March 28, 2024
Column

Keep Maine balanced

It is unfortunate that the opportunity for meaningful discussions on options to ensure the long-term health and viability of Maine’s forests is being lost in the polarizing, inflammatory reactions to every private land transaction in northern Maine. One incontrovertible fact that is consistently overlooked in the ongoing debate over the future of the Maine woods, is that there is room for both well-managed timber-producing forests and fully protected natural wild forests. One does not have to exist at the exclusion of the other.

There are roughly 10 million acres of forestland in the north woods. The full protection of a significant area of the north woods landscape, should it be a refuge, a reserve, or a park, would mean the regeneration of natural wild forests, the enhancement of native wildlife habitat, and the survival of real Maine forests for future generations. It would not mean the end of the timber industry in Maine.

Political hopeful Dick Campbell (BDN, July 19) fuels the “either/or” counterproductive debate with his attack on Maine landowner Roxanne Quimby, accusing her of “deliberately working to eliminate our remaining high-paying forest products and paper industry jobs,” by declaring her interest in eventually donating her land to the public. Maine has the lowest percentage of land protected for the public in the northeast – less than 6 percent – primarily, Baxter State Park and Acadia National Park. Ironically, it was only through the generosity and far-sightedness of individual private landowners, like Quimby, that these two treasures of our great state were created.

We need to shift our focus from attacking individual philanthropists and deal instead with the real threat to the northern lifestyle: the rapidly changing face of the paper industry, from Maine-based companies, invested in the people and the land, to multi-national investment and paper conglomerates that move to the beat of global economic forces.

Campbell disdains the concept of a “protected forest with no road or no access … as a danger to the health of the forest and the environment.” He continues: “old growth forests without proper harvest are tinderboxes ready to ignite.” Well, no worry there, Mr. Campbell, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of Maine’s forests are categorized as old-growth (never been cut), precisely why a larger landscape protection is necessary – to ensure that these spectacular legacies of grand old trees are buffered from a catastrophic event. Less than 2 percent of Maine forests are in reserves protected from cutting, most of them in Baxter State Park. What we have all but lost are mature, unmanaged forests that are shaped by natural processes.

As to access to the Maine woods, there is only one option that guarantees access forever, for our generation and those to come, protecting these special places as public land. Public access and recreation are key components in public lands that function as wild forests. Recreation such as hiking, canoeing, fishing and birding, among others, are perfectly compatible with wild forests. These activities are enhanced by the increased peace and solitude provided by wild forests.

Let’s stop the polarized “either/or” rhetoric and start talking about a reasonable balance of protected wild forests and well-managed timberland.

Karen Woodsum of Wayne is director of the Sierra Club Maine Woods Campaign.


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