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By KEITH EDWARDS
Staff Writer 10/17/2007

And no, they didn't spend $15,000 to buy 100 acres of useless swamp, officials noted.

"It's so much more than a swamp," said Leif Dahlin, director of community services for the city. "It's a unique bog with an incredible amount of plant life. It's an invaluable resource worth protecting. And taking ownership allows you to do that in perpetuity."

Dahlin said the land, to be purchased from George Williams III and Thomas Williams, is contiguous to 100 acres of the land the city already owns.

When combined with other city-owned land in the area, the new property, which extends to Route 27, gives the city control of some 342 acres of the Bog Brook and Bond Brook watershed and headwaters.

"It's our filtration system" for Bog Brook and Bond Brook, Councilor David Gomeau said of the Great Sidney Bog. "It has great potential for the city of Augusta."

Gomeau said the bog is a raised bog, unique in the East in that the plants growing there don't touch the water below them. Instead, they pull moisture from the air.

Dahlin and Gomeau said the bog should provide many opportunities to teach people about the valuable, sensitive ecosystem it makes up.

The land is currently assessed at $10,300, providing taxes of about $170 a year.

Dahlin encouraged city leaders to meet with selectmen in Sidney and abutting property owners to look at how the bog can be preserved.

Councilors also unanimously voted to accept grant funding from the state Department of Transportation for the Augusta State Airport, which the state owns and the city runs.

The grant funds include: a $513,000, five-year grant from the Department of Homeland Security to reimburse the city for the cost of having a police officer screen passengers when the national threat level is code orange; $77,000 from the Maine Department of Transportation for security upgrades and a wildlife assessment, $5,111 for grant administration; $4,800 for an airport layout plan; and $55,000 to address a Department of Environmental Protection violation involving storage tanks at the airport.

John Guimond, manager of the airport, said Augusta police come to the airport whenever the national threat level is code orange during passenger screening in case a problem occurs.

The code is currently orange and has been for about a year, Guimond said.

The wildlife assessment will be conducted over a year and is meant to document the wildlife on the airport property so a management plan can be put in place.

Guimond said the major concern is large animals such as deer, but the survey will also include smaller animals.

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com

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