keepmebeautiful

East Branch

The East Branch Sanctuary comprises over 78,000 acres east of Baxter State Park in the sparsely populated northern section of Penobscot County, Maine. Acquired between 2003 and 2009, the sanctuary includes portions of four major river watersheds--Wassataquoik Stream, Sandy Stream, the Seboeis River, and the wild, spectacular East Branch of the Penobscot. Within the shadow of Mount Katahdin, Maine's highest mountain (5,267 feet), and Traveler Mountain (3,392 feet) to the north, the sanctuary protects East Branch valley ecosystems, the Baxter State Park viewshed, and east side approaches to the Park, providing continued public access for compatible, low-impact recreational and educational use. A 30-mile stretch of the International Appalachian Trail (IAT/SIA) crosses the property from the Park to Grand Lake Matagamon, and specific trails are open to snowmobiles.

The region is characterized by rich biodiversity, from hilltops and barrens and steep slopes to ravines and coves, floodplains forests, and wet basins. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has classified some 4,000 acres of the total as "critical for biodiversity conservation, as the area's ecosystems are likely to harbor rare or uncommon plants and animals. An inventory conducted from 2004 to 2008 recorded exemplary blueberry lichen and spruce-heath barrens, two communities considered imperiled in Maine, and purple clematis and fragrant fern, two rare plants in Maine, among other uncommon plant species. Dwarf shrub bogs and boggy fens are home to dwarf heath shrubs, sedges, and orchids, as well as rare dragonflies and butterflies. The matrix forest that covers most of the rest of the area is part of TNC's highest priority for conservation.

A winter track survey in the sanctuary, conducted by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in 2007, found the presence of the federally threatened Canada lynx. Followup surveys, conducted in 2010-2012, have found lynx each year. Using aerial photography captured in 2010, EPI has since mapped some 13,000 acres of lynx habitat, namely early successional spruce-fir forest favored by the snowshoe hare, the primary food for lynx, and is developing a lynx habitat management plan for the area.

Part of the 26-mile stretch of the Penobscot East Branch, which the sanctuary encompasses, is characterized by rapids and waterfalls, including Stair Falls, Haskell Rock Pitch, Pond Pitch, Grand Pitch, and the Hulling Machine. A 1970s study identified the river as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and the 1982 Maine Rivers Study listed the East Branch system, including the Seboeis River and Wassataquoik Stream, among its A-ranked rivers, declaring the system to be one of the least-developed watersheds in the Northeast. The study observed that the watershed has a significant population potential for ocean-run Atlantic salmon, and is also notable as a high-quality native brook trout fishery.

Geologic features of significance are evident throughout the sanctuary, from small mountains to rock outcrops and glacial topography, which have been studied by such eminent geologists as Dabney Caldwell, Robert Neuman, and Douglas Rankin. The area, dominated by the granitic Katahdin pluton, displays adjacent exposed bedrock 360 to 500 million years old, with many well-preserved fossil occurrences. The highest summits on the properties are Deasey Mountain (1,964 feet) and Lunksoos Mountain (1,811 feet), views from which are spectacular, especially looking west towards Katahdin. Glacial features include carved headwalls, cirques, sharp ridges, and glacial till, moraines, and eskers--sinuous steep-sided ridges of sand and gravel. A more detailed discussion of the geology in the East Branch Sanctuary is provided in Dr. Bart DeWolf's ecological survey of the East Branch properties East of Katahdin, a resource for much of the information provided here.

The sanctuary, homeland of the Penobscot Nation, has a rich cultural history, with the rivers and tributaries providing pathways for hunting and seasonal migrations. Although there are few known archaeological sites along the East Branch below Grand Lake Matagamon, campsites in use today are likely to have been used by the earliest travelers as well. The Monument Line, the first state interior survey (1820-1833), crosses the property, and the Hunt Farm, which flourished in the mid-to-late 1800s, was built below the confluence of the Wassataquoik as a base for exploration, logging, and recreation.

The wild beauty of this region has attracted and inspired both artists and writers from the mid-1800s on, including the writer and Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, who in The Maine Woods describes, among his other adventures to and from Mount Katahdin, a guided trip down the East Branch. Ornithologist and artist John James Audubon sketched flora and fauna when he traveled the same route in 1832, and Frederic Edwin Church, a member of the Hudson River School, canoed down the river in 1855, staying at the Hunt Farm on the way to Katahdin Lake. Almost a century later, painter Marsden Hartley and fellow artist and friend Carl Sprinchorn found these same sanctuary lands a repeated source of inspiration.

The recreational opportunities in the sanctuary are wide and varied from backcountry camping, hiking, and cross-country skiing to fishing and boating. The East Branch currently sees moderate use for fishing, canoeing and kayaking by camp groups and individuals. Some seventeen campsites are available to the public along the river between Grindstone and Matagamon, and three lean-tos have been built on the recently opened IAT/SIA, which begins at Baxter State Park, runs the full length of the sanctuary, and continues north and east into Canada.

East Branch Sanctuary map
Directions to the East Branch Sanctuary