The Downeast Salmon Federation recently acquired a four-acre property on the west branch of the Narraguagus River in order to ensure permanent public access.
The federation is gathering history about the site, along with ideas, funds and volunteer support to repurpose an old farmhouse on the property.
The acquisition, which also protects public access to the falls at the end of Sprague Falls Road in Cherryfield, was made possible through the support of Maine Coast Heritage Trust and the Ram Island Conservation Fund, according to a news release.
The federation works to conserve land along Atlantic salmon rivers and streams by engaging with landowners and relying on tips from friends and neighbors.
Cherryfield residents connected the federation with the Pierce family of Damariscotta when they decided to sell their Sprague Falls camp, a property that had been in their family since 1945, according to the release.
The Sprague Falls property has a scenic location on the river, offering a canoe launch and a portage around the falls.
The land is surrounded by the federation’s 650-acre Sprague Falls Preserve.
The property includes critical rearing habitat for the endangered Atlantic salmon. Historical remnants can still be seen of the old Robertson sawmill, which operated from the mid-1800s to 1913 and made materials for ships and ladders.
Maurice “Jake” Day, an artist from Damariscotta, worked for Disney and is the reason the scenery and characters of the 1942 film, “Bambi,” are based on the Maine woods and white-tailed deer rather than mule deer in California, according to the release.
Day was a frequent visitor to the Sprague Falls camp, often joining owner Ed Pierce and their friends for hunting and fishing trips in Maine’s wilderness. Their adventures were immortalized in the Field and Stream magazine column and books about “Jake’s Rangers” by Edmund Ware Smith, published in the 1950s to 1960s.
The federation recently discovered that its property across the river, just upstream from the falls, was previously owned by “Jake’s Rangers.”