H.C. Haynes Co., a land owner and forestry company that holds lands mixed in with those belonging to the state, Baxter State Park and Roxanne Quimby, is mad at Jimmy Busque, Millinocket town councilor, about comments made against the lumber company. Herbert C. Haynes Jr. wrote a letter to the town of Millinocket demanding an apology from Busque or it may discontinue allowing snowmobilers access to his land where currently a trail exists.
This really is nothing more than continued repercussions from the controversial and underhanded dealings by the Baldacci administration in acquiring the Katahdin Lake parcel of land to add to Baxter State Park.
Busque has not supported the land swap, nor does he advocate the land grabbing and closing of lands by Roxanne Quimby. The comments that he made came recently at a town council meeting in which they were discussing the recent purchase of land by Quimby, land evidently owned by Haynes.
He then accused Haynes of having “totally stripped the parcel of land there [of trees]. It should never have happened and he used our tax dollars to do it, to strip it, rape it, and sold it to somebody who will never allow access or management of it again.”
Haynes said in his letter that these and other comments from the past are slanderous to his company. Town officials say the councilor has a right to speak his mind but agree that perhaps his methods aren’t conducive to good relations with landowners. Busque has no plans to apologize.
Haynes made the point that he and his company “….comply with all rules and regulations which apply to our industry and employ foresters to supervise our forestry activities,”. This is probably true but that doesn’t always set well with many outdoor sportsmen, like Busque who consider stripping land not good land management.
Obviously Busque is entitled to his opinion and can say as he wishes. The people will decide in the next election whether they think he is serving their best interest. Haynes, as well as other landowners like Gardner and Quimby, have a right to use their land as they see fit. That shouldn’t mean that when they decide to do things to their land that can be perceived as radical, the public isn’t going to speak out against such actions, especially in the Millinocket area where people and businesses seek their livelihoods from the land and forests surrounding their community. When people like Roxanne Quimby move in, buy up several thousand acres of land and shut out the public that has been using those lands, people will become angry.
As I said before, this goes back to the very beginnings of Baldacci’s decision to undertake this land swap behind closed doors. Many feel, and I am one of them, that many land deals were negotiated well ahead of any dealings that directly involved the lands involved in the Baxter land swap. It may very well be that between our own Department of Conservation, Gardner Land Co., Roxanne Quimby and H.C. Haynes Co. many back door land deals were made that we will never know about. I think some of those “deals” are now showing up – meaning this latest purchase of land by Quimby from Haynes.
So, what lands are next to fall into the hands of land preservationists, further shutting out recreational access to Mainers? I said a long time ago, it would take several months, perhaps years, before we would begin to see all of the underhanded results of Baldacci’s secret negotiations. And this is only one of them.
Tom Remington
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