Bigelow Preserve
Flagstaff Twp, T3 R4 BKP WKR, Bigelow Twp, Dead River Twp

Vital Statistics:

Rare Species and Exemplary Natural Community Table for Bigelow Preserve

Type Common Name Latin Name S-RANK G-RANK State Status EO-RANK
Exemplary Natural Communities Alpine ridge S2 N/A N/A B
Beech - birch - maple forest S5 N/A N/A E
Graminoid swale S4 N/A N/A E
Monomictic mesotrophic lake SU N/A N/A A
Spruce - fir flats forest S5 N/A N/A E
Subalpine spruce - fir forest S3 N/A N/A AB
Subalpine spruce - fir forest S3 N/A N/A B
Subalpine spruce - fir forest S3 N/A N/A E
Tarn S2 N/A N/A A
Rare Plants Alga-like pondweed Potamogeton confervoides S3 G4 SC E
Alpine sweet-grass Hierochloe alpina S1 G5 T C
Boott’s rattlesnake root Prenanthes boottii S1 G2 E C
Common mare's tail Hippuris vulgaris S2? G5 SC A
Lapland diapensia Diapensia lapponica S2 G5 SC E
Mountain sandwort Minuartia groenlandica S3 G5 SC B
Pink wintergreen Pyrola asarifolia S3 G5 SC AB
Rare Animals None found

Description:

Extending over 3,000 feet from Flagstaff Lake (1140 feet) to West Peak (4150 feet), the Bigelow Ecological Reserve encompasses the highest elevational gradient of any of the 13 reserves. Its area of alpine ridge (171 acres) is second to the Mahoosucs among ecological reserves, and it supports over 3,100 acres of subalpine spruce-fir forest. Some of this sub-alpine forest has been harvested in the past, depending on forest type and accessibility. Nearly all of the sub-alpine type shows evidence of natural disturbance, spruce-budworm mortality and wind/ice damage. The Appalachian Trail traverses the eastern part of the ridge, and other hiking trails provide access from the south and west.

Operable mid-slope forests extend both north and south of the main ridgeline, affording opportunities to study the influence of aspect on forest characteristics. Most of the low to mid-elevation forests in the preserve were harvested several times in the last century. However, the reserve also supports small but good examples of two common matrix-forming natural communities, beech-birch-maple forest and spruce-fir-flats forest (now known as montane spruce-fir forest). These stands show little evidence of past harvesting and support many trees over 110 years old.

Wetlands in and around the floodplain of Stratton Brook provide excellent examples of successional wetland systems from broad graminoid and shrub meadows and a convoluted mosaic of acidic fen, shrub swamp, and various graminoid and herbaceous meadows. All of the wetlands sampled by MFBP contractors had been influenced by beaver.

Resources

Bigelow Preserve Management Plan. 1989. Bureau of Public Lands, Department of Conservation, Augusta, Maine. 67 pp.

Calijouw, C. and S. Roeske. 1981. A natural resource inventory and critical areas survey of Bigelow Preserve. Bureau of Public Lands, Department of Conservation, Augusta, Maine. 127 pp.

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