March 29, 2024
Letter

Robber barons in Maine

My wife and I recently returned from our camp on Moosehead Lake near Seboomook Landing where we spent an idyllic two weeks. No boats or tourists – just loons, mergansers, moose and susurrus lap of the waves. I could fish at my favorite spots along the West Branch without worrying that someone else might be there. This is not a good sign.

In the article, “Landowners struggle with access fee/Moosehead proprietors ask for relief” (BDN, July 9), reporter Diana Bowley does a fine job at showing how North Maine Woods and their policies are strangling the business at Seboomook Wilderness Campground and the Pittston Farms. Yet neglects to mention one of the key reasons many individual landowners are angry at the present system.

The region was quiet because of the outrageous rates charged to visitors to private landowners. NMW Executive Director Al Cowperthwaite misleading assertions to the contrary. The cost my brother, his wife, and my three nieces – who are fortunate enough to live in Maine – to visit me is $40 per day. They are coming to stay at my camp, on land that I own, and the robber barons at NMW get $280 for a one-week vacation just to drive in and out, a distance of less than 65 miles.

I pay taxes on my property in Eddington, Big W and Seboomook townships. That should entitle me to drive across the state-owned land. I don’t mind seeing cars charged a one-time entrance fee to use the roads in the West Branch region – that is the same as a toll on the turnpike, and is the road use fee allowed by law.

Previously, one could buy a season pass for their vehicle, and out-of-state cars were charged on one-time fee to visit a camp owner. That would be acceptable, though those going to commercial businesses shouldn’t be charged a fee, as these businesses send the state ample sums collected in sales and use taxes. The current system amounts to a head tax and is both repugnant and illegal. One would think Roxanne Quimby was calling the shots for NMW.

Since the investiture of NMW as gatekeepers, the roads have deteriorated dramatically. The cutoff road to Seboomook has been abandoned which requires an additional eight-mile roundtrip travel exacerbated by the callous attention to the area demonstrated by the current stewards.

Bruce Pratt

Eddington


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