Navy dispute threatens angler access to Great Pond in Aurora, Maine

By V. Paul Reynolds

Great Pond in Aurora, off the Airline Road, is a scenic, medium-sized body of water that forms the headwaters of the Union River watershed.

As the crow flies, it’s not far from the Stud Mill Road, but can also be accessed from Route 9 (the Airline) by a seven-mile drive on Great Pond Road. The pond is habitat for pickerel, bass, perch and stocked brown trout.

Normally it would be just another sleepy Airline pond off the beaten path, not the focus of much public attention. Going back to the 1800s, there was always a public boat launch and right-of-way to the pond. That changed when the U.S. government was gifted part of the lakeshore by the late Robert Haskell.

The government later developed an elaborate recreational facility known as the Great Pond Adventure Center for active and retired military. The Navy eventually assumed control of the site from the Air Force.

Since government ownership of the lakeshore, debate has swirled between federal officials, civilian taxpayers and Great Pond residents over whether the public’s long-standing right-of-way to the boat launch still exists.

In 1946, Rick Musson’s father built and ran a sporting camp on the lake’s Loon Island until 2000. Called Great Pond Lodge, hunters and fishermen reached the island from a boat that launched at the now-disputed access point beside the military facility.

Musson, who lives on Great Pond and inherited the now-closed lodge, alleges that in November 2018 the government confiscated his $25,000 aluminum dock at gunpoint. He says he has not been compensated.

Tom Stott, a Great Pond selectman, says the Navy is also claiming ownership of part of what has long been a public road in the town of Great Pond leading to the facility. He warns that “there is a cloud hanging over this entire issue — not only regarding the public road ownership, but the public right-of-way to the boat launch at the Navy recreational facility.”

The town of Great Pond has reached out to U.S. Senator Susan Collins seeking clarity or resolution, but officials say the response so far has been dismissive.

According to Musson, a Maine game warden who serves as landowner relations coordinator for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has reviewed the dispute and concluded that, regardless of the government’s deed to the shoreline, the legal precedent of adverse possession applies — meaning the government cannot restrict or cut off a historic right-of-way to the lake.

Lisa Butler, a lawyer and Great Pond resident, said the issue raises a political question that could be resolved if elected officials directed the federal government to stop. 

“Politicians could tell the Navy to stop making false claims of ownership to the Great Pond Road, because it’s not their job,” she said.

She added that the U.S. government has no authority to steal a public road from a town, nor any legal right to interfere with the public right-of-way to the lake.

Earlier this summer, I launched a boat at the facility with a friend. We met no interference from facility operators and toured Rick Musson’s old sporting lodge on Loon Island.

Stepping into Great Pond Lodge was like entering a time machine from the 1950s. Musson worked there as a youngster for his father, and his affection for the place and its memories was obvious. That only compounds his fear that if access is denied, he may one day be unable to reach his place on Loon Island.

Word around the pond is that the Hancock County district attorney has declined to prosecute Great Pond residents who continue to use the boat launch right-of-way against Navy wishes.

When we returned with our boat at the landing, a bystander told us we were being “photographed” by Navy staff.

Greg Burr, a retired state fisheries biologist and columnist for the Northwoods Sporting Journal, warns that if public access is denied, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife would by policy halt stocking of the pond. Currently, the department annually stocks yearling brown trout.

Numerous attempts to reach the U.S. Navy public affairs office for comment were unsuccessful.

BDN editor Susan Bard contributed reporting.