Wild blueberries are to Washington County like flowers are to bees. Take away the life sustaining nectar and there are no bees; take away the blueberries and much of an entire county would be impacted.
    Gone would be one of the engines to a fragile economy. Fewer jobs and family farms, no blueberry festivals and no story about blueberries to show and tell future generations. For Dell and Marie Emerson that simply cannot be. Their lives have been a combination effort to promote and nurture family growers and cast a light on the story of wild blueberries.
    To help this effort, they are moving forward with plans to reimagine their iconic blueberry dome building, Wild Blueberry Land in Columbia Falls, transitioning it from a popular tourist shop into an immersive Wild Blueberry Heritage Center and Museum.
    Assisting in this effort is Katherine Cassidy, a former state representative. On February 1 Cassidy started as a consultant for the project. "I am now officially spilling the beans," says Cassidy. "Five years ago [the Emersons] started a nonprofit organization focused on education and conservation for Maine's wild blueberry interests. Now, that same nonprofit is ready to take the next step, and I am so excited to be a part of this project."

Stewards of an industry
    Dell and Marie Emerson have been at this a long time. For 53 years Dell managed the University of Maine's experimental farm on Blueberry Hill in Jonesboro until his retirement in 2006. His family lineage goes back 11 generations. According to Marie, "Dell has spent his entire 86 years appreciating and truly loving his Downeast way of life in every aspect."
    Marie says she is a "back to the lander" following the life philosophy of Scott and Helen Nearing as told in their book, The Good Life. "I appreciated the chance to help so many students here in an area of the country that has deep roots," she says. She taught for 30 years at Washington County Community College in culinary and tourism studies. Together she and her husband operate a 40 acre farm in Addison named Wild Wescogus Berries. Wescogus is a Passamaquoddy word meaning "above the water."
    In 2001 they built Wild Blueberry Land on land surrounded by wild blueberries that have been farmed since the 1800s. The shop and restaurant are well known tourist destinations on Route 1 where anyone can learn about and eat the prized fruit.
    Their focus is now to create a space for the purpose of educating and preserving both the story and the land when it comes to wild blueberries. "This is our life," says Marie Emerson. "When we look across our fields where our ancestors, friends, neighbors and colleagues have toiled for decades, in less than one generation we have lost so much. We cannot lose these stories, this land and ecosystem."

A center focused on heritage, story
    With an opening date of July 21 for the museum, Cassidy says there is so much to learn and do to ensure the center is a success. "My role includes many responsibilities and will evolve over time," says Cassidy. "Right now I am focused on listening to the visions of others and putting my talents to the tasks."
    Those tasks include: designing and organizing exhibits; fundraising and publicizing; gathering stories from growers and small farmers for a "Washington County Heroes" display; working with Washington County schools in guiding students in collecting oral histories of rakers' memories; and promoting and preserving the cultural experiences linked with Maine's wild blueberry industry through community outreach, education and conservation initiatives.
    While Cassidy focuses on those tasks, Emerson will be focused on the end game of the project, including the impact this center could have on a piece of Washington County being designated as a National Heritage Area (NHA).
    "I worked toward a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization designation making Washington County a World Heritage Site (WHS), but when the U.S. withdrew from that organization in 2016, we moved the effort to an NHA designation," says Emerson.
    In 2017 Emerson worked with Lee Umphrey, who was involved in NHA projects in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. "After much research, we presented to all the wild blueberry growers in July 2018 and did a number of other presentations," says Emerson.
    Emerson approached Sunrise County Economic Council (SCEC) asking for support. Soon afterward, SCEC broadened the concept to parts of Washington and Hancock counties. "The hope is that if an NHA is eventually approved here, the fiscal sponsor will also support this rare heritage and indigenous ecosystem," says Emerson. "The income to the local administrating organization from the federal government will be substantial. Not sure how this will work with SCEC, but hopefully funding will be available to many Washington County small nonprofit heritage operations including local growers."
    An NHA feasibility study for the Downeast Acadia region is in process now by SCEC. According to its website, an NHA "is a nationally distinctive landscape where human activity and natural features have influenced each other and evolved together over time, and where this unique interplay has influenced the nation's heritage. They are places where natural, cultural, historic and scenic resources remain intact and together tell a story of place that celebrates, or commemorates, the cultures, traditions and people who live in that place."
    The reason for all of this effort is simple math, Emerson explains. "We have lost a third of the growers due to pricing and have gone from 60,000 acres of this natural gift to just 39,000 in recent years due to land being sold for development. We have within us the opportunity to preserve our local natural systems and cultural history."

An ecosystem critical for county
    Some will still wonder why the urgency. When this question is put to Emerson and Cassidy, their responses clarify a deep passion for both the crop and for this Downeast place.
    "Maine is the only state gifted with this iconic, natural phenomena," says Cassidy. "Everything we do together will focus on 'telling the story' of this local, sacred ecosystem. It must be shown through the eyes, words and culture of the local people who toiled for generations to maintain this precious, biodiverse ecosystem. Washington County contains 85% of the wild blueberries in the U.S. - but its land, culture and industry are in a steep decline."
    For Emerson, her reasons are many. First and foremost she says the wild blueberry is one of four indigenous fruits in North America, cared for by local tribes for millennia. "These lands, this rhizome system is to Maine as the rain forest is to the world, supporting a natural ecosystem," says Emerson. "The industry dates back to the Civil War, and the berries' health story is still unfolding." Cassidy adds, "This industry finds itself in the same situation today as the sardine industry was in the 1950s and 1960s, and as Maine's poultry industry was in the 1960s and 1970s."

NHA funds could help small growers
    Talking about the future of the place she calls home, Emerson is deeply concerned yet hopeful their work will not be in vain. "Much will depend on government policy," says Emerson. "Newer hybrids and genetics have been developed and are flooding the marketplace. They are annual plants [wild grow on a two-year cycle]; these new breeds can grow up to six times more per acre cheaply, making our local wild blueberry farms unable to compete."
    These facts are the reason many local farm families are leaving. She notes that profitability has been negative for a while, which directly influences the farming legacy. "Watching your parents toil for nothing is not an incentive for children to take on the burden of the family farm," says Emerson.
    "To maintain Maine's wild blueberry land and growers, the industry must differentiate this natural, ancient, biodiverse super crop from cultivated breeds grown elsewhere in America," says Cassidy. "This can be done by presenting an analysis that deepens the public's understanding of this significant Maine crop and by sharing the science and the stories from the people that shaped its history. This is what this center will help do."
    The boost provided by NHA funding Emerson believes would help many small operations continue because of the initial financial support. And if Washington County were to receive that designation, it would make the entire county a true destination, potentially moving more than 2% of the 3.2 million visitors from Acadia National Park to the Downeast area.
    "Certainly our message is to come, visit and learn all there is to know about this truly amazing crop," says Emerson. "But more importantly, contact your government officials, both federal, state and local, and ask for protection to save -- unique to Maine -- our iconic generational family wild blueberry farms."
    For more information, visit www.wildblueberrymuseum.org. For more information on the NHA feasibility study, visit sunrisecounty.org/national heritage area program.