EFFECTIVE MESSAGING, A WILLINGNESS TO COLLABORATE WITH LOCAL STAKEHOLDERS WITH ILLUMINATION OF THE BENEFITS THAT A NATIONAL PARK OR A WILDERNESS PRESERVE THAT ALLOWS FOR TRADITIONAL HUNTING AND FISHING(THINK BOUNDARY WILDERNESS IN MINNESOTA) CAN BRING TO THE REGION JUST MIGHT BREAK DOWN THE TRADITIONAL WARINESS OF LAND TAKING THAT LOCAL RESIDENTS FEAR------------MY GOOD FRIENDS MICHAEL KELLET AND JYM ST. PIERRE OF "RESTORE THE NORTH WOODS" HAVE A REAL SHOT AT RECOGNINZING THEIR VISION OF MAINE REMAINING RURAL, WOODED AND RE-WILDED AS THE BANGOR OUTDOOR WRITER BRAD EDEN DEPICTS BELOW---WHAT AN ACHIEVEMENT THIS WOULD BE IN OUR MOST RUGGED EAST COAST STATE WHICH IS SEEING THE BIG PAPER COMPANIES SELL THEIR LAND TO REITS AND OTHER POTENTIAL LAND LIQUIDATING FIRMS.

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From: Michael Kellett <kellett@restore.org>
Sent: Mon Nov 01 07:25:57 2010
Subject: Op-ed: Maine Woods National Park & Preserve, Bangor Metro, November 2010

http://www.bangormetro.com/media/Bangor-Metro/November-2010/Maine-Woods-National-Park-amp-Preserve/

November 2010

Opinion: Maine Woods & Waters

Maine Woods National Park & Preserve

BY BRAD EDEN

Photo by Jym St. Pierre

Isn't it about time we took another close and earnest look at this idea?

While strolling through the Environmental Concerns tent at the Common Ground Fair, I stumbled upon RESTORE: The North Woods. This group has been proposing a Maine National Park and Preserve since 1994 and had seemingly fallen off the radar in the last few years. I noticed there was a perceptible buzz going on at their booth.

I was fishing for a subject for this month's column, so I introduced myself to the director as the sporting columnist for Bangor Metro. He said he was familiar with my column and I detected a look of suspicion. I wasn't surprised since consumptive sportsmen and sportsmen's groups have been a particularly painful burr in this organization's side.

I gathered up all the available literature, including a slick fold-up brochure—designed to replicate an authentic national park brochure—with a color map of the proposed park. What impressed and intimidated me most was the sheer scope and size of the park, totaling 3.2 million acres and surrounding and dwarfing Baxter State Park with a land mass larger than the combined area of Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks.

After reviewing their September 2010 newsletter, it became apparent why there was renewed vigor around their cause. Recent events have rekindled interest and support for national parks, including the Ken Burns PBS documentary on national parks as well as the proposed Maine park being on a short list of potential new national parks put out by the National Parks Second Century Commission, Roxanne Quimby's continued acquisition of thousands of acres for the proposed park, and the current administration's interest in expanding the national park system. I then hit the web to digest the huge volume of information, video clips, and statistics that has piled up since 1994.

So what did I find out and what's my opinion? I think RESTORE: The North Woods and its campaign have had a marketing and perception problem with the sporting community and Maine people in general. First off, RESTORE was originally based in Massachusetts. (They do have another office in Hallowell, Maine.) You've probably seen the bumper sticker on Maine cars saying "RESTORE Boston. Leave our MAINE way of life alone." Being endorsed by Hollywood celebs like Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, and Ted Danson, who, in all likelihood, have never stepped foot in the Maine north woods, also backfired. Maine people simply can't stomach being told what to do by outsiders.

I admit to a knee-jerk, negative reaction to the whole idea of a Maine woods national park and preserve. But, I think it's time to put aside perceptions and provincial sentiment and take another close and earnest look at this Maine national park idea. This is a bitter pill for me to swallow since I have enjoyed the relative open access by paper companies to hunt in the north woods and the very idea of being relegated to allocated "preserve" areas troubles me. But times are changing and fast. With the decline of the logging industry, paper companies are selling vast tracts of the north woods to land speculators, real estate trusts, and financial investors. Some of what isn't being sold is being targeted for development by logging companies such as Plum Creek Timber Company and their huge housing and resort project proposed for the Moosehead Lake region.

The much demonized Roxanne Quimby—who has taken her fortune from the sale of her company Burt's Bees to purchase entire townships of north woods acreage in anticipation of a new park—has proven not to be a completely stingy and inflexible land steward and is working with sportsmen organizations, snowmobile clubs, sporting camps, and others to reach compromises on land use on her holdings.

Even without a behemoth of a Maine national park there are other avenues to look at with additional state or national ownership like national preserves, national forests, national monuments, and designated wilderness areas. Any combination would ensure continued use of the north woods for timber harvesting, outdoor recreation like hiking and camping, and traditional outdoor activities like fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, and trapping.

None of this will be possible without a feasibility study by the U.S. Congress to explore and report on the pros and cons of this proposed Maine woods national park and preserve. RESTORE is seeking to convince elected officials to introduce this feasibility study but none as of yet have been willing to endorse it.

I urge readers to research this for themselves and check out both sides of the issue. Whether the time has come to investigate the feasibility of a Maine woods national park and preserve is ultimately in the hands of Maine people—as it should have been all along.

Brad Eden is an artist, writer, Registered Maine Master Guide, and owner/editor of the online magazine http://www.uplandjournal/