Maine Sunday Telegram Advocates for National Park

The Maine Sunday Telegram has gone on the record supporting a Maine Woods National Park:

A decade ago, "Ban Roxanne" bumper stickers were a common sight from Greenville to Millinocket, and the prospect of a national park in the Katahdin region looked dim.

In spite of the opposition — largely from sportsmen, snowmobilers and the forest products industry — Elliotsville Plantation Inc., the group formed by Roxanne Quimby to manage her vast land holdings and push for a park, has continued to make its case.

Last week, after Elliotsville Plantation announced that it was opening 40,000 acres near Baxter State Park to hunting, the area began to closely resemble the kind of national park that would enjoy the widespread support necessary to make Quimby's dream a reality.

That is partly because of a change in strategy. Quimby, who built Burt's Bees from a roadside venture in central Maine into a multimillion-dollar company, was nonetheless seen as an outsider, and worse — as against hunting and snowmobiling. When she closed off her land, residents accustomed to unfettered access for all kinds of recreation began to see Quimby as a threat to their way of life.

For the last two years, however, Quimby's son, Lucas St. Clair, a sportsman himself who grew up in the area, has been the president of the board at Elliotsville Plantation. He's spent that time meeting face-to-face with many of his mother's opponents. Even when they disagree about specifics, he says, they can relate on a common love for the land in question.

That's a good sign for St. Clair, because the success of the national park proposal depends largely on trust. Residents have to trust that he will follow through on his promise that the plan for the park leaves snowmobile trails intact and some areas open to hunting, and they have to trust that those promises can survive after the land is handed over to the federal government.

The proposal, as it is sketched out now, calls for roughly 75,000 acres of Quimby's land west of the East Branch of the Penobscot River to be made into a national park. On the other side of the river, there would be a national recreation area of the same size.

The operation of both would be funded through a $40 million endowment provided through Elliotsville Plantation, to offset the ups and downs of National Park Service funding.

The park would be open to fishing, hiking and paddling, while the recreation area, home to number of important snowmobile trails and the habitat of whitetail deer and ruffed grouse, would allow snowmobiling and hunting, in perpetuity, St. Clair said.

The support of many residents hinges on that promise of guaranteed access, and the future of the park proposal hinges on that support.

Maine's delegation has to take the proposal to Congress, and that will happen only when the politicians feel public sentiment swinging in the park's favor.

St. Clair, in an interview on Friday, said his group is working on the wording of the bill that would be presented to Congress, which has final say on the creation of national parks. The bill, which would spell out what can and can't be done on the land, would put the promises in black and white, St. Clair said, so that the public has something tangible to debate.

The park proposal met so much opposition 10 years ago because residents were convinced it would deny them access to land they had enjoyed for years, and that it would kill the timber industry and irrevocably harm the economy.

A study released earlier this year confirmed the region's old economy, based on manufacturing and work in the woods, is unlikely to return.

The service sector is growing, however, and a national park could give that, and other parts of the economy, a boost, just as parks have in other areas of similar demographics.

Recreational access, then, remains the only impediment to a sensible debate about the park proposal. That Elliotsville Plantation last week opened the land near Baxter to hunting shows the group sees the value of a balanced approach to recreation. It was a deliberate reconciliatory move designed to bring more sportsmen to the table.

That's where all the stakeholders should be in the coming months, as Elliotsville Plantation rolls out its proposal in more detail. Rather than as a cause for concern, the proposed conservation of 150,000 acres should be seen as an opportunity to help the region, and protect some of Maine's most treasured land.

You have to give St. Clair credit for doggedness, but as the editorial writer notes, the politicians won't act until there's a documented swing in public favor.

Roxanne Quimby's Son Offers New Hope for National Park

Today's Maine Sunday Telegram has its own profile of Lucas St. Clair, Roxanne Quimby's son, president of Eliotsville Plantation, and the man dedicated to persuading the people of Maine to create a new national park on the lands east of Baxter State Park.

Having watched this proposal float in limbo for more than a year while I was writing Massacre Pond, I am awed by the synchronicity of these events. I never suspected my novel would be quite this inescapably topical.

Quimby seems to be a dedicated man.

Movement on a Maine Woods National Park?

Last year, when I was writing Massacre Pond, the conversation about whether the federal government should create a Maine North Woods National Park had softened to something less than dull murmur. The debate that had raged for years had grown very quiet. One of the reasons I wanted to write the novel was to jumpstart the discussion.

In the weeks since my book hit stores, some surprising developments have occurred. Thanks primarily to the statements and actions of Roxanne Quimby's son, Lucas St. Clair, the proposal suddenly has new life. The topic has been front page news — the biggest story on many days — in the Bangor Daily News.

So it was today:

Lucas St. Clair clearly has heard the question before. And he’s got plenty of answers that he’s happy to share. He also realizes that sometimes, it’s best to simply stand back and let Mother Nature do the talking for you.

So ask him again: What is it, exactly, that makes the central Maine land his mother bought so special, so unique, so memorable, that it ought to be preserved forever as a national park?

Ask, and he’ll bring you here, to a newly cleared promontory he knows will be a highlight should Elliotsville Plantation Inc.’s national park plan ever gain the momentum he thinks it should.

Katahdin looms in front of you, stark, magnificent. To the south, far down the valley, Millinocket Lake shimmers. More than 10 miles to the north, also visible, is Katahdin Lake. In between, miles and miles of forest.

This is the million-dollar view. St. Clair, the son of millionaire landowner Roxanne Quimby, simply calls it “the overlook,” for now. Others just say “Wow.”

“I think anyone who lives on this side, the east side of Baxter State Park, in Patten or Shin Pond, would say their view of Katahdin is the very best in the state,” St. Clair had said hours earlier, before a field trip Wednesday designed to show off some of the land that Elliotsville Plantation Inc. recently opened to the public. “And I totally agree with them.”

St. Clair makes no secret of the fact that providing for public access, which included Monday’s announcement that EPI would immediately open 40,000 acres to hunting, is a conscious decision that he hopes will help convince the public that the affected parcels are worth preserving, either as a national park or national recreation area.

I've received comments from some readers of Massacre Pond who see a suspicious coincidence in the timing of my book's publication with these new twists in an old story. But I'm not taking credit for anything. The momentum to create a Maine Woods National Park has proceeded in fits and starts for a very long time. If it's regaining strength again now, who can say why?

But if you don't live in Maine you should know that the proposal is once again the number one topic of discussion in the North Woods, just as it is in chapter one of Massacre Pond.

A Letter from RESTORE: The North Woods

I recently received a letter from Michael Kellett co-founder of RESTORE: The North Woods, which he sent in response to an interview I gave the Maine Sunday Telegram. For those unfamiliar with Maine politics, RESTORE has been advocating for a North Woods National Park for years. One of my hopes for Massacre Pond was that it would open a new dialogue about the controversial issue. Kellett agrees that the novel offers an opportunity to do just that and has given me permission to reprint the text of his letter here:

I read the recently published interview in the Maine Sunday Telegram about your new book. Your novel looks very interesting and I look forward to reading it. As a co-founder of RESTORE: The North Woods, I have a particular connection to some of the issues you touched on in the interview. I was especially struck by this comment: "[Roxanne Quimby's] property is right next to Baxter State Park, which is largely managed very well, especially compared to national parks, which have a lot more stress."

I have been involved in national park issues for almost three decades. I have visited more than 240 National Park System units. I have worked with scores of National Parks staff, historians, economists, and volunteers. I have long been familiar with the management of Baxter State Park, as well.

I agree that Baxter State Park is well managed. However, your unfavorable comparison of national park management with that of Baxter Park does not square with my experience. National parks are still considered “America’s best idea” for good reason. Despite some funding challenges in recent years, all of the National Park System units I have visited have offered a stellar visitor experience.

It is difficult to compare Baxter State Park with any other park. Baxter Park is unique in many respects. It certainly is unlike any other state park in Maine. Of course, this is what Percival Baxter intended and which is why it is not part of the Maine State Park system.

While it is difficult to make direct comparisons between Baxter State Park and Acadia National Park, people often do. You are obviously very familiar with Acadia National Park, since the cover story of this month’s issue of Down East magazine is about the “15 Reasons We Love Acadia.”

Acadia is one of the smallest and most popular of our national parks with more than 2 million visitors per year. Acadia has been managed as a national park for almost 100 years. Baxter State Park is more than five times the size of the main part of Acadia on Mount Desert Island, but it has only 3 percent as many visitors each year. If Baxter Park managers had been faced with 33 times more annual visitors for a century, I wonder if they would have been able to protect Baxter while making it the foundation of a vibrant economy as the National Park Service has done with Acadia.

An objective comparison between Acadia National Park and Baxter State Park would likely be unfavorable to Baxter, because as a national park, Acadia has far more resources available to it. These additional resources allow Acadia to generally better maintain facilities, roads and trails, and transportation systems. They have allowed Acadia to put in place public transportation to reduce private vehicle use, while Baxter has not been able to get past the discussion stage. They have enabled Acadia to employ many more staff, provide a higher level of training, offer comprehensive interpretive programs, and provide more official integration of local communities in park planning. When comparing these factors, it is difficult to draw the conclusion that Baxter State Park is better managed than Acadia National Park from the standpoint of infrastructure, operations, and programs.

A more analogous comparison can be made between Baxter State Park and national parks in terms of wilderness protection, which does not require extensive resources. Washington's Mount Rainier National Park, established in 1899, is slightly larger than Baxter State Park, which was established in 1931. Mount Rainier welcomes 1.8 million visitors each year — probably more than Baxter has experienced in all the years since its establishment. Despite accommodating tens of millions of visitors over 114 years, the National Park Service has kept Mount Rainier remarkably intact. In fact, 97 percent of Mount Rainier is congressionally designated as Wilderness, while only 86 percent of Baxter Park is designated as sanctuary.

Many people think of crowded Yosemite Valley when they think of Yosemite National Park. Yosemite is about four times larger than Baxter, but it receives 4 million annual visitors — 70 times more than Baxter. Yosemite Valley can be congested on peak days, but it only covers about 4,500 acres of the 761,266-acre park. Moreover, although Yosemite National Park has been a popular destination since its establishment in 1890, nearly 90 percent of the park is designated as Wilderness. It is easier to find a remote backcountry experience in most of Yosemite than in much of Baxter in the summer.

I sometimes hear people say that world-famous Yellowstone National Park is overdeveloped and overused. However, after 141 years of national park management, 92 percent of Yellowstone still meets national Wilderness criteria. For example, the remote, little-known Bechler region in the southwest portion of Yellowstone is twice the size of Baxter State Park. With no roads, no facilities, and few visitors, this vast wildland is certainly less stressed than Baxter Park.

By a different measure, positive economic impact, no other type of land protection can rival national parks. Mount Desert Island is the crown jewel of the Maine Coast, and Acadia National Park makes tens of thousands of acres on the island accessible to the public for world-class educational, interpretive, and recreational programs. Acadia generates $186 million in economic activity annually for mid-coast Maine. According to a 2008 study by the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Baxter generates less than $7 million in direct and indirect visitor spending. If the goal is to spur economic prosperity, as it is for many people in the struggling towns of northern Maine, a national park is a far greater draw than any state park, even Baxter.

Several studies, including a couple released earlier this year, have shown that a national park in northern Maine could greatly help supplement and help diversify the economy of that struggling region.

An analysis by a nationally recognized resource economist of our original 3.2-million-acre Maine Woods National Park & Preserve found that over a 20-year period, while the park was gradually put into place, it could have a net positive impact, bolstering the state’s economy with $109 million to $435 million in annual retail sales and supporting 5,000 to 20,000 jobs. Meanwhile, about 90 percent of Maine’s annual tree harvest would be unaffected and could be made up with better forest management in other areas.

Similarly, studies of the likely impact of the lands Roxanne Quimby has offered to donate for a national park and recreation area have concluded that more than 1,000 new private and public sector jobs could be created as the region was diversified with a new park.

Other studies have shown that every dollar invested in national parks generates at least four dollars in economic value to the public, supporting approximately $13 billion of local private-sector economic activity and nearly 270,000 private sector jobs, plus thousands more public jobs, across our country.

In terms of recreation, our Maine Woods National Park & Preserve would guarantee public access for the full range of recreational activities. This includes hiking, hunting, fishing, camping, paddling, skiing, and snowmobiling. Roxanne’s proposed donation of lands too would provide for the same full range of activities.

I could go on, but I think you get my point. There are a lot of misconceptions about our national parks that get in the way of an accurate understanding of how important they are ecologically, economically, and for a wide variety of recreational activities.

Since your latest book seems to be sparking a renewed debate about the pros and cons of creating a new national park in the Maine Woods, you have an opportunity in interviews and on your book tour to provide accurate information about the benefits of national parks, and to dispel some of the misconceptions.

Massacre Pond Is an Indie Favorite

The American Booksellers Association is a writer's best friend, and I've been fortuntate to have three of my novels chosen for its prestigious Indie Next List.

Bookstore owners nominate their favorite new books for inclusion on the list. Rita Moran of Apple Valley Books in Winthrop, Maine, chose Massacre Pond for the honor. Now Indiebound is out with its new bestseller list, and Massacre Pond is featured as an Indie Favorite.

Thank you, Rita, and thank you, Indiebound.