PORTLAND, Maine — About 40 people in favor of a national monument in the Katahdin region packed into a bus on Marginal Way Monday afternoon bound for a hearing in Orono.
At the hearing today, National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis and U.S. Sen. Angus King will listen to people on both sides of what has become a contentious, politicized debate over a proposed national monument east of Baxter State Park. Sierra Club Maine chartered the bus.
“Today is really important, a historic opportunity, to make it clear that Mainers from all across the state want a new Maine woods national monument,” said Sierra Club Maine Director Glen Brand before the bus pulled out.
When asked if he thought opinions of residents two hours south of the proposed site should have a say in the matter, he shrugged and said, “We’re all Mainers, and we all care. We all take special pride in our natural landscape.”
