By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
    A year after a Spurwink River access point in the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge was built up to accommodate a handicapped accessible pier, local shellfish harvesters are taking their request to use the site as a boat launch to the federal level and encountering confusion about who has the authority to grant that permission.
    Ward Feurt, the refuge manager, said the launching of motorized and commercial boats at the site, located beside the Route 77 bridge on the border of Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth, has been prohibited for more than a decade. While visitors can use the site for car top launching of canoes or kayaks, Feurt said motorboats are detrimental to the migratory bird population in the area.
    In hopes of coming to a compromise, a Scarborough resident said a request for access has reached the federal level.
    “The one pushing for it the most is probably me because I’ve probably used it the longest,” said Peter Angis, a shellfish harvester.
    Angis had been clamming regularly at the site between the months of December and June since the 1960s. He estimated between eight and 15 shellfish harvesters had used the area as a boat launch. While Angis and other shellfish harvesters dig year round, he said that particular area is only open in the winter due to mild pollution. When in the area, Angis said clammers leave before high tide and stay clear of migratory bird nesting grounds.
        While he has permission from a friend to launch his boat on the Cape Elizabeth side of the river, Angis said it is not ideal because the area can ice up in the winter. He said the refuge site was the only public launching site in the town of Scarborough.
    According to Angis, Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-ME) office is working with the Northeast regional office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which operates the Carson refuge, to gain access for shellfish harvesters.
    William Vail, a state representative with Sen. Collins’ office, confirmed he was working with the regional office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to gain access for the local shellfish harvesters during a “very narrow window of time during the winter months only.”
    “It’s a slow, deliberate process,” he said. “[The refuge’s] mission is very narrowly defined, this sort of use exceeds the statutory mission of the refuge.”
    Referring to the local office, Vail said the refuge could not grant permission and the issue would require special authority.
    “They have to the extent that they can and they have for public safety reasons been able to accommodate the town,” he said of the local office.
    This spring, Scarborough was issued a permit to modify the area for emergency vehicle access only. Changes to the site’s grade sparked concerns from public safety officials in Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth who had also used the site to access the river for drills and emergencies.
    Scarborough Town Manager Ron Owens said the town will likely install a locked gate to prevent non-emergency vehicles from using the ramp. He said one way to address the shellfish harvesters’ request that would have to be worked out at the federal level, would be to issue permits to a small number of shellfish harvesters.
     “They had enjoyed this privilege traditionally and the amount of use was very small and very limited,” Owens said.
    In February, the Scarborough Town Council unanimously adopted a resolution supporting sustainable boat launch access in part because the alteration “impedes on the historical boat launch access rights and economic activity of our local fishermen.”
    On Tuesday, Feurt and Refuge Programs Supervisor (North) Janet Kennedy both said they were not aware of any efforts at the regional or local level to gain special access to the site.
    Kennedy said an appeal to the regional office would not be effective in this case.
    “I’m the refuge supervisor for New England,” she said. “I would say the manager is authorized to handle this matter and I would be happy to provide any kind of help any of the field stations might need.”
    Angis said he has “pretty much hit a stone wall right now.”
     “I’ve become very frustrated with it recently,” he said. “The town is going to have their emergency access, but they haven’t made any type of deal for us.”