Land Use History and Stand Development on Long Island in Blue Hill Bay, Maine

Disturbance histories are important factors in determining the composition and structure of today\u27s forests. Not least among these disturbances is land-use history, due to its widespread and long-lasting effects. Land clearing for Maine peaked in 1880 at 6.5 million acres, with the coast and river valleys the first to be developed and utilized as farming communities. Maine\u27s coastal islands contain some of the longest-impacted areas of forest in the state. Long Island, located in Blue Hill Bay, was first settled in 1779. The primary occupation on Long Island was farming, which included raising livestock, mainly sheepherding. Lumbering, fishing and a granite quarry provided supplemental livelihoods. By 1920 all of the year-round residents of the island had moved to the mainland, leaving only a few summer camps scattered along the coast. Ownership of parcels of land on Long Island was determined using historic maps and deed descriptions, along with a GIS program to plot the boundary lines. Searches were then conducted on the ground for physical evidence of historic settlement along and within the defined property lines. Twelve adjacent parcels were delineated, and enough physical evidence was found to reinforce the position of these property lines. In order to capture the most comprehensive view of vegetation composition and structure on the southern part of Long Island, a variable-width transect sampling method was employed within each property, encompassing as many different soil types and vegetation classes as possible. Tree coring plots were also established along these transect lines in order to analyze vegetation age trends. It is likely that all harvestable stands and arable land was cleared during settlement. The first new cohort of trees began growing in the abandoned agricultural fields and pastures, following the general trend of abandonment, with older trees growing in the first-abandoned inland pastures, and younger trees occupying the last-abandoned homesteads and gardens nearer the shoreline. Subsequent disturbances, such as partial logging, blueberry field burning, and wind events, opened gaps to allow establishment of the following cohorts