Michael Kellett of RESTORE THE NORTH WOODS and along with his colleague Jym St.Pierre are doing yeomans advocacy work up in Maine seeking to create what will be known as MAINE WOODS NATIONAL PARK.......BURTS BEES co-founder turned Philanthropist, Roxanne Quimby is working shoulder to shoulder with RESTORE to make this vision for Maine a reality

North Woods still qualify for

 national park status

Bangor News

Letter to the editor

The letter ("Does North Woods meet criteria for
 national park?," Sept. 28) asking whether

 the national park proposed by Roxanne Quimby
 has "natural characteristics" that qualify it

 for National Park System designation, raises fair
 questions.

In 1937, a reconnaissance team sent by the
 National Park Service director did an intensive

 survey of the region around Katahdin. The team
 recommended the designation of a

 327,978-acre national park that included not only
 Katahdin, but also the lands proposed 

by Roxanne Quimby for national park designation.

In its report, the team wrote that it "unanimously agrees"
 that the proposed national park

 "is of national geologic and biologic importance and that
 it possesses outstanding 

supplemental scenic and historic values, all of which taken 
collectively, qualify the

 area for national park and monument system purposes."

The area proposed by Roxanne Quimby as a new national
 park qualified three-quarters 

of a century ago, and it still meets the criteria today. Of 
course, the significance of 

the proposed national park land is enhanced by being 
adjacent to Baxter State Park and Katahdin.

 Indeed, the protection of this area would benefit Baxter
 Park by buffering it from development

 and including areas that were not originally included in 
Baxter State Park.

As for the question whether a new national park would 
attract more visitors to the region,

 several studies project a significant increase in visitation,
 because a national park would

 greatly raise the public profile of the area and offer 
high-quality education and recreation

 programs. The national park brand is so well regarded
 that it serves as a visitor magnet.

A new national park in the Katahdin region would be 
an environmental, economic and 

recreational boon to the area and to all of Maine.

Lois Winter

Portland, Maine

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

Quimby adds more than 11,000 acres 

to land holdings

Bangor news

Roxanne Quimby

By Kevin Miller,bangordailynews.com

Conservationist Roxanne Quimby has purchased another
11,000 acres east of Baxter State
 Park, expanding her already-sizable land holdings in the
Katahdin region and potentially
 adding another wrinkle to the debate over her national park plan.

Quimby’s nonprofit land conservation foundation, Elliotsville
Plantation Inc., announced
Wednesday that Quimby had bought 11,291 acres south of
Shin Pond in T4 R7 and T5 R7.
The land, which Quimby purchased from the timberland and
 development company Lakeville
Shores Inc., includes substantial acreage on both sides of the
 Seboeis River as well as Peaked
Mountain. A press release from Elliotsville Plantation Inc. said
 the property is notable for its
white-water canoeing, wild brook trout fishery, upland forests
 and wetlands.

A co-founder of the Burt’s Bees natural beauty products line,
 Quimby has used her wealth to
 purchase more than 100,000 acres of forestland in Maine.

The vast majority of Quimby’s land — including the most recent
 purchase — is located in the
Katahdin region north of Millinocket and east of Baxter State
 Park. And it’s in that region that
 Quimby has made her boldest and most hotly debated move
yet: a proposal to donate 70,000
 acres to the federal government for the creation of a new
North Woods National Park.

The Seboeis River tract is not part of the 70,000 acres Quimby
 hopes will become Maine’s
second national park — a desire that is far from being fulfilled
 given the opposition to federal
 land ownership among some residents. But in the news release
 announcing the acquisition,
Elliotsville Plantation Inc. suggested that the new land south of
 Shin Pond could play a role as
Quimby seeks to build public support for her park plan.

The foundation said Quimby will allow hunting, snowmobiling
 and other traditional uses
 on the land for one year.“Long term, the acquisition will be part
 of EPI’s larger plan for
 multiple-use motorized recreation, hunting and sustainable
working forest east of the East Branch
 [of the Penobscot River] to balance EPI’s proposed donation
 of 70,000 acres west of
the East Branch for a national park,” the release stated.

Mark Leathers, a resource consultant at James W. Sewall Co.
who works with Quimby,
could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. However,
  Quimby reportedly has 
offered area snowmobile clubs five years of access to trails on
 her property in exchange
 for their support for a feasibility study of her national park
 proposal.

The Bowlin-Matagammon-Shin Pond Snowmobile Club is
among
the groups weighing
 Quimby’s offer. The club grooms several scenic trails
 within Quimby’s new tract as well
 as part of the ITS 114 snowmobile trail that extends into
 the land, according to club secretary
 Terry Hill, who also runs Shin Pond Village campground
 and cottages.

Hill declined to comment on Quimby’s new land acquisition
 before her club’s Oct. 20
meeting during which members will discuss whether to
support a park feasibility study
 in return for five years of guaranteed access to trails on
 Quimby land.
Bob Meyers, executive director of the Maine Snowmobile
Association, said the more
 land Quimby owns in the region “the more of a wedge she
 has” to put under local
snowmobile clubs.

“It has put them in a terrible situation,” Meyers said.
While there has been talk about a North Woods national park
 for more than a decade,
 Quimby’s latest proposal has changed the debate considerably
 in a region where “Ban
Roxanne” bumper stickers once were commonplace.
Quimby has picked up support from business groups, local
 governments and residents
 for at least a feasibility study by proposing a 70,000-acre park,
 a fraction of the size
of the 3.2 million-acre park originally put forward by the group
RESTORE: The North Woods.

Additionally, Quimby convinced some former naysayers that her
 proposal is at least worth
considering through her offers to donate 30,000 acres to the state
 for recreational land open
 to hunting and snowmobiling as well as her promise to create a
$20 million endowment for
the national park. Only Congress, the White House or the U.S.
 Department of the Interior
can request a park feasibility study, and then only Congress can
create a new park.
Others, however, remain staunchly opposed to the federal
government owning any land in a
region often described as Maine’s “timber basket.” So it was
 not surprising that some did not
 welcome the news that Quimby had purchased additional land
 in the region.

Millinocket Town Manager Eugene Conlogue, a vocal opponent
 of Quimby’s national park
 plan, said the latest purchase is just “her expanding her reach
 into this area.”
“That’s too bad. That’s a real blow,” he added. “Roxanne is
trying to impose her vision on
 how woods should be on an area that is based on the forest
 products industry. We do not
 welcome her taking land out of that industry.”

Supporters of Quimby’s proposal, on the other hand, predict
that a new national park would
 bring tourists and economic development to a region that is
 losing population and has struggled
to keep open its two paper mills. They also praise Quimby
for her willingness, in recent years,
to reach compromises with snowmobile clubs and sportsmen’s
 organizations on use of her land.