{"id":1313,"date":"2015-10-19T01:07:39","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T08:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/?p=1313"},"modified":"2015-10-13T15:56:25","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T22:56:25","slug":"new-national-park-for-maine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/featured\/new-national-park-for-maine\/","title":{"rendered":"New National Park for Maine?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maine<\/p>\n

Roxanne Quimby is a successful businesswoman, most noted for co-founding Bert’s Bees personal care products company, a philanthropist and conservation advocate. \u00a0When she sold Bert’s Bees, she purchased 120,000 acres of forested land in Maine. \u00a0Now she would like to donate 70,000 acres of that land to the citizens of the United States as a contribution for\u00a0the Maine Woods National Park. \u00a0Another 30,000 acres would be managed more like a state park and allow more consumptive uses, like hunting.\u00a0Her proposal could be\u00a0a tiny start to a much larger National Park and would be located on the east side of Baxter State Park.<\/p>\n

The overall proposed National Park would total 3.2 million acres, larger than Yellowstone and Yosemite combined. \u00a0It would encompass a huge portion of north-central Maine and surround Baxter State Park<\/a>, the home of Mt.\u00a0Katahdin\u00a0and the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. \u00a0The idea has been in development for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n

The Controversy –\u00a0Public vs Private Land<\/h1>\n

While the proposal seems to be generally supported across Maine there is strong resistance from industry and business groups as well as certain recreation groups that would like the land to stay in private hands. \u00a0Local residents have voted in strong opposition to the park proposal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Public Land<\/h3>\n

Quimby once told Yankee Magazine<\/em>: \u201cTo me, ownership and private property were the beginning of the end in this country. Once the Europeans came in, drawing lines and dividing things up, things started getting exploited and over-consumed. But a park takes away the whole issue of ownership. It\u2019s off the table; we all own it and we all share it. It\u2019s so democratic.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Private Land<\/h3>\n

Bob Meyers, executive director of the Maine Snowmobile Association, said:\u00a0\u201cHistory shows that once the National Park Service takes control of land, the boundaries continue to grow, as do restrictions on commercial development and recreational activities. \u00a0For generations, Maine\u2019s large landowners have managed their lands for sustainable wood harvesting, while also allowing public access for an endless variety of recreational activities. It\u2019s a tradition that is unique in the U.S. and has served Maine well. We don\u2019t need the federal government taking control of our lands and our future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Controversy – Jobs<\/h1>\n

The main source of jobs and value of this area in the past has been associated with forest products.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Park Proponents<\/h3>\n
\"Moosehead

Moosehead Lake Postcard<\/p><\/div>\n

Proponents of the park argue that there have been huge declines in mills and associated employment over the years and the the forest products industry only employs about 5% of the people in the region of the park now. \u00a0They quote\u00a0Michael Hillard, an economist at the University of Southern Maine, as saying: \u201cMost of southern Maine is prospering while most of northern Maine is languishing. Northern counties have seen their manufacturing jobs go away and nothing has moved in to replace them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Proponents, naturally, \u00a0see the\u00a0solution as creation of the National Park. \u00a0Not only is this said to increase the number of relatively low wage jobs associated with recreation and tourism services, but would also attract industries with higher skilled and higher paying jobs to the region. \u00a0Lucas St. Clair, Quimby’s son, has said about her donation: “It’s a $100 million investment in a region that needs it\u00a0and there’s no other investment on the table.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Park Opponents<\/h3>\n

The Maine Woods Coalition says: “The 2013 Report on Maine\u2019s Forest Economy produced by the Maine Forest Products Council states that the forest industry contributes more than $8 billion to the economy of the state and 1 of every 20 jobs in Maine is related to the wood products industry. According to the Maine Office of Tourism, the typical overnight visitor to our region spends $85\/day. To make up for the loss of productivity of locking up 3.2 million acres of forestland, a National Park would have to bring 11.6 million ADDITIONAL tourists to the region. ” \u00a0Whether the numbers are correct or not, at least the number of those employed in forest products industries matches.<\/p>\n

\"Saddleback

Saddleback Mountain
By Marqqq (Own work) [GFDL<\/a> or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0<\/a>], via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/p><\/div>Is an additional 11.6 million visitors plausible? Yellowstone, for example, drew 3.5 million visitors in 2014. \u00a0While the Maine woods has a much larger population base in the northeastern U.S., it would probably be a stretch to draw that many visitors with a more rustic area lacking the unique features of Yellowstone. \u00a0 Nonetheless, the reality of drawing 11.6 million tourists does not seem to be\u00a0the issue, but rather the impact those tourists would have on the communities and lifestyles of the people living in the area. \u00a0In most cases, it’s really difficult to replace manufacturing jobs with equivalent recreation and tourism jobs in terms of income. \u00a0The result is likely to be more low-wage jobs and not enough of those jobs to replace the total income generated by the forest products industry.<\/p>\n

Opponents say:\u00a0“A\u00a0diversification of the economy, seeking a balance between manufacturing and ‘high-tech’ industry and the service jobs related to tourism will best strengthen the region”<\/p>\n

The Controversy – Cost<\/h1>\n

In the broader discussion of National Parks in the U.S., some point to the declining condition of park facilities and argue for increased funding. \u00a0Others argue that those current financial needs\u00a0suggest that the country can’t afford more National Parks.<\/p>\n

More Information<\/h1>\n

Proponents:<\/strong> \u00a0RESTORE: The North Woods<\/a><\/p>\n

Opponents:<\/strong> \u00a0Maine Woods Coalition<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What Do You Think?<\/h1>\n

If you are reading this in an email, hop over to the original blog post<\/a>\u00a0and use the comment section at the bottom to offer your take on this proposal. \u00a0Should the Maine Woods National Park become a reality? \u00a0Why or why not?<\/p>\n

Please Share<\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roxanne Quimby is a successful businesswoman, most noted for co-founding Bert’s Bees personal care products company, a philanthropist and conservation advocate. \u00a0When she sold Bert’s Bees, she purchased 120,000 acres of forested land in Maine. \u00a0Now she would like to donate 70,000 acres of that land to the citizens of the United States as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,23,25,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-philosophy","category-policy","category-situations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1327,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions\/1327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}