WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin argued against a North Woods national monument proposed for east of Baxter State Park when he met with White House officials on Monday.
Poliquin warned the White House that a presidential executive order creating a monument would threaten Maine’s forest products industries and was opposed by Mainers living near Baxter, he said.
“It is wrong for any president to create a new federal footprint in Maine against the will of the people,” Poliquin said after the hourlong meeting with White House Council on Environmental Quality Managing Director Christy Goldfuss and her staff. “It is not right. It is not fair.”
Leading park proponent Lucas St. Clair, the son of entrepreneur Roxanne Quimby, continues to discuss a monument proposal with the White House, said St. Clair spokesman David Farmer, who scoffed at Poliquin’s claims.
The Quimby family has proposed making a monument out of about 87,500 acres it owns near Baxter as an interim step toward creating a national park. St. Clair confirmed changing the trajectory of the campaign in November 2015, when it became apparent that their proposed national park hadn’t yet gained the support of most of Maine’s federal delegation. Congress is empowered to create national parks, but presidential executive orders can create monuments.
As a sign of the change in the campaign, St. Clair informally debuted on social media this weekend a new circular logo that features drawings of a hiker in silhouette against a backdrop of an evergreen forest and Mount Katahdin with the slogan “Maine Woods National Monument” wrapped around them.
A national monument, Farmer said, “will create jobs in the region, and diversifying the economy is critical to the economic health of the entire state.” By opposing the monument, Poliquin is “fighting to stop real investment in the region and it’s unfortunate,” Farmer said.
Polls have indicated that more than 60 percent of Mainers approve a national park in the Katahdin region. The pro-park campaign has provided many examples of parks working well with forest industries nationwide, Farmer said.
Professional Logging Contractors of Maine Executive Director Dana Doran, Maine Snowmobile Association Executive Director Bob Meyers and Patrick Strauch, executive director of the Maine Forest Products Council, accompanied Poliquin, R-Maine, to his meeting with officials.
They warned Goldfuss, whose council is the president’s primary adviser on environmental matters, that a national monument designation on Quimby’s land would pose a public safety hazard, as logging truck and tourist traffic would be incompatible on the dirt roads in the forested area.
“Access is a real issue when it comes to this property,” Poliquin said. “We made it very clear to the White House that there is a problem with vacationing automobiles sharing gravel roads with logging trucks traveling at 60 mph as they deliver their products.
“Our forest-products industry must continue to use these roads to continue to be productive,” he added.
Poliquin also sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee, signed by 28 other members of Congress, requesting that language be added to the fiscal year 2017 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations bill that would prohibit President Barack Obama from designating Quimby’s land a monument.
The White House meetings have failed to yield any indication whether or when Obama would create a monument, both sides say.