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Hancock County
Planning Commission

Scenic Assessment Inventory and Analysis

The Hancock County Planning Commission (HCPC) and Washington County Council of Governments are preparing an inventory of key scenic and historic views as seen from public places in down east coastal towns. This inventory is a major opportunity to identify key scenic views. The results will be useful to communities for updating comprehensive plans, preparing grant applications, creating village improvement strategies, and tourism promotion as well as developing land protection strategies.  The inventory will be published in print and online with maps, photographs and recommendations.

Documents and Plans

• Purpose statement for this Scenic Inventory
• Description of Volunteer Benefits, Activities and Responsibilities
• Scenic Assessment Handbook (Warning - extremely large document - 18.3M PDF)
  A ‘how-to’ guide for using the State Planning Office’s scenic inventory methodology to identify, evaluate, and document scenic resources and to identify scenic viewpoints of state or national significance for purposes of Title 35-A MRSA*
• Accessing the Maine Coast
  Website of the Maine Seagrant Program provides clear guidelines for legal access to coastal properties.
• Public Shoreline Access in Maine: a citizen's guide to ocean and coastal law (873K PDF )
• Prior Viewshed Studies
• Dark Sky Initiative

Maps

• Nominate Scenic Locations in Hancock and Washington Counties - Just click here!
  What are the most beautiful or important scenic views in the Downeast region. Please help us identify scenic locations by nominating your favorite views. Please be as specific as you can about the location of the scenic view and why this place is scenic. This will help us find the location and know what to look for when we visit. We are only able to include views seen from public locations, such as roadsides, parks and public lands.
• Latest Ratings for Scenic Areas (01/17/10)

  Desktop Rating	Field Rating	Total Rating

• Hancock County Towns: Interactive map provides addition information about towns
• Google Maps - Hancock and Washington County Assessment - source for detailed individual ratings, maps and photographs.

Photographs

• Inventory of Scenic Photographs (flickr)

Press

• February 28 , 2009 HCPC and WCCOG Announce Viewshed Inventory Project
• March 19, 2009 Scenic Assessment Training Workshop Scheduled for April 28
• March 25, 2009 HCPC and WCCOG Seek Summer Interns for Scenic Assessment
• March 27, 2009 HCPC and WCCOG Seek Volunteers for Assessment

Public Outreach

Assessment Documents

Regional Organizations

• Blue Hill Heritage Trust
• Conservation Trust of Brooksville, Castine & Penobscot
• Crabtree Neck Land Trust
• Frenchman Bay Conservancy
• Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust
• Island Heritage Trust
• Islesboro Islands Trust
• Downeast Lakes Land Trust
• Downeast Rivers Land Trust
• Georges River Land Trust
• Great Auk Land Trust
• Pleasant River Wildlife Foundation
• Quoddy Regional Land Trust
• Woodie Wheaton Land Trust

State Organizations

• Maine Audubon
• Maine Coast Heritage Trust
• Maine Farmland Trust
• Forest Society of Maine
• Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine
• The Nature Conservancy in Maine

For more information, contact Thomas Martin, HCPC Executive Director

HCPC, 395 State Street, Ellsworth, ME 04605
Voice: (207) 667-7131 Fax: (207) 667-2099
EMail: tmartin@hcpcme.org