Maine Coastal Program
Getting to the Shore
Maine's Shore Access
Planning and Implementing Public Shoreline Access (PDF - 1.8M)
Many coastal communities in Maine realize the need to improve public access to the shoreline for commercial as well as recreational purposes. This effort involves preserving and formalizing existing public accessways in addition to the creation of new opportunities.
This guide is intended to assist local officials in their efforts to preserve their citizens’ access to the shore. It offers a practically-oriented analysis of the legal and policy issues which arise in planning for public access, and includes discussion of several approaches and specific techniques towns may use, singly or in combination, in creating a comprehensive, public access plan. The guide also lists resources local officials may consult for more detailed information on a particular issue or planning technique.
For more information on public shoreline access, contact Jim Connors at (207)287-8938 or by email (Jim.Connors@maine.gov).
Right-of-Way Discovery Grant Program
Shoreline access is vital to all of Maine's coastal communities--residents
and visitors alike need access for fishing, clamming, boating,
picnicking, swimming, exploring, and other activities. The
Maine Coastal Program helps communities keep track of existing
public access through a Right-of-Way Discovery Grant Program.
Every year, the Coastal Program awards small grants of approximately
$1,000 to municipalities or local land trusts to research
forgotten or overlooked public rights-of-way. Discovery grants
are intended to help communities find and assert public rights-of-way
to the shore which may be lost by the passing of generations
and changing land ownership patterns.
For more information, view the ROW Discovery
Grant brochure and guidebook, or contact Jim Connors at (207)287-8938 or by email (Jim.Connors@maine.gov).
Coastal Water Access Priority Areas for Boating and Fishing
PDF (125K)
Word (270K)
The Maine Coastal Program and the Maine Department of Marine Resources developed this report on water access needs for the Land for Maine's Future Board and state agencies with water access-related programs.
In 1999, Maine voters approved a $50 million bond to acquire land for conservation and recreation, water access, and farmland protection. Ten percent of those funds ($5 million) was earmarked for the acquisition of small parcels of land that provide water access for boating and fishing. The Strategic Plan for Providing Public Access to Maine Waters for Boating and Fishing, developed by the Departments of Conservation and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in 1995, guides the decisions on acquiring land for water access. The Strategic Plan contains a comprehensive, prioritized list of freshwater lakes, ponds, and rivers in need of public access. Since a comparable list did not exist for coastal waters, the LMF Board requested that SPO and DMR develop a prioritized list of coastal water access needs.
For more information on coastal waters access, contact Jim Connors at (207)287-8938 or by email (Jim.Connors@maine.gov).
"Who Owns the Beaches?"
The Maine coast, with its many harbors, coves, and inlets
stretches about 4,342 miles (6,987 kilometers) and makes Maine
the third largest State in terms of tidally influenced shoreline.
Most of Maine’s coast is rocky ledge. Maine has about
75 miles of beaches, half of which are sand beaches and half
of which are rock and pebble beaches. Most of Maine’s
sandy beaches are on the southern Maine coast, south of Portland.
For a more detailed physical description of the Maine coast
and other related geological and oceanographic information,
visit the Maine Geological Survey’s web page at: http://state.me.us/doc/nrimc/mgs/marine/marine.htm.
Most of Maine's shoreline is privately owned, and access
to the shore is correspondingly limited. In Maine, unlike
many other coastal states, a private landowner may own the
intertidal zone, the land area between mean high and mean
low tide lines. Private ownership of the intertidal zone is
subject to a public easement for fishing, fowling, and navigation.
This public easement is an element of Maine’s common
law heritage as a former part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The public easement is similar to the Public Trust Doctrine
as construed and applied in other states as a source of public
property rights and natural resource protections.
In 1989, Maine’s state supreme court issued a landmark
decision (Bell v. Town of Wells, 557 A.2d 168 (1989), known
as the Moody Beach decision) clarifying and limiting the scope
of public rights reserved under the public easement in Maine’s
intertidal zone. The Court determined that the scope of the
public’s rights is limited to those specified in the
Ordinance: fishing, fowling, and navigation, for both commercial
and recreational purposes, as well as uses reasonably incidental
to fishing, fowling, and navigation. The Court ruled that
the public easement does not give the public a broad and general
right to recreate (sunbath, swim, surf, play ball, etc.) in
privately owned intertidal areas.
For a more detailed discussion of the Moody beach case and
public shoreline access rights, visit http://www.seagrant.umaine.edu/documents/pdf/pubacc04.pdf.
Although somewhat dated, this 1990 article remains a useful
summary of the Moody Beach case and related coastal access
issues.
