March 29, 2024
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Lawmakers pass Baxter, Allagash bills

Lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to a bill that reopened the emotional and heated debates over access to the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

A separate but equally controversial bill to add Katahdin Lake to Baxter State Park remained unresolved late Thursday, however, as lawmakers hustled to complete the remaining work of the legislative session.

The Senate sent the Allagash bill to Gov. John Baldacci’s desk on a 25-10 vote after limited debate. The House had approved the measure earlier this week on a 100-43 vote.

The bill, LD 2077, represents a new era in the management of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, a 92-mile corridor of backcountry paddling through northern Maine’s vast and largely undeveloped commercial forests.

The Legislature first moved to protect the waterway 40 years ago and later added it to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. But while the waterway is considered an enormous success as a recreational river – receiving a 97 percent satisfactory rating by users several years ago – its history is mired in controversy.

An agreement signed in 2003 by a stakeholder group meeting in Millinocket was supposed to have resolved many of the remaining issues. But many of the signatories from the St. John River Valley have since withdrawn their support, claiming they never agreed to some terms now included in the deal.

Sen. John Martin’s bill, as passed by the Legislature, sides squarely with the local residents who accused state officials and environmental groups of trying to limit day use of the river.

The bill mandates the state maintain 11 access points to the river where people traditionally have driven their cars to the water’s edge or near the riverbanks in order to launch canoes. Conservation groups argue that vehicular access to the river should be limited under the river’s designation as a wild and scenic waterway.

Addressing another point of contention, the bill directs the state to maintain a permanent bridge at Henderson Brook. The current bridge, which is in need of repair or replacement, is considered temporary under the current management plan.

Sen. Michael Brennan, a Portland Democrat who serves as Senate majority leader, was the only senator to speak against the bill. Brennan predicted that by legislators overriding the 2003 stakeholder agreement, they are guaranteeing that the Allagash will become a perennial issue in Augusta.

But Martin, a Democrat from Eagle Lake, said he is convinced that fewer people are using the Allagash because of the continuing controversy. Martin said the people in his district also needed guaranteed access to a river that runs deep in their culture and heritage.

“The only way, in my opinion, to put this to rest is to put this in statute so the people of the Allagash … will know what they are,” Martin said.

Sen. John Nutting, who co-chaired the legislative committee that held a 10-hour public hearing and several work sessions on the issue, said it was obvious that the Department of Conservation’s stakeholder process had broken down.

The bill should help end the “bickering and disagreements” over the issues, Nutting said.

Department of Conservation Commissioner Patrick McGowan disagreed, saying it undermines many hard-fought compromises contained in the 2003 agreement. He also questioned whether the bill would scuttle past and future stakeholder processes used by the state to settle many controversial issues.

“I’m afraid that process has been shot to hell,” McGowan said.


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