In February I spent five days with students from Chewonki’s Maine Coast Semester exploring Katahdin Woods and Waters, the area east of Baxter State Park proposed for inclusion in the National Park system. The Maine Coast Semester is a four-month-long program for high school juniors. In the fall and again in the winter/spring, 42 participants Read More
Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument
NRCM along with residents of the Katahdin region, and supporters around the state worked on the campaign to to ensure protection of 87,500 acres east of Baxter State Park as the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument (KWW). This land was gifted to the United States by the landowner, Elliotsville Plantation, a nonprofit foundation founded by Burt’s Bees entrepreneur Roxanne Quimby. EPI also donated $20 million in stewardship funds. On August 24, 2016, President Barack Obama designated this land as the Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument. Read more about the National Monument in these media stories and blogs.
The Case for a Katahdin Woods National Monument
By Edgar Allen Beem The Forecaster column Just in time for the centennial of the National Park Service and the final year of the Obama administration, philanthropist Roxanne Quimby and her family are seeking national monument status for the land east of Baxter State park they have been assembling in hopes of it becoming a Read More
We Have a Path Forward for a New National Park, Recreation Area
By Lisa Pohlmann, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed Over the last four years, support has been growing in the Katahdin region, around Maine and across the country for a new national park and national recreation area on up to 150,000 acres east of Baxter State Park. The proposal has been fine tuned Read More
Collins, King, Poliquin Offer Way Forward on National Park Issue
By The BDN Editorial Board Bangor Daily News editorial Members of Maine’s congressional delegation deserve praise for seeking a sensible way forward on the contentious issue of a establishing a national park in northern Maine. In a letter to President Barack Obama dated Friday, Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and Rep. Bruce Poliquin outlined Read More
Widespread Support in Maine, Across U.S. for New National Park
Petition Signers in 80% of Maine Towns, 50 States, and 53 Nations News release The petition was signed by more than 13,500 individuals living in 371 Maine towns, all 50 states, and 53 countries. The group also released a list of endorsements from groups, businesses, and individuals, and a compilation of public opinion surveys documenting Read More
Maine’s North Woods are a National Treasure
By Jim Glavine, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed Having resided in the Moosehead Lake region for many years, I am very familiar with the woods and waters of Maine’s North Woods and also with the economic challenges of life in the shadow of not only Mount Katahdin, but of the waning forest Read More
Why A National Park Makes Sense for Maine’s North Woods
By The BDN Editorial Board Bangor News editorial A Maine North Woods national park has been the subject of debate for more than two decades. In that time, the economic landscape of the Katahdin region has shifted dramatically — for the worse — and the ownership of much of the timberland stretching from Millinocket to Read More
Maine’s North Woods Have Precisely What Most of the World is Missing
By Alexandra Conover Bennett, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed Several decades ago, as a young Registered Maine Guide, one of the first canoe trips I led was along the rolling waters of the East Branch of the Penobscot River just east of Baxter State Park. Nowadays, the river and surrounding land is Read More
A New Maine National Park: The “Wow” Factors
As I travel around the state and call or email my fellow Mainers about my main current, focus area here at NRCM, the National Park and Recreation Area proposal, I am sometimes met with a question best summarized recently by a friend (who wholeheartedly supports the idea of a park, by the way): “Where is the Read More