Park and recreation
I have closely watched the effort underway to create a national park and recreation area in the Katahdin area. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the land that is proposed for donation by Elliotsville Plantation, Inc., and it helped me get a better sense of what this park might look like. I was surprised to find a system of dirt roads, hiking trails, campsites and several cabins already in place on the land. EPI has said this land is open and people should come use it. When I visited, I saw they really mean it.
In addition to a gravel loop road that runs through the property, the area that would be designated as a national recreation area — roughly 75,000 acres east of the East Branch of the Penobscot River — is home to a number of trails for snowmobile use. These trails are open now and will remain so permanently after the creation of a national park and recreation area. If this land becomes a national park and recreation area, the improvements in place would be greatly expanded.
For now, visitors can get a sense of what that park would look like. I hope, for the health of our northern Maine residents, we can pull together to make it a reality.
Alice White
Falmouth
Charity questions
The Bangor Daily News asked, in the Oct. 27 edition, why Mainers rank near the bottom nationally in charitable giving and noted that our average income lags behind other states. Also, many who give may not itemize on their tax forms, meaning they don’t show up in statistical measures. Yet another factor may just be that we in the Pine Tree State want to make sure our money is spent wisely.
Most charities — local, national and world-wide — do a lot of good for the hungry, the sick and the unfortunate, but some do not spend their funds according to what is, or should be, their purpose. Simply put, the executives of several organizations are far overpaid for what might be termed charitable aims. Pay for top positions may be $200,000, $400,000 and even over $1 million — not to mention all the perks that go with the job but that individual donors pay out of pocket.
Sure, these executives work hard. They could vie for high-paying spots in the corporate world, and they could run for Congress. They need to keep up with their peers. Yet don’t they understand the word charity. Cutting their compensation by a few thousand or a few hundred thousand would go a long way for the causes they supposedly represent.
For example, United Way of Eastern Maine Executive Director John Kuropchak earns a reasonable $80,000 or so. The president of the national United Way, though, makes over $1 million a year. The organization claims its purpose is for “public benefit,” and it may do good in Maine, but I wonder whom it benefits most. I expect many others in our state ask the same question.
Steve Colhoun
Addison
Hickox support
I would like to express my brief but heartfelt support for Kaci Hickox and say that instead of treating her like an irresponsible child we (and our governor) should be celebrating an exemplary Mainer — someone with the courage and sense of responsibility to offer her professional services to people in need. Anyone who has the ability and knowledge to work with Doctors Without Borders in this dangerous situation is surely able to negotiate and abide by sensible safeguards — for herself and the people around her. She is entirely right to reject absurd and insulting restrictions imposed upon her without regard to science or sense.
I would like to think we are better than the hysterics who have overreacted to the — mostly imagined — threats imposed by health workers returning from West Africa and that we could address this issue in a reasonable way that respects the people involved.
Claire Ackroyd
Orono
Roach River update
As an update to stories published recently, we want to share with Bangor Daily News readers actions the Appalachian Mountain Club is taking to mitigate conditions on the Roach River.
We regret that water flow was inadvertently blocked during dam construction, and we are fully committed to working with state agencies on addressing the situation. As soon as we were notified of a dewatering incident, we began pumping water from Second Roach Pond into the Roach River at the direction of the Land Use Planning Commission. More recently, we received approval to increase flow rates in the Roach River by installing culverts in the dam to ensure appropriate spawning habitat for brook trout and landlocked salmon. We are also working with a second engineering firm to review the dam project with a focus on a long-term resolution of any issues.
AMC is committed to natural resource conservation and stewardship, including aquatic habitat restoration work on our 66,500 acres of conservation land, where we have removed old culverts impeding fish passage and opened up 12 miles of brook trout habitat.
We are conducting a full, ongoing investigation to determine why this incident happened so it doesn’t happen again. We are working closely with state and federal agencies to swiftly resolve the issues and ensure the continued health of the pond, the river and the adjacent wetlands.
Walter Graff
Senior Vice President
Appalachian Mountain Club
Greenville
Trains for Bucksport
Bucksport is in a dilemma, which my wife and I were discussing over coffee with the BDN in hand. We came up with ideas, probably foolish, but ideas just the same.
Use the existing freight railroad tracks from Bangor for an antique passenger train for tourists, for a tourist-supported multi-unit train service, such as ones that serve many communities in the U.S., or even for a trolley car — and add a boat ride to Fort Knox, because Bucksport is across the river from the fort.
Several tourist railroads exist in the area, but there are no antique trolley lines. The multi-units are individual coaches, each with its own motor. None of those are in Maine. Electricity would need to be added, which is a major expense.
The public dock offers a great place to run a tourist boat to Fort Knox, and a small bus could circle the town to take tourists to the boat or to any of the restaurants or stores.
It’s not a mill, but it could bring money.
Silly ideas? Yup. But so was electricity when it was first being developed.
Milton Gross
Ellsworth