Ruff,
Back when I was a teenager, I bought 20 acres in Northern Wisconsin probably wasn't a whole lot different than Maine. About five acres of it was a swamp, much like you describe. I tried various things with it. I trapped muskrat. I planted wild rice. My uncle convinced me to pump the peat out of the swamp, dry it, sell it, and turn the swamp into a great fish pond. He figured there were at least several feet of peat in the bottom of the swamp, which was worth quite a bit of money. He also felt this had been a nice pond several hundred years earlier.
It was late 1968, and the US Military needed more cannon fodder. I got drafted, spent six years in the Navy, and never got to pump out the peat. But, I believe it would have worked, and I would have had a great fishery.
Do it. I believe you have little to lose, and a lot to gain.
Regards,
Ken
