Effects of increased use
The effects of increased island usage on the Maine coast fall into two categories: environmental and social. Many of Maine's public islands are small, fragile places. The soil is thin over the granite subsurface and the vegetation is exposed to howling winter winds. Foot traffic and careless campsite creation lead to environmental degradation such as erosion, soil compaction, tree root exposure, tree limbing, and vegetation trampling. Islands that ten years ago showed little evidence of human visitation may now have several campsites and trails, along with the attendant damage resulting from their creation.
The social impacts of increasing numbers of island visitors present potentially more difficult challenges. Nixon cites competition for campsites and tension between different camping groups as growing concerns. "I've heard reports of kayak groups heading out in motorboats a day in advance to stake their 'claim' to campsites by setting up their tents," Nixon says. She notes that there can be tension between a small group and a larger, more "dominant" group overnighting on the same island. "We have seen new pocket campsites develop away from the main camping area," she says. "These sites may have been created by small groups or individuals seeking a quieter experience away from other campers." Another source of tension can derive from different ideas of what constitutes a good night out on an island; some visitors anticipate spending a quiet evening observing their surroundings, while others look forward to a good party.
Usage management
In the mid2990s, MITA started recommending that island visitors travel in small groups and limit their stays to two or three days. The association began working informally with kayak outfitters, schooner captains, and coastal communities to educate island visitors about low-impact techniques, to slow the environmental decline associated with higher levels of use.
The Maine Island Trail Association and the Bureau of Parks and Lands determined that more specific island usage guidelines were needed to help protect the island environments and visitors' wilderness experience. In 1999, they launched the Maine Island Usage Management Project, a collaborative endeavor aimed at "protecting the future ecological health and recreational availability of Maine's public coastal islands by empowering visitors to self-manage use."
MITA and BPL staff members believed that the key to the project's success was to partner formally with island stakeholders, such as outfitters, land trusts, government agencies, and others concerned about the public islands, to develop viable solutions. "We realized that the best way to ensure compliance with recreational use guidelines out on the islands was to engage the island stakeholders themselves in the planning process," says Nixon. MITA began hosting public forums and advisory committee meetings to tackle the issues.
One of the outcomes of the project is a set of specific camping capacities for the public islands. The capacity figures are based on environmental and social carrying capacities. They attempt to quantify how many visitors an island can accommodate without further damage, and how many people can camp there without feeling crowded.