http://dirtbagdiaries.com/endangered-spaces-katahdin-woods-waters/
I don't know how these things happen, but one stumbles upon something, in this case, several people pointed me towards it, and I have become addicted to a podcast called The Dirtbag Diaries.
If you listen to postcasts, and you haven't discovered this one yet, please let it be my gift to you. In any event, the link to the most recent episode above is about getting Katahdin Woods into a federal monument status, and it is simply beautiful. It's nuanced, and uncovers much of what goes on in ways we don't typically see.
The donor (who founded Burt's Bees), simply thought she would be able to donate the land, and that everyone would welcome the park. The podcast shows a more complicated picture, where the land had previously been owned by local paper mill, which let locals snowmobile and hunt and rent cabins ("camps") at below-market prices, and along came an out-of-towner who ended the snowmobiles and the hunting and jacked up the rents, and then folks began to worry about what would happen when the feds came in. Thus, there was initially a lot of local opposition (plus the governor), and the podcast does a nice job of exploring the initial opposition and then how things got turned around to where a majority of locals came to support the park. They do a very nice job of listening to local voices.
If you've listened to this podcast, or you do listen to it, I would love to have a conversation about it.
Enjoy!
All the best,
Brian
p.s. If you're new to The Dirtbag Diaries, they're free on the iTunes store. The podcast just turned 10, and after listening to some of the most recent ones (which are very polished) I recommend starting at the beginning and working your way forward, just to see how far the show comes.
I don't know how these things happen, but one stumbles upon something, in this case, several people pointed me towards it, and I have become addicted to a podcast called The Dirtbag Diaries.
If you listen to postcasts, and you haven't discovered this one yet, please let it be my gift to you. In any event, the link to the most recent episode above is about getting Katahdin Woods into a federal monument status, and it is simply beautiful. It's nuanced, and uncovers much of what goes on in ways we don't typically see.
The donor (who founded Burt's Bees), simply thought she would be able to donate the land, and that everyone would welcome the park. The podcast shows a more complicated picture, where the land had previously been owned by local paper mill, which let locals snowmobile and hunt and rent cabins ("camps") at below-market prices, and along came an out-of-towner who ended the snowmobiles and the hunting and jacked up the rents, and then folks began to worry about what would happen when the feds came in. Thus, there was initially a lot of local opposition (plus the governor), and the podcast does a nice job of exploring the initial opposition and then how things got turned around to where a majority of locals came to support the park. They do a very nice job of listening to local voices.
If you've listened to this podcast, or you do listen to it, I would love to have a conversation about it.
Enjoy!
All the best,
Brian
p.s. If you're new to The Dirtbag Diaries, they're free on the iTunes store. The podcast just turned 10, and after listening to some of the most recent ones (which are very polished) I recommend starting at the beginning and working your way forward, just to see how far the show comes.
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