About

GENERAL INFORMATION

Criteria:

• Listed on more than one “valuable wetland” list by natural resource agencies or nongovernment organizations.
• Supports significant numbers of wetland-dependent fauna, such as water birds or fish
• Rare or unique wetland type within its own biogeographical region

Owned and managed by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the Scarborough Marsh Wildlife Management Area covers over 3,000 acres of tidal marsh, salt creeks, freshwater marsh and uplands. The protected area includes approximately 2,700 acres of salt marsh, four tidal rivers, several smaller streams, some coastal freshwater marsh, tidal flats, and about 200 acres of upland habitat. The Scarborough Marsh is the largest contiguous salt marsh in Maine. Salt marshes filter pollution from the water and provide food and shelter for numerous species of birds, fish, mammals, and shellfish. Additionally, the Scarborough Marsh in very important as a stopover ground for migrating passerines, shorebirds, wading birds, and waterfowl. The Scarborough Marsh is also one of Maine's premier birding hotspots, with thousands of birders visiting the site each year to glimpse rare and uncommon marsh birds. Given the wildlife productivity and habitat diversity in the Scarborough Marsh, it is arguably one the most significant coastal wetland habitats in Maine. Finally, the Scarborough Marsh is a regionally significant recreational destination. The Scarborough Marsh is valued and enjoyed by tens of thousands of people each year. The marsh supports a variety of human activities, including canoeing and kayaking, bird watching, clam digging and fishing for fun or for profit, and hunting. The open skies, grassy expanses, coastal vistas, and changing water levels appeal to many, and the play of light and shadow challenges painters and photographers alike. The Scarborough Marsh offers naturalists and schoolchildren an ideal "outdoor classroom."

Exemplary Ecosystem Services:

• Maintains ecological connectivity/cohesion
• Aesthetic/cultural heritage value/ provisioning
• Recreation (birdwatching, ecotourism)
• Storm abatement
• Flood storage/mitigation
• Carbon storage
• Water quality improvement
• Education

CONSERVATION STATUS AND THREATS

Conservation status: State/Province/Regional Protection

Adjacent Land Use: Residential - medium density

Approximate natural buffer width:

• > 100 ft

Other information:

The marsh and the adjacent uplands form a mosaic of 16 habitat types. The Maine Natural Areas Program (MNAP) has identified an exemplary salt-hay saltmarsh that covers most of the focus area and also a small area of exemplary pitch pine bog on the northwest side of the focus area. The Scarborough Beach area is included within the Focus Area. The beach has two exemplary natural community types: dune grassland and pitch pine dune woodland.

In all seasons, Scarborough Marsh Focus Area provides important habitat for fish, plants, shellfish, mammals, and birds. There is great access (with parking and a hand-carry boat launch).

ECOLOGY

Approximate size: 1250

General wetland characterization:

• Coastal Open Fresh Water
• Coastal Salt Meadow
• Coastal Irregularly Flooded Salt Marsh
• Coastal Regularly Flooded Salt Marsh

Adjacent Water Bod(ies):

• Stream
• Tidal Systems

Name of body of water: Saco Bay (Atlantic Ocean)

Surficial Geology:

Glaciofluvial outwash and marine sediments

If Adjacent to Stream, stream order: First (several; primary source - Nonesuch River)

Soils:

BuB

Buxton silt loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes

67.0

4.7%

DeA

Deerfield loamy sand, 0 to 3 percent slopes

0.1

0.0%

DeB

Deerfield loamy sand, 3 to 8 percent slopes

11.3

0.8%

EmB

Elmwood fine sandy loam, 0 to 8 percent slopes

22.6

1.6%

Gp

Gravel pits

2.7

0.2%

HlB

Hinckley loamy sand, 3 to 8 percent slopes

15.3

1.1%

HlC

Hinckley loamy sand, 8 to 15 percent slopes

3.7

0.3%

HlD

Hinckley loamy sand, 15 to 25 percent slopes

1.6

0.1%

HrB

Hollis fine sandy loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes

0.9

0.1%

HrC

Hollis fine sandy loam, 8 to 15 percent slopes

2.5

0.2%

HsB

Hollis very rocky fine sandy loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes

5.6

0.4%

HsC

Hollis very rocky fine sandy loam, 8 to 20 percent slopes

0.6

0.0%

Sn

Scantic silt loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes

30.2

2.1%

So

Scarboro sandy loam

6.1

0.4%

Sp

Sebago mucky peat

2.4

0.2%

SuC2

Suffield silt loam, 8 to 15 percent slopes, eroded

0.1

0.0%

Tm

Tidal marsh

962.8

67.7%

W

Water

285.8

20.1%

WmB

Windsor loamy sand, 0 to 8 percent slopes

0.5

0.0%

FLORA AND FAUNA

Dominant flora: Spartina spp, Phragmites communis, Salicornia sp, Distichlis spiccata, Juncus geradii, Rosa rugosa...

Unique flora: Saltmarsh False-foxglove, Smooth Winterberry Holly

Dominant fauna: deer, aves, muscrat, fox, coyote, raccoon, fish, shellfish, etc.

Rare fauna: Common Moorhen, least bittern