Today, the Bangor Daily News editorial staff published an opinion piece about Maine needing to continue talking about public land and land use issues. The article brings up some good points in which I would in theory agree with some of their ideas but I think once again they have fallen short of telling the entire story.
How can we expect the people of Maine to make decisions about public land purchases and access issues when they are not being told all the facts? I don’t want to sound like I am beating a dead horse here, but the problems began back when the Baldacci administration decided to negotiate a secret agreement involving the Baxter land swap. Because everything wasn’t above board and discussions and details were kept under raps and still are, there begins to develop a “burn me once, burn me twice” situation.
I will always assert that the Baxter land swap deal was a very poor business deal and does not benefit the majority of Maine residents directly or indirectly. I have stated my reasons thoroughly (click on the category for Baxter Land Swap). We now own 6,000 acres and it’s time to move on and deal with the cards we have been dealt, learn from our mistakes and work toward improving things for the betterment of Maine. I would challenge Governor Balcacci, that from this point forward, let’s cease with the secret negotiations and be up front and honest about everything. The residents of Maine deserve that.
Let’s first address the land access issue involving the newly acquired 2,000 acres, which was the northern chunk of land that came with the Katahdin Lake parcel. In a so-called compromised deal, 4,000 acres became restricted use while the 2,000 was for general use. All well and good until Roxanne Quimby purchased 25,000 acres to the south of the Katahdin Lake parcel effectively land locking the 2,000 acres. I have yet to prove it but looking closely as the time line of the Baxter deal, including the timing of the Legislature’s vote to approve the deal, the secret negotiators knew before the vote that Quimby was planning to buy the 25,000 acres. They withheld this information until after the compromise vote was reached. Had legislators know this fact, how would they have voted? We’ll never know.
To counter Quimby’s purchase which blocked access to not only the northern 2,000 acres but also much of the newly purchased Katahdin Lake piece, Baldacci announced he would build a road across public land to access private roads that lead to points within the entire 6,000 acres. What wasn’t shared with the public is the fact that the owners of those private roads, although generous to allow public access, have no intentions of granting any right-of-way or easements over the land they own. It wasn’t spelled out but those land owners indicated that should the right price be offered they would sell, cut and run. Should Roxanne Quimby decide to negotiate a sale of that land, the Maine citizens would be left looking like a bunch of fools. Don’t discard the idea that Quimby isn’t negotiating something. She is selling four of her 5 prime real estate holdings in Florida worth several million.
Maine residents should as the BDN says, continue talking about land purchase and land access when they know the truth. It is much easier to deal with truths than bad information. The BDN points out that the Trust for Public Lands, the entity that handled the fund raising for the Baxter land swap, has an option to purchase 8,000 acres adjacent to the 25,000 acres recent purchased by Quimby. This may be true but the State of Maine has that option as well, unless of course we are all being lied to again.
If this land is available, Maine should exhaust every avenue to purchase it if for nothing more than a bargaining chip. If we don’t get it, Quimby will, further squeezing Maine residents out of access to land they own. No more land swaps and secret deals. Let’s purchase the land outright.
Quimby has stated that she will allow the snowmobilers and ATVers to use the trails across her land until September of 2007. This will hopefully give them time to relocate their trails. This has been an opportunity for outdoor groups to get their foot in the door with Quimby. Perhaps further talks will lead to something more productive.
We need to openly discuss land access and land purchase issues in Maine but there needs to be some fence mending and some revision of tactics being employed by the Baldacci administration. At this juncture, why would hunters, trappers, snowmobilers and ATV riders be interested in approving further land acquisitions? How are they to know what secret deals Baldacci has made? This brings us to the burn me twice syndrome.
Perhaps George Smith, Executive Director for the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, had it right when he suggested that we should just put all 6,000 acres of the land into Baxter State Park and take the $5.5 million realized from the sale of Maine public lands and find land somewhere else to buy in the Millinocket area. As I said, the only reason to buy the 8,000 acres next to Quimby is to use for leverage and/or a bargaining chip. Other than that, let’s not keep investing in land that will end up being worthless simply for the sake of preservation.
The other issue that needs real scrutiny is the $5.5 million that Maine got from selling about 7,400 acres of prime land. Maine law states two things when dealing with public lands. Any sale or negotiations of public lands have to be approved by a 2/3 vote of the Legislature. This is why the Maine Legislature had to approve the Baxter land deal. The law also states there will be no net loss of land. What that means is if the state should sell or trade any land, it has to be replaced with at least the same amount of land of equal or greater value AND it needs to be replaced geographically as close to the parcels being sold or traded.
We gave up 7,400 acres of land. That had an appraised value of $5.5 million. It is imperative that Maine residents demand exact accounting of every penny of the $5.5 million and what parcels of land it intends to buy to replace the ones sold. Don’t believe for one minute that this administration will abide by the laws of this state. They don’t have a very good track record.
In essence, I agree with the BDN editorial that we need to keep talking and working toward more and improved public lands with greater access with multiple uses. The only difference between my idea and their idea is I think those negotiations need to be done after knowing all the facts.
Tom Remington
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