Penjajawoc Marsh

Round Four in the effort to define the future of the Penjajawoc Marsh is a welcomed departure from the previous contentiousness that has surrounded the wetland. In 2005 a major developer announced its intention to build a huge shopping complex on the 50-acre parcel rezoned the previous summer. At almost the same time, the developer whose plan to build a Super Wal-Mart was rebuffed, resurfaced with a new project slated to go on that site. However, instead of setting up another round of battles with environmentalists and concerned citizens, the City of Bangor was persuaded to bring all stakeholders to the table for negotiations and bargaining. That process was highly successful and a new Lowe's has now been built on the controversial site with setbacks more appropriate to the endangered habitat. Continued collaboration will allow landowners to realize the full value of their lands, environmentalists will achieve significant buffer area to protect habitat, developers will be able to proceed with appropriate development, Bangor will improve its tax base, and residents may some day be able to enjoy a natural resource that is unparalleled in the state.
The Penjajawoc Marsh lies west of Stillwater Avenue in Bangor. It is part of the Penjajawoc Stream that runs through the Bangor Mall and on to the Penobscot River. It is also part of the much larger Caribou Bog complex of wetlands that extends from Pushaw Lake into central Bangor. Although increased water levels are usually the result of beaver activity, photo and soil analysis shows it to be a significant wetland of long history. Due to the presence of beavers and fluctuating water levels, the marsh is classified as an “emerging marsh” – an unusual type that represents only about 3% of Maine’s wetlands. The combination of cattails and sedge meadows surrounding the marsh produces exceptional habitat. Indeed, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has ranked the marsh as high as #1 in the state for wildlife diversity. Unfortunately, its proximity to the Bangor Mall has made it a ripe target for development that is detrimental to wildlife.
Birders have known for years that the Penjajawoc Marsh is a natural treasure, but because the land is privately owned, they have kept their visits discreet, infrequent, and with permission. Over 180 species of birds have been sighted in the marsh, including 17 rare enough to be on watch lists, such as breeding willow flycatchers and migrating red-necked phalaropes.

The diversity includes Sedge Wrens (right), Black Terns and Upland Sandpipers - rare species on Maine's endangered and threatened species list that have made their nests in the Penjajawoc Marsh or its surrounding fields in years past. Only about six Sedge Wrens are found every summer in Maine. Sedge Wrens nest in wet fields, often between a field and a marsh. Only about 90 pairs of Black Terns nest in Maine every summer, and about 300 pairs of Upland Sandpipers nest in Maine fields and blueberry barrens. Other watch-listed species of the Penjajawoc, like the Northern Harrier and American Bittern, often forage up the wet sloughs and into nearby fields. The marsh also hosts eight of Maine's nine frog species, and it's likely that seven of Maine's nine salamander species are also found here.
Judy Kellogg Markowsky director of Maine Audubon's Fields Pond Audubon Center, states: "The species that local expert birders have sighted over the years at and around the marsh is a remarkable number to be documented in one spot. It demonstrates the high diversity value of this area." Markowsky has studied Black Terns in the marsh.
The proposed Super Wal-Mart that touched off the battle (Bangor already had an "old" Wal-Mart, built some fourteen years ago) would have been a store of over five acres with a 13-acre parking lot, accommodating almost 1,000 cars, set back from the Penjajawoc Stream by only 70 feet. The superstore would have been open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, producing noise, light, and runoff from the asphalt. The battle was long, protracted, and bitter as Widewaters tried to force approval from regulatory agencies for its required permits. In 2001, environmentalists won Round One when the Bangor Planning Board turned down the application, holding that the proposal too severely compromised a unique natural area. However, Widewaters sued the city on the grounds that Bangor's ordinances were unconstitutionally vague. A Superior Court judge agreed and mandated that the Planning Board reverse itself and grant the permit. Upon appeal, the Maine Supreme Court vacated the Superior Court ruling but requested more specific grounds for denial from the Planning Board. The Board agreed.
On March 20, 2003, environmentalists won Round Two in the battle when the Maine Board of Environmental Protection voted 5-3 to deny a permit to Widewaters Developers to build the Super Wal-Mart. The BEP ruling rendered further judicial review moot. Widewaters, based in Syracuse, New York, often maintained during BEP proceedings that if its application was turned down, the NEXT project slated for development could be even less environmentally friendly. In the meantime, Widewaters and abutting landowners continued a pattern of habitat degradation by planting cow corn over valuable grasslands. Furthermore, two landowners were caught and convicted of damaging the beaver dam that controls water levels. This was the second time landowners were caught illegally tampering with the marsh.
On July 12, 2004, Round Three in the battle over Bangor's Penjajawoc Marsh resulted in a compromise before the Bangor City Council. One of the abutting landowners had requested that 50 acres of the marsh area be rezoned for commercial development. If parceled with an adjacent plot, it could open the way for a development project much larger than the Super Wal-Mart project already rejected by Maine's Board of Environmental Protection. As proposed to the council, the rezoning would have required a woefully unacceptable buffer zone for wildlife. Instead, the council, the landowner, and conservationists agreed on an amendment that asserts (but doesn't legally guarantee) a 600 foot buffer between the marsh and development. As the feared development began to take shape, stakeholders were brought to the table and, at last, compromise seems likely.