THE MAINE WOODS STATE PARK is still on the table even though not one of the State Officials(Govenor, Senators) has endorsed the plan..............My question is why does the discussion have to be PARK VERSUS PAPER MILLS?,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I do not see where there is a need for the two forms of economic endeavors to be mutually exclusive..............I say that Govenor LePage should go all out to find a buyer for existing mills in Millinocket and establish some new mills in appropriate additional locales throughout Maine..............Simultaneously, the Govenor should endorse some form of working National Park............Roxanne Quimby is showing flexibility and substance in wanting to help fund the Park into perpetuity as well as setting aside lands for traditional uses(hunting/fishing--and maybe even logging)..................Govenor, Senators, Congresmen, Paper Companies, Hunters, Townspeople...........Time to sit down together, get serious and create a National Park that works for all of Maine's residents.................Understand that logging alone is never going to be the answer to all of your employment needs..............Yes, keep as much of that endeavor as makes sense................Yes, also create a Park..... Create a Park that 'BOLDLY GOES WHERE NO PARK HAS GONE BEFORE"--MAKE IT A UNIQUELY MAINE WOODS PARK AND YOU WILL HAVE THE APPLAUSE OF SO MANY WHILE OPENING UP ANOTHER VIABLE ECONOMIC PATHWAY FOR YOUR RESIDENTS............GO MAINE.............MAN UP, DO NOT WHIMP OUT............IT IS IN YOUR GRASP TO BE DOERS AND SHAKERS AND NOT BE LAGGARDS IN THIS REGARD.......... AND TO THOSE WHO WOULD BURY THEIR HEADS IN THE SAND AND PRETEND THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO GO BACK TO 1950 WHEN THE ECONOMIC CONDITIONS WORLDWIDE ALLOWED FOR YOU TO BE A "ONE-TRICK" LOGGING PONY----WELL, THEM DAYS ARE GONE PAL!!!!!!...........EXPAND YOUR HORIZONS AND THE SUN WILL SHINE ON YOUR GREAT STATE ONCE AGAIN!

---

From: Michael Kellett <mjkellett@mindspring.com
Sent: Sun Aug 14 12:39:37 2011
Subject: The Road Not Yet Taken in the Maine Woods

The Road Not Yet Taken in the Maine Woods

Two roads are diverging in the Maine Woods. Let's take the one that will make all the difference!

In the final days of June, two different pieces of legislation came before Maine lawmakers, and they put in stark relief our choices and our priorities. One path takes us in a circle right back to where we are now—without jobs, looking in the rear-view mirror for solutions. The other path leads us forward.

The first road was a legislative resolve that gives Maine Governor Paul LePage authority to accept on behalf of all tax payers a "gift" of the Dolby Landfill in East Millinocket – complete with $17 million of clean-up costs and unknown, unlimited future environmental liability. The billion dollar corporations and foreign investment firms that are gifting us their polluted landfill said if we don't accept it, they will board up the two paper mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket where the unemployment rate is above 20% and sell off the equipment.

The second road was a resolution opposing the acceptance a different kind of gift. Thousands of acres of pristine wilderness, plus a $40 million endowment to create and maintain a national park in the Maine Woods, just up the street from Millinocket, East Millinocket and the Dolby Landfill. This gift comes complete with economic benefits of jobs, new residents and businesses, in addition to preserving a national treasure.

The two paths – one succumbing to corporate blackmail and clinging to the past, the other charging in to the future with a bold vision that embraces change and aspires to add value – highlight the conflict in America today about the role of government. One view is that government's function is to serve the interests of corporations. The other view is that government works to protect the public interest and for the public good.

Shall we take the first road because we hope it brings us back to when American paper mills employed thousands of people who lived comfortably within the confines of a union-protected pay check, and when American patron landowners opened the gates to the forest for all to use? With rose-colored glasses shall we deny the realities of the unregulated global economy, and the availability of cheap labor overseas?

Or will we take the second road? The road to a magnificent national park and thriving gateway community. The path to jobs, community vitality and preservation of America's great forest. The road that will make all the difference for Maine people.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't 'Short-cut' Park Process

Gov. Paul LePage's decision to not take sides in the debate about a proposed Maine Woods National Park is the most rational thing that's been done about the plan and its opposition recently. What the administration can't stay out of are efforts to rebuild and diversify the economy of the Katahdin region.

The governor's take on the park idea, as expressed through his Conservation Commissioner Bill Beardsley, is that he wants the discussion to continue before he takes a position.

"I think he feels that the dialogue is under way," Mr. Beardsley said. "It is in process. People are expressing positions. The governor feels that it is premature for him to jump in and short-cut the process."

The process is not pretty, but letting it play out — and gathering more facts to inform the discussion — makes sense.

Roxanne Quimby, founder of Burt's Bees and long a proponent of a national park in the Maine Woods, has proposed to donate 70,000 acres of land she owns east of Baxter State Park to the National Park Service. She would also put money into an endowment to maintain the park.

To address the concerns of sportsmen, Quimby is also offering to donate to the state 30,000 acres where hunting, snowmobiling, ATV riding and other forms of more-intensive recreation would be allowed.

Ms. Quimby has asked for a feasibility study of her park plan. Such a study is a good idea, not as a first step toward a national park but as an opportunity for a region that has been hard hit by mill shutdowns to explore additional economic prospects.

The Millinocket Town Council has opposed such a plan. Officials in Medway and the Katahdin Area Chamber of Commerce have supported it.

Their respective positions are based on principled beliefs and a desire to do what is best for the area's residents and businesses.

Beyond the local conflict, the proposed park should be of interest to the broader region and to all of Maine. Considering opposition and support from a broader array of interests is an important part of such a decision.

A national park is not a panacea. However, given the recent history of timber harvesting and papermaking in Maine and Millinocket and East Millinocket, where both mills remain closed, other economic opportunities shouldn't be dismissed.

The LePage administration has been heavily involved in efforts to find a buyer for the mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket so that they can restart. So far, no buyer has been announced.

Gov. LePage's primary focus, Mr. Beardsley said, is to find the best and most prosperous economic mix of the state's many traditional land uses and the more recent ideas, such as ecotourism.

Exploring all options is the best way forward, with or without a park.