EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — The first formal debate regarding the proposed 150,000-acre North Woods national park will occur on Thursday, June 18, officials said Thursday.
The event will feature two park proponents and two opponents debating the issue for an hour starting at 6 p.m. at Schenck High School. The representatives for each side are still being determined and will be announced at a later date. The public is invited, organizers said.
Coming at the request of town officials, the event is intended to help inform town and Medway voters before nonbinding town votes on the subject in those towns on June 25 and June 23, respectively.
Anthony Ronzio, the director of news and audience for the Bangor Daily News, will be the event’s moderator. He will question debaters and select questions offered by the audience. Both sides will be allowed to make brief rebuttal statements, organizers said.
The proposal includes a 75,000-acre national park and a 75,000-acre recreation area east of Baxter State Park. Proponents said a park would generate 400 to 1,000 jobs, be maintained by $40 million in private endowments, diversify a Katahdin region economy devastated by the closure of two paper mills, be heavily controlled by local leaders and coexist with existing industries.
Opponents have said they fear a park would bring more federal authority into Maine, cramp the state’s forest products industries with tighter air-quality restrictions, generate only low-paying jobs, restrict sportsmen’s access to the Katahdin region and morph into a 3.2-million-acre plan offered in the 1990s.
They also express skepticism about the positive economic benefits that proponents say the park would create, call the plan vague and doubt that the land is attractive enough for a park.
Both sides have held several forums on the issue in Millinocket and East Millinocket over the last year. Park proponent Lucas St. Clair, son of Roxanne Quimby, will host an informational meet-and-greet 5:30-7:30 p.m. June 10 at Medway Middle School in Medway.