Deboullie Public Reserved Lands in Maine Get State Heritage Fish and Arctic Charr Signs

Custom State Heritage Fish and Arctic Charr signs staged and ready for posting at Deboullie Public Reserved Lands in Maine.

Thanks to the efforts of artist Karen Talbot and writer and fisheries advocate Ret Talbot, wild native salmonid waters in the Deboullie Public Reserved Lands in northern Maine got their first custom State Heritage Fish and Arctic Charr signs.

These signs were the result of a year-long project where the Maine chapter of NFC worked with Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands (BPL) to design signs for use on Maine’s state-owned lands managed by BPL. This meant employing a “natural” color scheme and incorporating a BPL logo.

Home to 4 of just 12 wild native Arctic charr waters in the contiguous United States, as well as a number of State Heritage Fish waters, three of which are also charr waters, Deboullie is one of the most important public lands in Maine after Baxter State Park, Acadia National Park, and the new Katahdin Woods and Water National Monument.

Last year, the Talbots generously funded the printing of NFC’s standard Arctic charr sign which helped get the project off the ground. These signs have been posted on charr waters located on private land, including two waters on land owned by The Nature Conservancy.

This was their first opportunity to be involved at a feet-on-the-ground volunteer level. The Talbots posted State Heritage Fish signs on 4 waters and Arctic charr signs on three of the four applicable waters. As per our agreement with BPL, this included making wood backboards, painting them in offsetting natural colors, and mounting the signs to them prior to posting.

Special thanks to Karen and Ret for stepping up for our wild native fish.