The effort to create a North Woods national park adjacent to Baxter State Park soon will have a local voice to answer people’s questions and enlist their support.
David Farmer, a spokesman for leading park advocate Lucas St. Clair and Katahdin Woods and Waters, said that the outreach coordinator position is “a continuation of what we have been working on.”
“That’s having one-on-one conversations with people,” Farmer said Tuesday. “We believe that when people have an opportunity to sit down and talk about the park and have their questions answered, that they are likely to support the park.”
The coordinator will be joining two workers from the company that oversees entrepreneur Roxanne Quimby’s lands in Maine, Eliotsville Plantation Inc., who give tours and hold events in the proposed park area, Farmer said. The park would be located on land donated by Quimby.
The creation of the 20-hour-a-week position, which Farmer said will be filled as soon as possible, follows a Dec. 22 endorsement of the park proposal by Penobscot Indian Nation Chief Kirk E. Francis. Francis called upon U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, to introduce a bill to Congress supporting the creation of the park and recreation area.
A joint statement released by the senators on Tuesday indicated that they continue to consider the idea, but have not committed to legislation.
“This region has a great deal to offer in terms of outdoor recreation, and we appreciate Penobscot Indian Nation’s viewpoint that the proposed national park and recreation area could help conserve this area and stimulate economic activity around Katahdin,” the statement read.
“As interested stakeholders continue to evaluate EPI’s proposal and whether or not it would improve the regional economy, we look forward to gathering these perspectives, including on the fundamental question of whether or not federal ownership of this land would produce more jobs and a better way of life for those who live in this beautiful region of our state.”
Collins has opposed the park in the past. Earlier this year King told the New York Times that he was “opposed and skeptical but listening.”
Quimby first proposed donating more than 70,000 acres to the federal government to become a national park and recreation area in 2011. Today, St. Clair proposes a 75,000-acre national park and nearby 75,000-acre multi-use recreation area. Quimby and St. Clair also proposed creating a $20 million endowment and raising another $20 million to fund park maintenance. The park would create 400 to 1,000 jobs.
The Indian nation is the first group to publicly endorse a park since the last election, in which four of 11 East Millinocket and Millinocket candidates for public office said they favored the park for what they said would be its positive impact on the Katahdin region’s economy, which had its mills’ last two paper machines shut down in 2008 and 2013. Two of the four, East Millinocket Selectman Mark Scally and Millinocket Town Councilor Anita Mueller, were elected.
The Katahdin Area Chamber of Commerce and several environmental groups endorsed the idea, but East Millinocket residents and their government, as well as Millinocket’s government, have opposed the proposed park. Officials in Medway have said they favor a park feasibility study, and a 2011 survey commissioned by a park support group found 60 percent of Mainers favored a national park.
The Penobscot County board of commissioners, Gov. Paul LePage and the Maine Legislature have opposed it.
U.S. Rep.-elect Bruce Poliquin, R-Oakland, appeared to set a benchmark with his statement on the park and rec area proposal.
“Being born and raised in Maine, I understand the importance of outdoor traditions and appreciating the beauty of national parks. However, I oppose any proposal that could limit the access to hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and have an impact on Maine jobs,” he said in the statement.
The national park portion of the proposal would ban traditional access, but the recreation area was created to answer the needs Poliquin cites, Farmer said.
“The idea behind a recreation area is that it will permanently protect access to snowmobile trails and also allow for traditional activities,” Farmer said. “It makes sure that these snowmobile routes and hunting are protected forever.”
Mueller welcomed news of the coordinator’s position being created.
“This is another positive sign that the effort is gaining momentum. Given the economic changes the area is going through, the timing couldn’t be better,” she said.
The new coordinator will provide information about and “prepare visual materials/displays/maps etc. for use in the office to communicate the essence of the NP/NRA proposal.” The coordinator will “recruit and assist business owners, opinion leaders, and members of the general public in communicating their support for the NP/NRA to decision makers and the general public,” an advertisement for the job states.
The coordinator will help form a local “Friends of” group and compile a database of park and recreation area supporters. The advertisement the Bangor Daily News obtained is a PDF distributed to Katahdin Area Chamber of Commerce members. It states that the “primary location of work will be the greater Katahdin region” in an office that will be staffed four to eight hours per week, but Farmer said the work might be done on the Internet and that no office location has been set yet.
Company officials have held more than 40 group visits and an automated traffic counter counted more than 650 cars on the southern part of the Eliotsville Plantation park property over the last year, Farmer said. Those figures do not include sportsmen who access the property while recreating.
The park “is today having a positive economic impact. It is drawing new people to the region,” said Farmer, who welcomed the senators’ interest in the project.
“We are glad that the senators are open to considering the issue and we look forward to working with them to provide the information they need,” Farmer said. “It is clear that they have the best interests of the region at heart and we hope to work with them on this proposal to answer their questions.”