HOULTON, Maine – Wilderness. Everyone holds a different opinion on what wilderness represents. To some it may mean no cell phone service, to others it may mean an untouched landscape with wild animals and challenging terrain. Whatever that meaning may be, at Baxter State Park, wilderness wins over recreation. By not being a state park system, the rules differ; which is why the limit on visitors is a priority to reserve the wilderness feel.
At the Houlton Rotary Club’s Monday, Oct. 21, meeting, Rotarians enjoyed a presentation from Eben Sypitkowski, who is currently the director at Baxter State Park. He was invited by Rotarian Jim Brown to speak at the weekly luncheon. Sypitkowski was previously resource manager and moved to park director in 2018. He is a graduate of Bates College and a graduate of the University of Maine with a master’s degree in forestry.
Baxter State Park was a gift to the state of Maine from Governor Baxter, which he gave over a period of three decades beginning in 1931. He was able to make his own laws about how the park was run, because this was more like a public trust than a park. His gift was made up of three areas: the rugged land, the government structure to govern the rules, and the trust fund to carry on the maintenance and operations of the park without having to put it into the state park authority.
The park is currently 209,644 acres and 201,018 of that game from Governor Percival Baxter himself. Areas of this park did start out as heavily cut or burnt, but through the years it has been returned to its wilderness state.
There are a few things currently being worked on at Baxter. One of them is updating and fixing the Dudley Trail, which the constantly moving mountain decided to block off with a rock slide in 2015.
Communications to visitors is another area they want to improve. Many people don’t realize there is a maximum amount of people they will allow in certain parts of the park at a time, and that day passes are required.
Education on this and also on making it more widely known about the various other activities available nearby could help with local economy and lower disappointment to visitors. They also have a 30,000 acre corner of the park that is set aside for Scientific Forest Management. This is a multi-use model that is forested and maintained and demonstrates an ideal forest. The week of this presentation happened to be Forest Products week.
A beautiful place, a challenging terrain, and a wilderness to experience nature. We are lucky to have it right in our backyards. Thank you Governor Baxter.
