I’ve taken you through a process that began perhaps as early as 2003, shortly after John Baldacci took office as Govenor of Maine. To my knowledge it culminated at a meeting on October 18, 2005. We need to make sure that no other meeting of this make up ever happens again in Maine.

Through my series on the Backcountry Project, I was at times harsh and most times critical. My investigation has only created a long list of questions and very few answers. Let’s begin with the questions.

Whose idea was the Backcountry Project?
What was its original goal?
How did Kendall Foundation get involved?
How many meetings were there between Kendall and DOC?
How does all this relate, if at all, to Roxanne Quimby?
How does this relate to the Baxter Land Swap?
Is Roxanne Quimby a major player in the Backcountry Project plans?
Is Backcountry Project related to RESTORE?
Do they share commone goals?
Have they met and what was discussed?
Was there really only one meeting of the Peer-Review Group?
Are there meetings still going on?
How is DOC explaining to Kendall about the use of $35,000 in grant money if the Project has stopped?
Is the progress of MBP related to this year’s elections in November?
Was all the information made available in the FOIA request?
Who attended other meetings concerning MBP?
Will the meetings start up again?
Is BPL still working as planned to have 3 projects going at once?
Is the MBP still operating secretly?

As you can see the list can be endless. I would like the answers to these questions but I don’t expect that I’ll ever get them. Maine people need to bond together to make sure groups like this aren’t ordained by the governor and allowed to flourish. These actions are not good for Maine. Shutting down massive amounts of lands is a bad as opening it all up to ATV traffic.

There’s a better way. Maine sits at a crossroads. The book they are in has had this chapter written many times before. Some people think Maine is the first to experience loss of wilderness and public access to lands. Not true, it’s just that Maine has been lagging behind other states in this.

Maine people have to drop the attitude that we don’t need to protect our lands. The major land owners of these woods may not be here tomorrow. Maine already show signs of major sellouts. Real estate sales have boomed over the last few years and even though that has tailed off some, right now there are no significant indications it will stop.

Maine’s land is valuable but what can and what should we do about it?

Maine lags most states in the amount of public lands that it owns. This is mostly for two reasons. One reason is that Maine can’t afford it and the other is we have been spoiled over the years by having the generousity of private landowners and large timber and paper companies keeping their land open. There hasn’t been a need. The landscape is changing.

Not all the land that Maine owns or will buy in the future can and should be managed in the same ways. Some is ideal for some things while other parcels are better for something completely different.

Should Maine have wilderness lands? Absolutely and there is a need and a demand but there has to be balance. Before this Backcountry Project was put together, knowledgeable people should have sat down and come up with a set of standards in which the state of Maine can use for buying and managing public lands. These knowledgeable people have to come from a complete cross-section of its people.

This group would be given the task of determining how much public lands the state should buy based on price, affordability and the pace at which we are losing our open lands. They would also be charged with making a determination as to what percentage of our public lands need to be managed as wilderness, ATV use, snowmobile, hunting, fishing, etc.. This would be based on several factors and would be subject to change on a continuing basis because of need and ever changing dynamics.

Maine has wilderness designated lands now – Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Baxter State Park, to name two. Both those entities are being managed directly or indirectly through the state because they are large parcels. The AWW is undergoing some changes with how it is managed. This may help in determining how to better manage our other wilderness lands of the future.

If the demand for wilderness lands grows at a rapid pace, then Maine would need to change its buying and management practices to meet that need. If our large tracks of forest lands keep shrinking, then if Maine residents want to keep that land as is, they have to find a way to get it done.

Putting together a group whose only objectives are to find perspective wilderness lands, buy it and protect it, is short sighted and selfishly motivated. That doesn’t mean conservation groups shouldn’t be allowed to participate in the process of managing public lands. On the same token, ATV users shouldn’t be excluded nor should hunters, fishermen, hikers, bikers, snowmobile riders, etc. etc. All these things are part of what makes Maine what it is.

Once Maine has determined at what pace it can afford to buy lands and how much of it needs be managed in what ways to meet the demands of Maine citizens, then and only then can land be effectively listed as potential for protection.

The bottom line is maintaining a balance in an ever changing and demanding world. It’s not an easy task but one that has to be done. We cannot rush to buy up and shut down land merely for the sake of staving off land developers and/or mechanized recreation. Every little aspect of Maine’s economy, infrastructure and her people have to be considered.

At what expense do we save the last parcel of open land?

*Previous Posts*

Maine Backcountry Project – Meeting Minutes Part IV
Maine Backcountry Project – Meeting Minutes Part III
Maine Backcountry Project – Meeting Minutes Part II
Maine Backcountry Project – Meeting Minutes Part I
Grant For BackCountry Project Approved
Question Five – Who’s Going To Pay?Question Four – Is $25,000 Enough Money?
Question Three – Peer-Review Group, Who Will It Be?
Job Description – Backcountry Project Director
Integrated Resources Policy Excerpts
Grant Application For Backcountry Project – Question One
The Five Questions – Maine Backcountry Project
Wilderness Planning Initiative For Kendall Foundation – Proposal
Wilderness Planning Initiative For Kendall Foundation – Need
Wilderness Planning Initiative – Backcountry Project

Tom Remington

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