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Mount Abraham
Character of the Land Base
The 6,214-acre Mt. Abraham property includes the two summits and most of the northeast side of the mountain. Known locally as Mt. Abram, it is the ninth tallest mountain in Maine at 4, feet, and is characterized by very steep and rugged talus slopes, particularly on the northern and eastern sides. The extensive, treeless alpine area covers 200 acres on the northwest summit, and 150 acres on the southeast summit. The abundance of talus distinguishes Mt. Abram from other mountains in Maine. The mountain also has a striking and rugged appearance from the valley below.
Most of this property, 5,285 acres, has been designated as the Mount Abraham Ecological Reserve. The Ecological Reserve encompasses the treeless ridge top and a majority of the northern and eastern slopes, and incorporates a number of rare plants and exemplary natural communities that collectively form an exemplary alpine ecosystem. Also of note is the state’s largest mountain ash ( Sorbus americana ), which grows on the slopes of Mt. Abraham. Though not a rare species, this remarkable tree has a circumference of 47 inches and a height of 49 feet.
A 1,028 acre parcel to the east of the reserve area consists of several hundred acres of softwood plantations and hundreds more acres of recent (within the past 20 years) and heavy partial cuts.
The Appalachian Trail abuts the northwestern boundary of the Reserve, and a side trail from the AT extends to the summit, where it joins with the former Fire warden’s trail which descends the eastern slope to a woods road located off the Bureau ownership. This is the traditional access to the Mountain.
Mount Abraham Ecological Reserve
The Maine Natural Areas Program describes the Mount Abraham Ecological Reserve:
Mt. Abraham’s summit forms an extensive treeless ridge dominated by characteristic alpine vegetation. In fact, Mt. Abraham supports some of Maine's largest alpine habitat outside of Katahdin. Three different types of alpine communities are present, and together these rare communities provide habitat for five rare plant species. One vegetation type in particular – Diapensia Alpine Ridge – occurs at only two other locations in Maine.
Lower slopes of the mountain contain mature hardwood and spruce forests with little to no signs of past harvesting. Some old growth spruce stands sampled in 1997 support trees over three hundred years old. Other noteworthy natural communities include fire-dependant, open canopy spruce woodlands and birch woodlands.
vulnerability to further decline (S2). Both the northwest and southeast summits of Mt. Abraham host a number of rare alpine plant species rated as S2. Lapland diapensia ( Diapensia lapponica ), a plant with a low, “pincushion” shape, is found on both summits. Alpine blueberry ( Vaccinium boreale ) and northern comandra ( Geocaulon lividum ) are also on both summits. The northern comandra tends to have a patchy distribution in the alpine area, tucked in among sheep laurel, blueberry, and krummholz vegetation. In addition, the northwest summit hosts a small patch of Bigelow’s sedge (S2) ( Carex bigelowii ) near the fire tower, which has been partially trampled by hikers. Lastly, a single individual of a rare hybrid birch ( Betula x minor ) (S1) has been found on the southeast slope of the northwest summit.
Hornemann’s willow-herb ( Epilobium hornemannii ) (S1) has been found in several shaded, moist, rocky drainages on the east side of the mountain including Norton Brook. Northern firmoss ( Hupersia selago ) (S1) was also found along the margins of Norton Brook.
Natural Communities: The most distinctive feature of the mountain is the summit, and the host of exemplary natural communities found there.
- Exemplary Alpine Ecosystem. All of the communities described below are considered exemplary and collectively they form an exemplary Alpine Ecosystem.
- The majority of the northwest alpine area can be classified as a Crowberry-Bilberry Summit Bald. Alpine bilberry ( Vaccinium uliginosum ), Labrador tea ( Rhododendron groenlandicum ), sheep laurel ( Kalmia angustifolia ), low sweet blueberry ( Vaccinium angustifolium ), mountain cranberry ( Vaccinium vitis-idea ), heart-leaved birch ( Betula cordifolia ) , and fruiticose lichens dominate the treeless area. Patches of Spruce – Fir – Krummholz, with black spruce ( Picea mariana ) and balsam fir ( Abies balsamea ) , are common in this area and form a lower elevation apron around the exposed alpine habitat.
- A small example of a Diapensia Alpine Ridge occurs on the northeast slope along either side of the Fire Wardens Trail. Abundant amounts of Diapensia lapponica and purple crowberry ( Empetrum eamesii ) are characteristic of this area.
- The southeast summit of Mt. Abraham is much like the main summit. Steep talus slopes dominate the alpine zone with beds of ericaceous vegetation and krummholtz mixed throughout the community. The area above treeline is again a Crowberry-Bilberry Summit Bald, with alpine bilberry ( Vaccinium uliginosum ), Labrador tea ( Ledum groenlandicum ), mountain cranberry, black spruce, and heart-leaved birch. Spruce-Fir- Birch Krummholtz is found at the bottom of the talus slopes and in the saddle between knolls. A dense thicket of stunted black spruce, balsam fir, and heart-leaved birch characterize these areas. The substrate is organic with peat and lichens. A line of cairns passed through this area and a small amount of trampling was noted.
- The base of the talus slope along the Fire Wardens trail on the north slope has a one to two acre Labrador Tea Talus Dwarf-Shrubland. Dense patches of Labrador tea ( Rhododendron groenlandicum ), black crowberry ( Empetrum nigrum ), and sheep laurel ( Kalmia angustifolia ) with six to ten foot tall black spruce ( Picea mariana ) characterize this area.
The Salem Snowmobile Club maintains a trail that passes along old roads skirting the southern and eastern boundary of the property. Sporadic bootleg use does occur between Mt. Abraham and Spaulding Mountain (east to west) and attempts (by ATV’s also) to climb the summit of Abraham from the southwest have become more frequent.
Visual Considerations: Visual concerns on this parcel will include the foreground views from the hiking trail and trailhead. If any of the road constructed by the previous owner for timber management purposes is to be retained for public access as a road or trail ,it will require some visual improvements over time. Some portion of the non-reserve parcel is also visible from the mountain; visual considerations will need to be included in any planned timber harvesting on this parcel.
Timber Resources
The majority of Mount Abraham is designated as an Ecological Reserve and will not be managed for timber. The Reserve forest includes considerable steep and/or infertile land that has never been harvested. However, it also includes some 1,500 acres in late successional stands, mostly northern hardwoods and northern hardwood/spruce-fir, all on the east slope above the softwood plantations. One pocket of extremely large and old red spruce, showing recent mortality, was noted southwest of the warden’s cabin, on operable terrain that is now part of the Reserve. Depending on the extent of this pocket, it may qualify as an old growth stand.
The area outside Ecological Reserve status is a 1,028-acre parcel purchased from Plum Creek. It lies on the east edge of the overall tract, and is the area lowest in elevation. This forest is not appropriate for Ecological Reserve designation due to several hundred acres of softwood plantations (mostly red pine and white spruce, with a bit of black spruce), and hundreds more acres of recent and heavy partial cuts within the past 20 years. The remainder of this parcel is mostly low quality and understocked hardwood over dense hardwood regeneration. Naturally occurring softwoods (mostly spruce) are found mainly in small areas not recently harvested. This parcel will be managed in similar fashion to Bureau forest land elsewhere, with the plantations being replaced by natural regeneration as the trees mature and are harvested.
Other than one road built into the Reserve from the east, the area has no issues in regards to old roads for timber management purposes.
Administrative Concerns
Public Use and Management Roads, Gates and Road Control: The access road into the property is from the West Kingfield Road, its primary purpose being a timber management road under the previous landowner. Efforts will need to be made to determine the drive-to end point of this road. The road currently does not meet Bureau standards for public vehicular use.
Fire Control : The Bureau is working with the Maine Forest Service to develop a fire control plan for this area.
Management Issues and Concerns
Natural Resource Management Issues
- Fragile alpine areas can be trampled by hikers who stray off trail.
- Snowmobile and ATV use has been noted in the subalpine forest and even into the alpine zone. Vegetation (including rare plants) in these areas grows slowly and is slow to recover from damage; this area is within the Ecological Reserve.
- Roads on the property have some rutting and erosion. A decision must be made on how and where to block any roads now within the Ecological Reserve (unless they serve as part of an ATV or snowmobile trail system that cannot be reasonably relocated), and how much effort needs to be made to put these roads to bed.
Wildlife Management Issues
- Recreational uses of the mountain need to be monitored to minimize impacts to high elevation bird habitat.
Recreation/Visual Management Issues
- The original Mt. Abraham trailhead has been used little since a timber management road improved by the previous landowner has provided hikers with an ad hoc parking and trailhead area 1 ½-2 miles closer to the summit.
- The future of the current road into the property needs to be determined. In particular, will any of it be maintained for public vehicular access, or will it become a management road that is also a hiking trail?
- The old camp Fire Wardens camp is unsafe, but is still utilized. It’s future needs to be determined.
- The remains of the old fire tower on the summit may be a safety hazard and needs to be removed. It also may concentrate use in this area, which includes a rare patch of Bigelow sedge.
- Snowmobiles and ATV’s are able to access the summit from the west side of the mountain on the recent Mead-Westvaco acquisition, which is causing damage to the fragile alpine vegetation.
- The Bureau does not have a formal trail maintenance agreement with the Bates Outing Club.
- The hiking trail is poorly located; relocation needs to be explored.
- Determine what public uses will be allowed in the existing gravel roads within the non- ecoreserve portion of the property.
Timber Management Issues
- Management of the plantations needs to be planned, though there is little to do silviculturally over the next 15 years.
Administrative Management Issues
- Determine the end point of the current gravel management road.
Chain of Ponds
Character of the Land Base
This highly scenic 1,041-acre parcel in Chain of Ponds Township consists mostly of the eastern and northern shoreline of a chain of ponds including from northwest to southeast, Round, Natanis, Long, Bag, and Lower Ponds. The basins form numerous coves and small wetlands, which then empty into the North Branch of the Dead River south of the public reserved lands. A description of Chain of Ponds in the Portland Press Herald by an outdoors writer captures the beauty of this area: “There are few places in Maine with as rugged a landscape... Mountain summits and ridges surround the narrow ribbon of water and create a fjord-like setting. On the western edge of the ponds, gray blocks of granite plunge down into the clear waters. Fragrant cedars line many portions of the ponds.” (Michael Perry, September 2, 2001).
Route 27, a designated scenic byway, runs along the eastern side of the Ponds. The road is an arterial route used by logging trucks, and to increase safety, DOT recently realigned and rebuilt the road. The rebuild included a scenic overlook that provides good views of the ponds and will be installing interpretive panels about the Arnold Trail.
At the North end of Natanis Pond the Bureau leases land to a commercial campground that predates the Bureau’s acquisition of the property.
Inland Fisheries and Wildlife owns and maintains a dam at Lower Pond at the outlet which functions to maintain the trout and salmon fishery habitat within the chain. The dam was reconstructed in 1991. The ponds are known for their good fishing.
A small Mixed Graminoid – Shrub Marsh is found along the northwestern edge of the property. This is characterized by several graminoid species (including species of Scirpus , Carex , Eleocharis , Glyceria , and Calamagrostis canadensis ). Black bulrush ( Scirpus atrovirens ) and inflated sedge ( Carex vesicaria ) are dominant. Old beaver dams are evident here (the marsh appears to be an abandoned impoundment), but no recent activity was noted. Species diversity is very high in this area.
The northern end of Round Pond is characterized by a Sweet Gale-Mixed Shrub Fen. This small open fen is dominated by sweet gale ( Myrica gale ) and speckled alder ( Alnus incana ). Meadowsweet ( Spiraea alba ) and star sedge ( Carex echinata ) are frequently encountered. Slender sedge ( Carex lasiocarpa ) and marsh-potentilla ( Comarum palustre ) are scattered throughout the community.
A Spruce-Larch Wooded Bog is found on the eastern edge of the fen at the northern edge of the pond. This is characterized by black spruce ( Picea mariana ) up to 30’ and an understory of sheep laurel ( Kalmia angustifolia ), leatherleaf ( Chamaedaphne calyculata ), three-seeded sedge ( Carex trisperma ), and Labrador tea ( Rhododendron groenlandicum ) with hummocks of sphagnum.
Fisheries and Wildlife Resources: The five interconnected ponds contained and the narrow valley surrounding them are the primary natural features. The ponds all have suitable coldwater game fish habitat with Natanis Pond having the deepest water. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has stocked lake trout in the ponds to supplement a slow growing salmon population. Brook trout and salmon populations maintain themselves by natural spawning in tributaries to the ponds.
There have been reports of low numbers of deer wintering along Horseshoe Stream and north of Round Pond but this activity has not been verified by ground surveys.
The fields associated with an abandoned farm (Upper Farm) adjacent to the east side of Route 27 have been mowed to maintain the open habitat, in what is otherwise a heavily forested area. Scattered apple trees are found along the old foundation and at the edges of the field. The alders along Upper Farm Brook south of the field have been managed for woodcock by clearing five 30-foot wide strips perpendicular to the brook to rejuvenate the decadent alder. The uplands away from the ponds and Route 27 are forested, but steep and narrow in most places.
Both active and abandoned beaver impoundments have been observed on the property, many of which have been created and abandoned over time, resulting in the mosaic of habitats along the stream course.
Historic and Cultural Resources
Arnold Trail Historic District: The Chain of Ponds were part of the route for the 1775 Arnold Expedition, which headed northward following a portage trail around Horseshoe Stream to Arnold Pond, and on to Canada. Although many of the Expedition’s provisions and possessions had been discarded or lost prior to reaching the Chain of Ponds, it is possible that Bureau lands in the vicinity of Natanis and Round Ponds, and Horseshoe Stream may contain some artifacts. (See also the Overview in Section IV for additional details).
Recreation and Visual Resources
Facilities and Opportunities: Recreational use of this area consists of camping at the Bureau’s primitive campsites on Long Pond and Bag Pond, and at the commercial campground (under a lease from the Bureau) on Natanis Pond, canoeing and kayaking, and fishing. All campsites are presently accessible by vehicle. A network of ATV trails now extends from Stratton to the commercial campground. Ice fishing is a popular winter activity with parking available north of the Natanis Campground entrance along Route 27.
Boat access to the ponds presently consists of an informal boat access from a beach at the north end of Natanis Pond, which is part of the commercial lease and requires payment of a small fee; two hand carry launch sites at the Bureau’s campsite locations on Long Pond, and from a gravel road that runs down across an old (now submerged) road crossing between Bag and Lower Pond. There is also a steep gravel ramp off of Route 27 on Lower Pond. Reconstruction of Route 27 eliminated an existing formally-designated boat access site to Natanis Pond on Route 27, and has removed a stretch of road that ran close to the shores of Natanis Pond and provided informal access sites which were used in the winter to gain access to the lake for ice fishing. Because these access points were eliminated, and because access to this chain of ponds from lower ponds can be difficult when water levels are low, the Bureau’s Boating Facilities Division has been
Management Issues and Concerns
Natural Resource Management Issues
- Potential impacts to the lake environment due to the campground’s proximity to the shoreline should be monitored.
- Invasive aquatic species are a concern from use of the boat launches.
Wildlife Management Issues
- The old fields and apple trees are in need of periodic management to maintain their habitat attributes.
- The Horseshoe Stream area holds good potential as a deer wintering area, and will require further monitoring and evaluation regarding its future suitability.
Historic-Cultural Management Issues
- Any management in the northern end of the property should take into consideration the historic significance of the Arnold Trail.
- Explore opportunities to provide interpretive resources for this portion of the Arnold Trail. A cooperative agreement with the campground may an option for distributing information and housing interpretive displays describing the exploits of the Expedition in this area and northward to Quebec.
Recreation/visual Management Issues
- Providing adequate boat launching continues to be an area of concern.
- Areas authorized for camping require further redesign and construction.
- Additional primitive campsites may be appropriate on Long and Bag Ponds.
- The Bureau should work with the commercial campground lessee to ensure the campground is in character with the scenic and primitive nature of the surroundings and provides adequate access for day-users and short-term camping parties.
Timber Management Issues
- Due to terrain limitations, visual considerations, wildlife habitat values, the modest acreage of this property, any harvests should be secondary to recreation and wildlife habitat management.
Other Public Lots
The numerous small holdings in the Flagstaff region are presently managed primarily for timber management with secondary uses of wildlife management and dispersed recreation. Lands included in this category are: Coplin Plantation Central, Coplin Plantation West (DWA), Freeman, Highland Plantation Double, Highland Plantation Southeast, Highland Plantation West, King and Bartlett, and Redington. Most of these lands are original public lots, and they range in size from 52 acres (King and Bartlett) to 1,020 acres (Redington). There are no known exemplary natural communities, rare plants, or rare animals on these lands.
Coplin Plantation
The two Coplin Plantation public lots include the 400-acre West or Deeryard lot, which abuts the plantation boundary to the west, just west of the south branch of the Dead River. The lot provides excellent deer wintering habitat and is managed for this use in cooperation with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. A second parcel, the 500-acre Center lot, is primarily managed for timber, and is entirely surrounded by industrial forestland.
