This spring, Maine’s legislature passed a symbolic bill saying it didn’t consent to federal ownership of the land.
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The National Park Service is celebrating 100 years Thursday, but not everyone is in a party mood. The monument was created on 87,000 acres of ME wilderness donated by conservationist Roxanne Quimby, who founded the health company Burt’s Bees.
The new national monument – which will be managed by the National Park Service – covers approximately 87,500 acres.
At one point, Republican Gov. Paul LePage called it an “ego play” by “out-of-state liberals”.
A national park in ME was first officially proposed in June 1994 by RESTORE: The North Woods, a Massachusetts-based group. The 87,563-acre area, formerly owned by entrepreneur and conservationist Roxanne Quimby, co-founder of the Burt’s Bees line of personal care products, has been the topic of debate for over a decade.
He most recently headed up the park service’s $300 million program to restore areas of the Northeast damaged by Hurricane Sandy, which, according to the agency, was the largest restoration program in park service history.
The proclamation upholds agreements Quimby struck with snowmobilers and hunters – a key concern of some monument opponents.
King, Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin last fall wrote a letter to Obama outlining their “serious reservations” about the proposal and stating the conditions they hope to see in any designation. In an interview with CNN, Quimby’s son Lucas St. Clair celebrated the president’s decision as a boon for Maine.
The designations prevent new mining and drilling operations, and sometimes curtail logging, grazing, road-building, hunting and recreation – limits that in some rural areas, particularly in the West, are bitterly resented by residents and business people who say their regions’ economies depend on use of the land. Had it been successful, it would have become the second-largest national park outside of Alaska, after Death Valley. While the Quimby family’s promise of a $40 million endowment is generous, it is hard to see how that amount can possibly cover the startup and ongoing costs of the monument area.
With today’s designation, President Obama has used the Antiquities Act to establish or expand 25 national monuments. Quimby announced for the first time publicly in 2011 some of the details of her dream – that she meant to donate approximately 70,000 family-owned acres east of Baxter as a national park.
The private donation totals $100 million.
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In addition to permanently protecting more than 265 million acres of America’s public lands and waters – more than any other president in history – President Obama has a strong record of protecting our nation’s natural resources and taking actions that will inspire the next generation of outdoor stewards and build an inclusive vision for the next 100 years of conservation. They made $200 at their first craft fair; within a year, they’d make $20,000′.
