrance is west of the current area – short drive and parking area
• ACTION: Misha will send plans to Jim to post on the web
• Rex
• want to update GPS and GIS data for the trails
• volunteers – Ashby, Jim, Charlie
• Charlie - particularly want trails that horses can use
• Want to promote trails that are not open to ATVs, where horse riders are more comfortable
• One option is the 1000 road
• Holly Hitchcock also presented concerns about the Sunrise Trail – high speed travel and safety for other users
• Rex notes that there is a grant program  for towns to acquire
• Ashby noted that there was an old snowmobile road might connect 1000 Road Byway – might work for horses and mountain bicycles
• Rex – still looking for some bite size projects that can be considered early successes
• A trail plan can help to guide the small projects to link up in to a bigger trail system
• Might also address permitted uses / modes
• Phase 2 of Map and Guide book updates
• Hoping to start on an update for Donnell Pond
• Cutler Coast Map is a good example of what they can do for new mapping
• Spring River Lake Boat Launch
• Original plan has problems
• Hope to have a facility by the end next summer
• Site would be shallow and limit use to small boats
• Greg noted that Long Pond has a lease site

Washington County Council of Governments

• Tourism map of Washington and Hancock County
• Handed around four big maps
• Working on corrections, but this version is going up and is well received
• Peter Witham asked that these
• Bold Coast Scenic Byway
• Considering whether to write a byway designation proposal
• Fred will be presenting this idea at the annual WCCOG meeting
• Route 1 is not always scenic, so the corridor weaves on and off of the Route 1 Corridor
• Schoodic, Acadia and Blackwoods become part of the bold coast byway
• Games for travelers
• Stickers to put on the map – when you visit particular locations
• Misha – Bold Coast really refers to the Cutler Coast area
• Want the identity to refer to the cliffed coast region
• Want to figure out how to brand this area
• See if the concept will work with a different name
• A straw poll reflected wide support in this committee
• ACTION: Judy will work with MaineDOT and local organizations to further explore
• Jim handed around an example of a small interpretive sign for Schoodic Mountain
• Rex noted that these signs are less intrusive if they are mounted on existing man-made structures.

Discussion about Bureau of Parks and Lands Forest management

• There is an evolution in BPL thinking with respect to management of public lands including nature based tourism, wild land management; increase in staff (Misha)
• Charlie noted there is some grumbling: DOC logging allowed too much cutting and a road (off Blackwoods before the Spring Lake Rd. AKA Otter lake) that looks like a development (SD) road for clearing; perception is that DOC is logging too heavily to pay for admin
• Rex indicated that DOC takes timber; not defending necessarily but it is a delicate balancing act; certification visit just took place and we will see if it meets the standard
• Ashby and others noted that logging off the 1000 Road is a very good example of good practice but that the legislature circumvented the will of the voters when it said the public lands should be self-sustaining (through timber sales); should the state be in the timber business?
• Rex noted that recent and considerable amounts of the acquisitions have been logged land with recreation opportunities; result is DOC gets correspondingly less land with solid timber potential
• Misha noted DOC needs a better sense of recreational assets to provide input to harvest plans; an internal housekeeping issue at DOC that will rely on our local input so that trails are fixed/promoted/let be as appropriate

ACTION:

• Schedule a working field meeting to address the issue – after leaf off; before snow; Rex will commit the day and will seek a good meeting day using Jim’s e-mail contact list.
• Seek additional funds to support DOC and all activities on the byway including planning, amenities and other activities

Given time (4:45PM) we recognized that the following items needed to be:

• Donnell-Tunk Trails Network (Hiking Map) – though we held a short discussion about this, when Gilbert Christian map was passed around
• Scenic View Assessment
• Interpretive Program

Also add the following items next time:

• Field day (drive the byway; stop at launches, some trail heads, meeting afterwards)
• Bangor Hydro corridor planning and integration with byway