Scenic Inventory – Hancock and Washington County

Purpose Statement

A comprehensive scenic inventory will be conducted in the summer of 2009 in Hancock and Washington counties. Several scenic inventories were conducted in the last 30 years for the Maine coast. The most comprehensive ones exist for the coast south of Penobscot Bay. However, inventories for Downeast Maine are limited and not in digital format.

By definition, scenic resources are public areas, features, and sites that are recognized,
visited, and enjoyed by the general public for their inherent visual qualities. With this understanding, the methodology that will be used to conduct the scenic inventory is limited to scenic resources viewable from public places (e.g., roads, parks, scenic turnouts, coastal waterbodies, great ponds, public hiking trails, etc.). This method gives policy-makers and citizens a set of tools to achieve a higher level of precision to identify and evaluate scenic resources – using descriptive language, illustrative maps, and characteristic photographs.

The outcome of a scenic inventory helps decision-makers at many levels. These include:

• Comprehensive planning at the municipal level.
• Strategic regional and statewide land conservation efforts (e.g., local land trusts, Land for Maine’s Future program) that help determine which lands to protect, seek to prioritize scarce resources and decide whether to take action when a property comes on the market.
• Promotion and management of tourism including documentation of history and planning for interpretive materials
• Alignment studies for highways and utility corridors.
• Maintaining community scenic character when considering impacts of development or tracking cumulative impacts over time.
• Whether to grant a tax abatement in accordance with Internal Revenue Service requirements for conservation easements.
• Siting studies for wind energy facilities that require identifying scenic viewpoints of state or national significance in accordance with the Wind Power law (Title 35-A MRSA Ch. 34-A)).