Interpretive Themes
Four interpretive themes underpin the nationally significant story of the Downeast Maine region . The thematic framework below presents the significant stories and the natural and cultural resources that best represent those stories .
Ice , Water , Land , People - Our Geologic Beginnings
A landscape formed by glaciers provided the abundant natural resources that allowed humans to survive and thrive here for over 10,000 years . The particular combination of geology , climate , and natural resources of Downeast Maine have , over millennia , created profound connections between people and place . Their fates remain intricately woven together today .
Survival for the people of Downeast Maine has always depended on the health of land and water resources , and thus is reliant on intact ecosystems . This reliance has meant that much of the landscape remains largely undeveloped even while its resources are harvested , and at times on an industrial scale . Balancing habitat conservation and resource management is vital to preserving ecosystems that support forest , farm , and ocean-based economy , including tourism . It also is vital to the highly prized rural quality of life , including outdoor recreation and hunting , fishing , and wildcrafting . Because of this , glacial influence is preserved and evident today as eskers , rivers , kettle ponds , heaths , granite domes , and shear coastal cliffs .
Coastal Downeast Maine is a rugged , rocky , often steep coastline cut by long coves and shaped continuously by some of the highest tides in the world . The American lobster , scallops , and softshell clams thrive amongst the undersea caves , rocky and muddy bottom . Wild blueberries grow on deep sand and gravel eskers in great swaths called barrens that turn blue with berries in summer and glow brilliant red and orange in autumn . No other landscape like this exists in the entirety of the nation , nor even the north American continent with the exception of portions of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia , Canada .
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