It’s possible to show the decline of Maine’s rural areas in numerical terms.
The working-age population in the state’s outlying, rural rim counties — Oxford, Franklin, Somerset, Piscataquis, Aroostook and Washington — has contracted more than 20 percent since 1999. The last time those six counties as a group saw more births than deaths was in 1995. And as Maine finally gains back the economic ground it lost during the Great Recession, the state’s rural regions aren’t necessarily sharing in the recovery. Maine’s more rural counties have seen consistently slower job growth than their more urban counterparts.
Figuring out the way forward for Maine’s rural areas is no simple, short-term matter. The reasons so many of Maine’s most rural towns came into existence — because of their proximity to the woods — is no longer an advantage that guarantees a role for them in the knowledge- and service-oriented economy of the 21st century.
Economic revitalization will look different in every Maine region based on what each region has to offer that can serve as a competitive edge. But there is a major component economic comebacks, especially homegrown comebacks, will have in common: strong leadership.
Residents of the region around Moosehead Lake in Piscataquis and Somerset counties and others who care about the region are in the midst of proactively laying the groundwork for a future based on developing Moosehead Lake into a top tourist destination for travelers seeking a wilderness vacation. The efforts to brand the region as “America’s Crown Jewel” and improve its tourist infrastructure are locally led with the help of business and philanthropic support. The work stretches across municipal and county lines.
It also requires the commitment of a number of involved, local leaders. The business-led Moosehead Lake Region Economic Development Corporation has assumed the leadership mantle in the Greenville area. Others in the local business community have stepped up and assumed responsibility for implementing different recommendations from an outside consultant designed to add to the area’s tourist appeal and make the area more accommodating to out-of-towners.
The next step in the region’s revitalization is a master planning effort aimed at guiding development in downtown Greenville and the surrounding area. Carrying out that plan will similarly require the commitment of local leaders. Most who are involved aren’t elected; they’re simply committed to the future of the region where they and their families live.
There are other examples throughout Maine of local leaders stepping up with a passion to help the places where they live or where they grew up. In the Katahdin region, for example, the volunteer-led group Our Katahdin has started crowdfunding individual revitalization projects.
The path forward for every rural Maine region that’s struggling today won’t come from the State House in Augusta. For individual regions, it’s more likely to come from within. But a local resident with the passion to help her community might benefit from a way to develop her leadership skills so she can lead her community in developing an agreed-upon vision for the future. She could benefit from knowing which experts her community could consult for help and which entities the community might apply to for grants. She would also benefit from connecting with leaders from other rural regions in Maine and across the U.S. undertaking revitalization efforts in their own communities so she has peers from whom she can seek advice.
This is a role many of Maine’s existing leadership development programs could assume. The state is already home to a number of philanthropically funded leadership development programs that aim to take leaders from the nonprofit, business and government worlds and make them into more effective leaders of their organizations and communities. Rural revitalization could become a focus for these programs where it makes sense.
The future of Maine depends in large part on the success of its rural areas that give Maine its unique character. Local residents who want to take charge and work toward a different future for the places where they live should have the help they need to become the leaders their communities need.
