ASHLAND, Maine — A proposed national park was the topic of a public forum, held April 22 at Ashland District School. Panelists sharing their views on the matter included: Lucas St. Clair, president of Elliotsville Plantation Inc. which is proposing creation of a national park and national recreation area in the Katahdin region; Bob Meyers, executive director of the Maine Snowmobile Association; Jim Robbins Sr., consultant and past president of Robbins Lumber Company; and Doug Denico, director, Maine Forest Service. Over 50 attended the event — many from the forestry industry.
St. Clair, son of Roxanne Quimby, spoke first, explaining the proposed park would be up to 150,000 acres, with half earmarked for a national park and the remainder for a national recreation area. The park would be located adjacent to Baxter State Park.
“We feel a recreation area is an important component. It incorporates local/traditional use of land and is important to the local economy,” said St. Clair. “Hunting’s also an important piece of (the state’s) heritage. We know we’ll have to allow in places.”
He said snowmobiling would also be allowed in perpetuity.
“Ridership is up in Maine. Connectivity is important. We’ve legislated for permanent connectivity,” he said.
With regard to forestry in the area, St. Clair said there would be there would be “sustained forestry in the park but not on the rec side.”
“Visitors’ centers and other buildings will be constructed using Maine lumber,” he said. “Right of ways will also be guaranteed. It will be a requirement that the Park Service respect the timber industry in the region.”
St. Clair said creation of the park would bring much-needed jobs to the area — up to 1,000 direct and indirect. He said Acadia National Park gets about 2.5 million visitors annually. He anticipated about 10 percent or 250,000 of those would venture to the new park each year.
“We’re committed to the people in the Katahdin region and northern Maine. I sincerely hope everyone can continue working together and refining legislation (for the park),” said St. Clair.
Meyers followed, with an overview of the snowmobiling industry in Maine. He questioned whether a national park was “the way to go.”
He said there are four criteria to determine if a site would make a good national park.
• Is an outstanding example of a particular type of resource;
• It possesses exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the natural or cultural themes of our nation’s heritage;
• It offers superlative opportunities for recreation for public use and enjoyment for scientific study; and
• It retains a high degree of integrity as a true, accurate and relatively unspoiled example of the resource.
“I have a hard time believing the proposed site rises to the level of national park,” said Meyers.
“It would be an ongoing process. When you have parks, they reach out and expand. It would affect wildlife, air quality issues. This is not the way to go,” said Meyers.
Next to speak was Robbins, who shared a list of 20 reasons not to support a national park.
His list began with the fact the site “lacks the spectacular beauty of other parks” with no “natural attractions to draw people.”
Robbins said it would be swapping jobs in the forestry sector that pay better for lower-paying and often seasonal jobs.
“It would be a fire and disease danger. National parks don’t believe in fighting insects, fire or diseases. Fires don’t stop at a boundary, nor do spruce bud worms. If we don’t control them, we set ourselves up for disaster,” said Robbins.
He said there would be a loss in local taxes paid. In addition, Robbins said with Baxter next door, there wouldn’t be enough of an attraction at a national park to create as many jobs as St. Clair indicated. “You’d replace forest industry jobs with seasonal.”
“There’s the danger of expansion. You start with a 75,000 acre footprint, but it’s a cancer that grows as parcels become available,” he said.
Robbins said Millinocket was “a prime site for a mill, with great potential.
“The Golden Road ends there. They have rail and an interested and willing workforce. But if you take away the lumber supply and limit emissions, that reduces the chances of a mill being located there,” he said.
He reminded those in attendance of what happened at Acadia last year when the federal government ran out of money.
“They shut down Acadia,” said Robbins. “One reason Baxter was formed was they didn’t want the federal government in the state.”
He said the creation of “buffer strips” would “take that much more timber from production.” He said there would be “loss of access for hunting and snowmobiling.”
He foresees price hikes to access fees to favorite national parks in coming years.
“They say they have a plan but I haven’t seen one yet. Acadia has a lot to offer but this proposed park doesn’t,” he said. Robbins said he’d like to see a conservation easement established as well.
He questioned whether this would be a “high-use park” like Acadia, with all kinds of hotels and restaurants, or would it be a “wilderness park.” He said emissions could be an issue, given the proximity to Baxter and air regulations limiting operation to a limited number of hours each year.
“Don’t think access won’t be shut off or landowners won’t lose access. Quimby has already shut off, causing some to become willing sellers,” said Robbins.
He said there’s already “too much park land” in the nation and as population increases, “we’ll need our resources.”
“As the world’s population grows, we can’t be tying up lead for singular uses,” he said.
He called the federal government “pool land managers,” citing the many locales he’d visited that vegetation was either dead, dying or burned out.
Robbins said the bottom line is “we can’t afford another park, while businesses are laying off and we can’t maintain roads.”
Denico rounded out the speakers. He discussed the state’s forestry and harvesting methods.
“We process more than we harvest. Maine imports to keep the mills running. Hardly a week goes by without inquiry — people wanting to come to Maine to manufacture new products from wood. It’s unbelievable how many calls we get and the interest in using our forests,” he said.
Denico, who also serves as a Baxter authority, said he was “perplexed by the number of people St. Clair estimated would visit a national park.”
“Such an influx of people — what would we do with them — a tsunami of people,” said Denico. “We don’t have much wiggle room to bring more people in, not with our current infrastructure.”
Audience members then had the opportunity to ask questions. Discussion concluded with Meyers talking about snowmobiling being allowed at Acadia and how several years ago President Clinton, by executive order, prohibited snowmobiling in all national parks. A couple years later the decision was rescinded by President Bush. “That’s an example of what happens when we lose control to the federal government,” said Meyers.
St. Clair said an executive can’t trump legislation, thus snowmobiling would be allowed in the proposed park forever. Audience members were quick to respond that nothing trumps an executive order.
For more information on the proposed national park, email St. Clair at Lucas@elliotsvilleplantation.org.
