The formation of an easement on a pedestrian trail leading to Little Pond in Damariscotta will ensure permanent public access to the pond and, in the continuation of a decades-old tradition, allow local fishermen to continue storing canoes there.
Perry and Cathy Waltz, the owners of the land in question for 38 years, permitted fishermen to cross their property and store canoes. Following the recommendation of his real estate agent, Perry Waltz asked fishermen to remove their canoes when he decided to sell.
Chris and Paula Roberts already own an abutting parcel and bought the 17-acre Waltz property in September 2010.
The Roberts have a longstanding personal connection to Little Pond. Chris and Paula Roberts have lived near there since 1978 and their adult sons, John and Allan Roberts, made a trail to Little Pond as children. Allan “always fished there,” Paula Roberts said.
“As soon as he learned to fly fish” at the age of 10, Allan Roberts visited Little Pond on his own. “He still likes to go down there and fish and watch the fish spawn in the falls,” Paula Roberts said.
After purchasing the Waltz property, Chris and Paula Roberts sold a 3.8-acre parcel to the Great Salt Bay Sanitary District (GSBSD). The 250-ft. wide parcel extends for 565 feet along Little Pond.
The parcel includes the path to Little Pond. “We really wanted to make sure it was open for the fishermen,” Paula Roberts said. Before selling the land, the Roberts granted a Public Recreational Trail Easement to the Dept. of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (DIF&W).
“It’s a footpath right-of-way to the water,” Paula Roberts explained. “This will be a permanent thing and [fishermen] will be able to go out and enjoy it forever.”
In addition to perpetuating access for recreational fishermen, the easement and the sale of the land will allow GSBSD to better protect Little Pond, which serves as Damariscotta’s water supply. GSBSD now owns all Little Pond frontage with the exception of a single, small parcel owned by Neil and Marie Genthner.
“This is just one more step to protect the watershed,” Paula Roberts said. In order to protect the water supply, no motor craft of any kind, including boats and snowmobiles, are allowed on Little Pond. Ice fishing, swimming and live bait are also banned.
The rules protect Little Pond from contamination and/or the introduction and possible infestation of invasive species, Paula Roberts said.
Permitting canoe storage at the pond will also protect the pond. “If your canoes are stored there, then your canoes aren’t jumping from pond to pond,” Paula Roberts said, thus decreasing the likelihood of introducing invasive species.
Jacob Braley, 23, of Bremen, like Allan Roberts, has been fishing at Little Pond for 12 years – over half of his life – and stores a canoe at the pond. Braley said he enjoys Little Pond for its quiet seclusion. No houses or camps abut the pond, no people or barking dogs can be seen or heard.
Another attraction for recreational fishermen, Braley said, is the “excellent” trout stock in the pond. DIFW stocks the pond annually. “It’s a really healthy population,” Braley said. “You can pretty much be sure that you’re going to catch nice fish.”
“As a lifelong fisherman and registered Maine Guide, it’s refreshing and relieving to see landowners working together with fishermen to preserve the natural gem that is Little Pond,” Braley wrote in a Jan. 5 email to The Lincoln County News.
“I would like to thank Perry Waltz for allowing fishermen to use his land for many, many years, Chris and Paula Roberts for their adamant opinion and strong efforts to keep access available and the GSB Sanitary District for humoring everyone.”
“As an avid outdoorsman, I am acutely aware of the ever-increasing amount of posted, gated and restricted land and am indescribably glad to see that fishermen will continue to be able to use this land in the future,” Braley wrote. “I have met fishermen on Little Pond in the fall who drive from places like Palermo, Oxford, Searsport and Yarmouth for the chance to fish the treasured pond.”
If not for the easement, Braley wrote, the state “could decide to cease their stocking effort, without which the trout population would disappear.”
“Growing up less than a quarter mile from the pond, I have been skating, canoeing, fishing and walking the pond and its perimeter for as long as I can remember,” Braley wrote. “I taught both of my younger brothers to fish on Little Pond and saw them each catch their first big trout on a fly rod on its water.”
“I have spent hundreds of evenings paddling and fishing on the pond and can think of nothing more relaxing than watching the sun set over the Western shore with only the sound of the drops of water falling from my paddle,” Braley wrote. “Little pond is a part of my life and the first cry of the returning loons in the spring is and will always be a reason for rejoicing in my household.”
Allan Ray, of Newcastle, is the Chairman of the GSBSD Board of Trustees.
“We’d like to thank the Roberts for helping us get that piece of land,” Ray said. “We’ve been trying to get that for years.”
According to Ray, fishermen don’t need permission to fish at Little Pond, but GSBSD will ask fishermen to register their canoes at the GSBSD office at 121 Piper Mill Road in Damariscotta.
Fishermen must also accept “full responsibility” for their canoes, Ray said.
According to the terms of the easement, “Small, non-motorized watercraft such as canoes and kayaks… may be stored adjacent to the Trail Corridor from the commencement of ice-out conditions each year until Nov. 1.”
For more information, call the GSBSD office at 563-3010.
(Samuel J. Baldwin contributed reporting to this article.)
