I thank Susan Young for writing about the draft memo of agreement between the staff of the Department of Conservation and the National Park Service which will allow the department to obtain the Army Corp of Engineers’ permit needed for the Churchill Dam project. I offer a few clarifying points.

There may be some who believe the agreement signals an increase in the National Park Service’s responsibility in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. That is not true. In fact, the agreement espressly states that the agreement “does not represent an expansion of NPS authority under state or federal laws.”

The agreement specifically states that the state has done an exemplary job of managing the waterway. The NPS notes that the department’s management of the waterway “has achieved substantial success in ensuring … the Waterway experience is intact, and in many instances enhanced.” The document “reaffirms the NPS’s finding that the vast majority of Waterway management, including the Department’s 1999 AWW management Plan, is generally consistent with the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.”

The agreement removes the cloud over the construction of Churchill Dam by having the NPS agree to a dam permit. The agreement refocuses the attention on the 1999 Management Plan as the prime document that will be used to manage the waterway. It protects sportsmen’s interests by maintaining access at Bissonette Bridge and has the NPS recognizing that the proposed access near John’s Bridge is appropriate and in keeping with the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act designation. It preserves important historical structures and celebrates the history of logging and traditional recreation in the waterway.

Dawn Gallagher

Deputy commissioner

Maine Department

of Conservation

Augusta