Another north woods community considers the future
NPR ran a telling and familiar-sounding story from northern Maine this morning … northern Maine of the vast stretches of timberland, punctuated by paper mill towns.
For generations, Maine’s North Woods have provided pulp for the state’s paper mills and created plenty of good jobs in an area with little other economic activity. But now the paper industry is struggling and a mill job is no longer a guarantee.
Roxanne Quimby, here with Millinocket Lake guide Matt Polstein, wants to donate 70,000 acres of land to the National Park Service along with an endowment to manage what would be a national park in Maine's North Woods. (Susan Sharon for NPR)
Reporter Susan Sharon found towns with 20 percent-plus unemployment, and new traction for an old idea. A private philanthropist wants to set tens of thousands of acres aside for wilderness preservation. The philanthropist is Roxanne Quimby, who started Burt’s Bees as a roadside stand 20 years ago…her national park campaign has also beena long haul, but she’s gaining.
Most of Maine’s political leaders are still against the park plan, but according to Susan Sharon’s story, locals are beginning to look for alternatives to their idled paper mills:
The Maine Legislature and the town of Millinocket recently passed resolves against the park, and most of the state’s congressional delegation has expressed opposition to it. But the local chamber of commerce and some other groups have endorsed a feasibility study. Quimby counts that as progress.
“I think that I am starting to sense a shift in attitude with people who probably 10 years ago would have demonized me or demonized the beliefs that I had about conservation and recreation in the area,” she says, “but they’re sitting at the table with me now and talking about how can we make this work for everybody?”
The Adirondacks are much further down that road, and still unsure of the end point. The green community here — counting the Nature Conservancy and its allies, private landowners, and private timber holdings now under conservation easement — now is now collectively the largest landowner in the Park. Not the heritage lumber and paper companies.
A reminder that the conversation continues in the latest issue of Adirondack Life, and tonight at 7:30 at the Newcomb VIC. Details in Brian’s post, below.
Tags: economy, land management, land use, outdoor recreation
It’s her land – she should be able to do what she wants with it. Where have we heard that before? So why is this any different? Maybe instead she should build a wall around it and just exclude everyone. How would the naysayers like that? Maine’s politicians are as shortsighted as New York’s Adirondack politicians – always looking to the past for solutions and wanting to prevent landowners from selling their land to whom they want to.
This shouldn’t be controversial – she’s giving the land to the government and even funding an endowment for management of the park. It’s her right to do it. Get over it. And get on with it!
There is nothing more interesting than watching people (mostly politicians) digging in their heals to prevent the March of Time. They are for freedom unless they are against it. While most are still mired in the 20th Century, some refuse to leave the 19th Century.
Oh yes, they do want their cell phones so that they can imagine they are connected to the world but the fact is that they are disconnected from reality.
Private property for them is only private property if you use it for what they want you to use it for.
The Town of Malta is living proof you don’t need the APA to limit the height of buildings. All you need is some our-way-or-the highway politicians to prevent you from doing what you want to do.
In Johnsburg you can carry a gun into a government building to protect you from the Town Clerk but don’t you dare sell your land to the state or open up a topless bar which probably wouldn’t let you bring in your gun.
I listened to the story.
I think it is very interesting, she would gain much more traction if she went with a more Adirondack style concept I think. What most people who oppose her concept don’t like is not the idea of protected forests but the prohibition on all motorized vehicles and all hunting if you go with a national park concept.
In general hunters have a vested interest in protecting habitat and where you have organized groups of hunters which you really do in Northern Maine you will get better protection for habitat. They should join forces she needs to get a group like Ducks Unlimited on her side or something like that.
She needs to make an economic case, it’s easy to be for creating these really nice spaces when you are very wealthy and if she does not watch it this will just become another class issue, another limousine liberal telling working people or in this case unemployed ex-working people; how to live.
The problem with hunters is that they are a dying breed. The reasons are many and are not limited to those who are opposed to guns and killing. Blame TV, the Internet and video games. Blame the growing number of people who won’t eat wild game even if it is given to them, mostly because they don’t know how to prepare and don’t want to learn.
Hunting used to be an inexpensive way to provide meat for the table. This is no longer true. Blame the locals who used to hunt for food on the table and don’t want anything to do with those days because they summon up memories of hardscrabble living.
I’m guessing here but I think most hunters today are pretty well-off. They are more well-off than those who come up here to hike.
Blame football. Many you used to hunt would rather watch football. Times change.
The times, they are a-changing and many just don’t want to recognize it.
myown, you are right it is her land and she can do with it as she pleases. I assume that you are opposed to things like the APA and town zoning boards that are tasked with telling people that they can’t do certain things with their land.
In my opinion if you really want to protect your land from things like development or even overuse and abuse like we see on state and national park land than than you should protect it with deeded restrictions and make sure that it is not opened up for general public use.
A recent example of poor state land management is the quick rush to open Adirondack state land to hikers soon after tropical storm Irene exposing trails to more than their usual erosion and damage from overuse.