Maine’s economy is under greater threat today than it has been in many years. Multiple groups and various economists have been busy analyzing and predicting the trends, and the ensuing debates about solutions and recovery strategies won’t cease anytime soon. What usually isn’t included in the discussions is how Maine will deal with the growing global impact upon its local economy, likely the single-most important factor to its economic future.
Maine’s two principal generators of “income from away” are the tourism and forest products sectors, both of which have long been recognized as critically important. The paper products sub-sector tends to draw the most attention as state government must regularly get involved with producers to protect the valuable employment and revenue streams at stake. The state’s relatively high tax rates and energy costs haven’t helped but neither has chronic underinvestment by the paper companies themselves.
The state’s tourism sector doesn’t generally get the same level of attention, its many advocates notwithstanding. Decision-makers may still view it as a cottage industry of sorts, perhaps unaware of the sector’s enormous untapped potential.
Maine features an impressive inventory of natural attractions and comparatively good weather but its tourism infrastructure remains under-developed and its marketing efforts underfunded. Unlike its international competition Maine offers few resorts capable of handling large numbers of vacationers looking for all-inclusive fam-ily accommodations. Such projects serve to generate large, mostly contained visitor flows, which can boost local economic performance across wide fronts, including air services and public infrastructure. Seasonal and year-round residency options are often part of the concept. Environmentalists may bristle at the prospect initially but the types of facilities involved tend to be highly clustered and generate far less environmental impact than the more spread-out types of development Maine has traditionally experienced.
Maine’s geographical location and border configuration have long conspired to place the state at an economic disadvantage, but ongoing reductions in trade barriers and shifts in global trading and shipping patterns are now creating new opportunities in international marketing, the source of Maine’s original economic success. Given the current momentum of globalization, it is highly unlikely that Maine could re-establish long-term economic stability absent determined pursuits in international commerce, including markedly increased levels of inward investment. With its steadily declining industrial production and ever-growing consumer imports, the state has little choice but to explore any and all trade opportunities within reach.
The economy north of Portland has been long held captive by I-95, with few goods entering or leaving the state any other way. To grow its trade, Maine will need additional pathways, including more effective use of its seaports, airports and east-west rail and road connections. As the closest part of the U.S. to Europe and to At-lantic shipping routes, Maine has a viable chance of attracting new transport services and the revitalization that they can bring. The occasionally heard argument that Maine would end up merely a doormat for commercial interests elsewhere bucks all evidence to the contrary. Wherever shipping activities occur, local economic mo-mentum soon spools up. Furthermore, without new shipping options and activities Maine’s paper mills and railroads cannot reverse their recent slides, a significant economic threat in itself.
Most Mainers highly value their natural environment but most also believe that economic development and environmental stewardship can go hand-in-hand. Solutions are often found in pragmatic compromises by which both environmental and developmental objectives can be responsibly matched and managed. In populated settings especially, sustainable environmental strategies and workable development ambitions must be intertwined, because whenever residents are pushed to the brink of economic distress the environment inevitably suffers.
The environmental community deserves full credit for pushing its agenda to the point where its interests can never again be ignored. But it should be equally obvious that no society can survive when citizens are denied viable employment opportunities and that Maine must have both economic growth as well as environmental protection.
Maine is neither Labrador nor Massachusetts; it is a uniquely beautiful state with a rich and versatile history in trade, tourism, farming, forestry, industrial inventiveness, artistic achievement and care for its natural assets. To keep it that way the state’s economy must be managed to at least serve and support all of its relatively small population. That shouldn’t be nearly as hard as it is so often made to look.
Bob Ziegelaar is president of Bangor-based Telford Aviation Inc. and has been involved in international business throughout his career.