It was my last day in the Maine North Woods for my National Geographic Young Explorer grant. I paddled on Munsungen Lake, a headwater to the famous Aroostook River. The lake’s shoreline, rising from the water in sand and small rocks, bordered stands of young forest, including bright white birch trunks that stood out from the dark green shades of the surrounding woods. Here and there, a tall tree stood above the rest, perhaps a remnant of an older forest.
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Comments
Having spent much time in Maine's North Woods, both along the Appalachian Trail and in Baxter State Park, we are glad to see so much of it now federally protected, through the new Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. We've also been following the efforts to establish the monument with great interest because of the similarities we've seen in Acadia's founding, as we blogged about here: http://acadiaonmymind.com/2016/08/ties-that-bind-acadia-new-maine-woods-...
You're glad the Appalachian trail is federally protected? That trail has more trail destruction and erosion than any other trail in the world. Baxter State Park has stricter environmental rules than the National Park Service, who feel that it's acceptable to put a massive parking lot on the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia NP. How is this a good thing?
My bet - the area will see far more development the next 50 years than the last.
EC, You are probably right that there will be more development in the future. That can be OK, or even a good thing if it is in the right place, such as in or around existing communities. But significant lands and waters, such as Moosehead Lake; the Allagash, West Branch Penobscot, Aroostook, and Kennebec corrodors; and the 100 Mile Wilderness region along the Appalachian Trail should not be developed and still need permanet protection.
The people her dont want this nice over reach of the governmet Thanks Obummer way to nopt listen to the people nice way to save swamp land and waste land . Hey want to save maine stop wind power from blasting off our mountains and killing the bats and raptors the filling of the wet lands the clear cuts help save Maine from the out of state wind bandits
I wouldn't try to argue with a literate spokesman like that.
I have seen all that without a NM or NP. And still in other areas that are not a NM can still see it.
Thank you, President Obama, for following the will of the voters in Maine's Second Congressional District by designating this newest national monument and thank you, National Parks Traveler, for the fine reporting. You make me proud to be an American. Having previously visited Baxter State Park, I now have another reason to return to Maine with my children to visit Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.
"now have another reason to return"
Why do you have any more reason now than before?
I'm not very impressed by another NPS unit with snomobiles, hunting, and a development agenda. So much for that so-called 'gold-star' level of preservation. What next to appease the locals, trapping and wood gathering? This generous donation of land might have have been better directed to the adjacent and more-protected Baxter State Park.
I want to correct some misconceptions by commenters.
Assuming that because these lands were accessible and relatively intact in the past ignores what has been happening in the Maine Woods in recent decades. Ownership of almost the entire region has changed hands in the last 25 years. The old-style timber and paper companies are almost totally gone, mostly replaced with speculators and real-estate development firms based far from Maine.
The largest Maine landowner today is J.D. Irving Ltd., a Canadian privately held company known for its intensive industrial logging practices. One of the other largest owners is Weyerhaeuser Inc., based in Seattle — which recently bought out Plum Creek Corporation — a company that is also notorious for unsustainable logging in the West. These companies have no long-term interest in protecting the Maine Woods or allowing public access. In fact, they are proposing major new real-estate developments, open-pit mines, and other industrial activities that will degrade and reduce public access.
If the current trajectory continues, it is only a matter of time before all the lakes, streams, scenic views, and other desireable lands in the Maine Woods are acquired by development interests and posted as off-limits to the public. The only way to ensure long-term protection of the area's ecological integrity and public access and recreational use is through public acquisition of the most important parts of the region and designation of new national parks and other protected lands.
Regarding the idea of adding the land to Baxter State Park, this was not an option. The state does not want more lands to care for, especially with the state government run by anti-environmental Governor Paul LePage. Moreover, the Quimby family did not want to just add their lands to Baxter Park. This would have little or no benefit in helping to boost the local economy, a major goal of their protection efforts. Baxter is beautiful, but it is virtually unknown outside Maine and even with an expansion would not draw significant numbers of new visitors.
Also, Baxter is well-protected overall, but it is not all wilderness. About 14 percent of the park allows logging and 25 percent of the park allwows hunting and trapping http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/about/history.htm. Snowmobiling is allowed on Baxter's Tote Road http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/outdoors/snowmobile.htm. So Baxter is similar to the new National Monument in the way most of it is managed, and even less protected in the case of the area open to logging.
The state doesn't run Baxter State Park and they have no authority over it. Baxter Park does have logging, but this was included in the original charter and they do this for forest scientific reasons, not to make money.
Thanks for the information, Michael. And for the ongoing work of RESTORE.