Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was so impressed with Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument that he will ask Congress to designate it as a national park, according to Lucas St. Clair.
Mr. St. Clair, who toured the monument on Wednesday with the Interior secretary, told the Traveler on Thursday that the secretary said he was "going to put pressure on Congress to pass legislation to turn it into a national park."
"It (the monument) had a real effect on him," Mr. St. Clair said during a brief phone call from Maine.
Of course, turning that suggestion into reality is a huge task, as Maine's congressional delegation, which opposed the designation of the national monument by President Obama, would have to support the legislation.
The Interior secretary traveled to Maine this week to personally explore the national monument. President Trump in April directed him to look at 27 national monuments established since 1996 to determine whether they were created under the guidelines of the Antiquities Act. That act gives presidents the authority to designate national monuments to protect "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest," but in "the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected."
On Wednesday the Interior secretary traveled through the monument with Superintendent Tim Hudson, Mr. St. Clair, whose family donated 87,500 acres of their land to the Interior Department last summer so President Obama could designate the national monument, various Interior Department staffers as well as representatives from the state's congressional delegation, and more than a dozen reporters. The day started with a driving tour on the Katahdin Loop Road, followed by a canoe trip on the Penobscot River, and ended with dinner and an overnight stay at the Lunksoos Camp.
Absent from the tour was Maine Gov. Paul LePage, who long opposed the monument designation and has ordered his highway department not to erect signs directing traffic to it.
“Today, we saw a lot of gorgeous woods and waterways, and I’m very grateful to the family for their generosity,” Secretary Zinke said Wednesday. “We all share the same goals of conserving the land and prioritizing access for hunting, fishing, recreation, and other traditional uses of the land. As we move forward with the review process, I want to make sure every advocate is confident their voice will be heard. I look forward to working with both state and local stakeholders as we finish the review.”
While the Interior secretary ended his Maine visit on Thursday, in the national monument crews were busy building trails while Superintendent Hudson was continuing work on a general management plan for Katahdin Woods and Waters.
From the beginning, Mr. St. Clair and his mother, Roxanne Quimby, had a goal of seeing a national park established in northern Maine. When the state's congressional delegation vowed not to introduce legislation to do so, Mr. St. Clair and his mother worked to convince the Obama administration to use the Antiquities Act to designate a national monument, with hope that down the road it would be redesignated as a national park.
Along with donating the land for the monument, the family provided an endowment of $20 million to supplement federal funds for initial park operational needs and infrastructure development at the new monument, and pledged another $20 million in future philanthropic support.
Katahdin Woods and Waters is located directly east of the 209,644-acre Baxter State Park, the location of Maine’s highest peak, Mt. Katahdin (5,267 feet), the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. The boundaries of the national monument include 4,426 acres of private land owned by the Baskahegan Company, which requested inclusion should the company in the future decide to convey its lands to the United States or a conservation buyer, on a willing seller basis, for incorporation into the monument.
Comments
Must not be the oil extraction potential that the Bears Ears lands offer. Distract us with a nice thing up north while stealing lands in the west.
dupe
Rick, you are so blinded by your hatred, Zinke could turn the entire US into a National Park and you would claim it wasn't enough.
Et tu brute. I wasn't talking to, with, or about you.
One step forward (maybe) three hundred ten steps backward.
Where will the Secretary find the money to fund his new National Park, since he proposes such deep cuts to the NPS in the new Budget?
The family's $20 million pledge to assist initial funding for the Park is very generous, but it won't last forever, and then what?
Interesting and telling reactions here. Unfortunately not the least bit surprising.