The huge building: An allegory

To the editor:
    In this medium-sized community there was a very large building. On the west side were the large windows looking out at the beautiful Mount Katahdin and surrounding mountains and a small pond, making it an ideal setting for an artist. It also made a very pleasant atmosphere for the offices where people worked. They were well-equipped with tools of their trade. They earned a good paycheck each week. This building has many corridors for walking and recreation to get their exercise. The workers made a good living and contributed to making a prosperous community.
    This morning the office workers came to work and there was a bar across the door locked down with a big lock. A sign that said “only those with a key will be admitted.” This was a permanent notice. It prevented these office workers from going to their offices to earn their living as they had for years.
    The proposed National Park as proposed by the persistent Mrs. Honey Bee and her partner Miss Jelliebean from Cape Gotcha would seem to fit this scenario. One of the artists would be willing to hang one of her pictures in the offices in lieu of paying any taxes. It is easy for the urban population to understand the consequences of an office building to be locked and the workers barred from entrance to earn their paycheck. It appears not so easy for them to see the consequences of a large parcel of land being created as a National Park.
    This essentially shuts out the lumberman from earning his paycheck … his good-sized paycheck. The lumber business has been the spin off for the manufacturing and sales of the very high-priced equipment that is used in harvesting the forest. Skidders costing $150,000 or more, the chains for the tires for these skidders now are priced around $11,000 and only last about two years. The large trucks with their trailers must cost close to $200,000. Anyone that visited the forestry show at Bass Park last fall could not help but be impressed with the productivity of this equipment.
    We need the vast forest of Maine as a place to work this equipment and to harvest our forest in such a manner that it will supply the needs of the industry in a sustainable way. We have some very good parks at the present time. We do not need any more. The landowners of the past have been very cooperative of allowing access to their land for fishing, hunting, snowmobiling and camping. It has been less restrictive than the parks.
    For the good of northern Maine let’s not establish a National Park.
Bev Rand
Island Falls