(regions 5 and 6 5 Cameron 1975; Cameron and Massey 1978). Atlas map 3 

 illustrates the location of surveyed peat resources in coastal Maine. 



Recreation industry . Recreation forms an important part of coastal 



Maine's economy. An estimated 6 million tourists enter Maine in a typical 



year whereas the resident population is only 1 million. Tourists use the 



coastal beaches, camping areas, and town recreation facilities. 



Tourism and summer residency have long been an important part of the Maine 

 coastal economy. The only attempt to estimate the summer population was made 

 in 1972 by the Public Affairs Research Center (PARC) at Bowdoin College. The 

 study used 1970 U.S. census data and made the following assumptions: (1) that 

 all available accomodations were full; (2) that not all sleeping 

 establishments were known; and (3) that overlaps occurred in counts of 

 fleeping and eating establishments. This capacity, also known as peak 

 seasonal population, was an estimate of the capacity of each town to support 

 tourists. Estimates by the Maine State Planning Office (personal 

 communication from R. Sherwood, Maine State Planning Office, Augusta, ME; 

 February, 1979) indicate that an increase in seasonal population of 4.5% has 

 occurred since the PARC report of 1972. Data from the PARC study show the 

 differences in winter and summer populations by coastal regions. In general, 

 the summer population grows by 47% in the characterization area, from a low of 

 11% in region 1 to 175% in region 5 (table 2-13). 



Thirty-six state parks and 19 memorial parks are present along the coast, 14 

 of which are developed and supervised and three of which have camping grounds 

 (atlas map 3). The Maine Bureau of Parks and Recreation (St. Pierre 1978) 

 cites 19 beaches from Cape Elizabeth to Lubec that are significant 

 recreationally (table 2-14). These facilities received over one million 

 visitors (day use) in 1976, doubling the day use of coastal State parks since 

 1965. Other campgrounds along the coast also have experienced rapid growth. 

 For example, Acadia National Park, Maine's only federally administered park, 

 recorded 2.7 million visits in 1976, a 23% increase in 10 years. 



The traditionally popular coastal communities for summer tourists in the 

 characterization area include Boothbay Harbor, the Penobscot Bay area, and Bar 

 Harbor. Many of these areas were the sites of large hotels built during the 

 latter 19th century. These hotels have been replaced over time by motels, 

 cottages, and camping vehicles. 



The Maine coastline ranks among the highest in the nation in terms of private 

 ownership of coastline with least public access. The actual amount of private 

 and public ownership varies according to definitions of private, public, and 

 "quasi public" lands. Shore land defined as public amounts to 139 miles (222 

 km) or 3.5% of the total on an acreage basis. The Maine State Planning Office 

 (1978) maintains that if quasipublic lands, or those held privately by 

 conservation groups that allow public benefit, were included, the figure might 

 reach 4.1% of the total. Nevertheless, the available land open for public use 

 and access is considerably less because of restrictive controls. Locations 

 of quasi-public, State, municipal, and Federal lands are shown on atlas map 3. 



2-60 



