Chapter 10 

 Agricultural and 

 Developed Lands 



Author: Craig Ferris 



Fifteen percent of the land in coastal Maine has been developed as real estate 

 or has been or is used presently for farming. Of this, agricultural lands 

 (croplands, pasture land, and blueberry barrens) presently comprise about 4% 

 of the coastal area. Developed lands (urban, suburban, and industrial lands, 

 parks, roads, and utility rights-of-way) make up 9%, and oldfields (abandoned 

 agricultural lands usually in the process of reverting to forests) make up 2%. 



Agricultural and developed lands are highly valued lands. They are also 

 natural environments that have been altered extremely and are a source of 

 pollutants (agricultural, municipal, and industrial wastes) in the ecosystem. 

 Oldfields, on the other hand, are nature's attempt to reestablish climax 

 vegetation in a denuded area. 



The principal value of oldfields is wildlife habitat. The natural mosaic of 

 cover types resulting from vegetative succession on oldfields provides 

 valuable "edge" habitats that support an abundance of wildlife, including many 

 game species (e.g., deer). Revegetation of oldfields helps to stabilize the 

 hydrological and biogeochemical cycles of the area and benefits the riverine 

 system. However, oldfields may be reclaimed easily for agriculture or 

 industrial and urban development. 



This chapter discusses separately the three types of land use, their 

 contributions and special problems in the coastal area, and some functional 

 aspects of their plant and animal life in the ecosystem. Management 

 considerations and data gaps also are reviewed at the end. Common names of 

 species are used except where accepted common names do not exist. Taxonomic 

 names of all species mentioned are given in the appendix to chapter 1. 



AGRICULTURAL LANDS 



Farmland along the coast of Maine is used for tilled crops (hay, potatoes, 

 corn, and vegetables) and for orchards, pasture, and blueberry culture. 

 Farming reached its peak in Maine in 1880, when over 1.4 million acres 



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