twigeater said:
...There actually are other alternatives besides a National Park that many people are more open to.
It comes down to money Twig. No one's got that kind of cash except the Feds and Roxanne Quimby
Seems like no native Mainers or groups - least wise the state - can put up any real $$. All I hear is taxes are too high already. The Nature Conservancy has done a good bit with the Saint John's watershed but now they have their own problems.
For years people have been in denial on this pont, believing that hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, camping, etc. on the paper companies' land would last forever. Guess what - the paper companies don't give a s***t about traditional uses and the "old" way of life. They want to cash out.
Time is running out. In 20 years the best will be gone. If any of these "alternatives besides a National Park" are viable, I wish they would come alive soon.
You have two models in the north east that from my perspective are reasonably successful, though hardly perfect: The NY State owned and administerd Adirondaks and the USFS Whites and Greens. Too late for the New York model in Maine with such a low tax base, so look at the NH or VT model long and hard and maybe swallow some nativist pride.
Remember (from the history books) the outcry (from private industray and politicians alike) in the early 20th century when the USFS and the Whites came in to being. IT was a stretch (based on the commerce clause of the US constitution with the specious argument the the rivers of NH somehow were part of interstate commerce) that it even passed constitutional muster.
Think what the Whites or Greens would be like today without the USFS running the place - say if it had been left in the hands of the timber industry (think condominiums, resorts, etc. everywhere), then translate that to Maine 20 years from now.
It's time to get involved.
Rg
