What Makes the FHLH Conservation Area so Special?

By Jeffrey Mabee, conservation area owner and longtime resident

The Harriet L Hartley Conservation Area has, for 30 years, been our backyard, our viewscape, our best birding spot, our swimming, sailing, rowing and motorboating area and our hearts delight. What is it that makes this area so special? Surely it would be special if it was just a corner of a cove. But here the Little River ebbs and flows and carries fresh water into the cove. Just to watch the river cutting through the flats and out between the granite ledges, which are covered with bladderwrack, is worth a short walk out on the intertidal zone. The ledges become mountain forests of erect bladderwrack (rockweed) at high tide and to snorkel through the rockweed at high tide is like flying through a forest. A walk out onto the intertidal zone is a walk of discovery. There are many shells, stones of every color and description and if you are lucky you may find a mill ball, used in grinding something (perhaps gunpowder) at what used to be a tide mill at the mouth of the river. At the right sun angle you can see small spurts of water from the abundant razor clams.

The wildlife, over the years is mesmerizing. The winter brings large flocks of black ducks and mallards. They talk incessantly and fly up, sometimes by the hundreds, in response to a perceived predator. When the tide is in they relax and swim lazily along with little to do but to talk with one another. They feed when the tide is ebbing and flowing and when the tide is low they enjoy riding the river currents between the granite ledges. 

Springtime brings the common merganser pair. They are beautiful majestic birds and amazing swimmers. It is one of the memorable wildlife experiences to see a family of mergansers fishing in the shallows with water spraying up off of their backs while they zigzag back and forth in pursuit of small schooling fish. Every year they raise a brood. They are cavity nesters and for several years they have nested in the maple that hangs over our house. They are wary and secretive and it is rare to see the mom fly in or out of her cavity. We watch with excitement as the chicks follow their parents around and are saddened by watching the decreasing number of chicks as they are picked off by birds of prey and other predators.

The bald eagles often perch in the tall black locusts on the edge of the lawn. They also enjoy the view at the top of the white pines across the river. They will happily  take ducks and seagulls, including the domestic ducks that we once had. The eagles are majestic birds and it never ceases to excite and amaze us when one soars over the house or down onto the mudflat. Sometimes a pair will hang out on the flat for a full low tide cycle.

There are so many birds to see at the HLHCA. They all have a story and  personalties we enjoy. The flocks of bonaparte gulls that fly up in a large flock and reflect the sun off their wings. The herring gulls that used to spend the entire low tide cycle picking up mussels, taking them up to a height and dropping them on the rocks to break them. Then the ensuing fight over possession. This activity has been curtailed by the green crab that has decimated the mussel population. The kingfishers that chatter and hover above the water until they drop straight down on their prey. The ospreys do the same, but in a grander fashion. We could sit and watch the ospreys hunt and fish forever. Then there are the loons (which really do get loony), the buffleheads, the goldeneyes, the eiders, the magnificent great blue herons, the occasional great egret and gannet, and, of course, the crows. The camera is always ready.

It always surprises us how many animals come to the sea for a lick of salt or perhaps searching for the small critters that live in the rocks along the shore. A fox family has raised their pups somewhere in the area for many years and the mother would often pass through our neighbor’s backyard on her way down to our yard, most likely in search for one of the dozens of chipmunks that live in the now decommissioned overboard discharge system. We have, in recent years, entertained an albino woodchuck, a beautiful animal. We have had beaver and river otters in the river next to the house. One year we had visitors from Hungary who searched high and low all over Maine to see a moose. The morning they were leaving and were out in the yard with their video cameras there appeared a moose cow and her calf along the banks of the river on the Northport side. Our neighbors, who have a high vantage point of the bay, once watched a moose swim from one side of the cove to the other. And recently a solitary grey seal has shown up to sun himself out on a distant ledge. On a flat calm morning, with some patience and a pair of binoculars, you can see harbor porpoise. The harbor seals are regular visitors.

Last but not least the HLHCA has an abundance of small tidepools that keep children busy with their nets for hours on end. The tidepools are often filled with fish and shrimp and an occasional elver. For years the wormers came and spent hours harvesting worms. The mudflat has been unproductive for harvesting for years now. There are large hen clams out at the low tide mark but no one seems to be interested in them. Besides, the flat has been closed for decades, primarily due to the high coloform counts caused by grandfathered septic systems. Systems are being upgraded in the cove and the area where HLHCA is has been showing acceptable levels for years. When the tide is in you can catch mackerel, bluefish and stripers. Now we see large schools of menhaden (Pogies) in the cove and we have seen herring attempting to go up the river. It is our belief that if the dams were gone it would not take long for there to be a sizeable return of alewives, shad, menhaden, stripers and perhaps even some salmon. If you are adventurous and do some night snorkeling you will see good sized eels for sure.

The Harriet L Hartley Conservation Area is very alive and is growing in health. It is slow growth as the cleanup of the septic systems is happening slowly. The many thousands of menhaden that hang out in the cove are a good indicator that the ecology is healthier as they are filter feeders and depend on the right mix of nutrients. In a publication by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation  “menhaden have been called the ‘most important fish in the sea’ as they create a vital connection between the bottom and top of the food chain. They eat tiny plants and animals, called plankton, by filtering them from the water. In turn, menhaden are a rich food source for many predator fish”. Here in Maine the predators would be primarily seals, harbor porpoise, mackeral, stripers, osprey and bald eagles. Pogies are a perfect example of the complexity and sensitivity of the web of life. One last observation. If you want to see a most chilling and fascinating sight, find a school of pogies, situate your boat over them and at some point the school will swim up and at you and you will be looking into the eyes of hundreds if not thousands of fish. They seem to be imploring me to keep the water just like it is. They are enjoying the HLHCA!!