Katahdin Lake

Today, Maine will release the news about Katahdin Lake being added to Baxter State Park.

The State will have to come up with $14 million but the land swap was already brokered a few months back and is now being handled by the Trust for Public Land.

The most interesting question to will be what happens to Katahdin Lake Wilderness Camps??? Will it remain a backcountry facility, unaccessible by roads or will they shut it down, or has Gardiner built a road right to it in the last year?

anyway you shake it, this is good news!

as a frequent lambaster of Quimby, I applaud all the parties involved on this deal: Quimby, Gardiner, and the State.

keep your eyes on the Bangor Daily for the article later this morning.

spencer

Sweet! That is good news.

An article's up now:
http://www.bangordailynews.com/news/templates/?a=127666

and another slightly different one from the KJ:
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/2362996.shtml

The Trust for Public Land has bought an option to buy Katahdin Lake and 6,000 acres on Baxter State Park’s eastern boundary from Gardner with the idea of donating it to the Authority. Looks like good news to me -- apparently Gardner was going to start harvesting the timber off certain stands.

Up for East Turner from the east, Spencer?

Another article here.

http://www.meepi.org/files06/pa012406.htm

From the meepi article, well worth a read so I won't quote at too much length:

- the Katahdin Lake parcel will be managed as wilderness, as is most of the park

- the deed to the park will be encumbered by a lease to Katahdin Lake Wilderness Camps; legal issues remain regarding how long, but at least until 2010, possibly much longer

- FitzGerald of KLWC wants to eliminate float planes

- two private inholdings on the lake north of the camps

- legislature must approve with 2/3 majority the transfer of public reserved lands to Gardner to complete the swap, then must buy new PRLs

Ah, news from the homeland....In the 70's, 80's and 90's my family ran a sporting camp on the other side of the mountain (Frost Pond), so we occasionally went in and visited Katahdin Lake Camps. The folks who owned it were very nice people, but they had an ornery mule to help haul supplies in. The mule ran my sister under the clothesline and dumped her when she tried to ride it backwards. It was a pretty neat spot. I haven't heard much about the place since. Does anyone know what land is being traded to Gardner?

Another article today:
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/statehouse/060126baxter.shtml

This one focuses on issues relating to traditional sportsman activities. For example, hunting will not be allowed on the parcel once it is merged into the park. Argument is that hunters will benefit because the state will buy (and open to hunting) an equal area of land that would be more productive of game than old-growth.