There probably will never be another large national park created in the eastern half of the country.
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Combined with the adjoining 210,000-acre Baxter State Park, enough forest will remain intact to help it cope with climate change.
Roxanne Quimby, a founder of Burt’s Bees, had been buying property in northeastern ME for years and accelerated her purchases after selling the company in 2007. “Most of those jobs, more than 250,000 of those jobs, were local jobs”.
The National Park Service plans to open an office on-site, personnel have been tapped for the park’s administration, and a series of public meetings have been set throughout the region to discuss the future of the new monument.
The president’s announcement came a day after media reports that the foundation created by Quimby had transferred the land to federal ownership. Other activities such as hunting and snowmobiling will also be allowed on a portion of the monument. Angus King, independent US Senator and former governor of ME, said that “the benefits of the designation will far outweigh any detriment” and a National Park site “will provide much-needed diversity to the region’s economy”. Susan Collins and Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin last fall wrote a letter to Obama outlining “serious reservations” about the proposal.
Proponents said a park would generate 400 to 1,000 jobs, be maintained by $40 million in private endowments, diversify a Katahdin region economy devastated by the closure of two paper mills, coexist with traditional industries and operate with local oversight. At this point only a few thousand people visit the site, but that number is likely to increase now that it’s received presidential recognition.
“We’re just really grateful that we have that piece of the Maine North Woods; that American magic is part of the National Park system”, said Olson. Acadia began as Sieur de Monts National Monument.
“President Obama instead used his executive authority to create the monument”, Scott says.
It protects the area indefinitely from various kinds of development, such as logging. More Designated national monuments to reflect the diverse stories of Americans including the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument, the Pullman National Monument, the Honouliuli National Monument and most recently, the Stonewall National Monument, the nation’s first National Monument honoring LGBT rights.
Her son, Lucas St. Clair, took over the campaign, allowing hunters and snowmobilers to return to part of the area. The Centennial inspires reflection on the history of America’s iconic landscapes and historical and cultural sites, as well as an opportunity to look forward toward the next century of conservation and historic preservation. He heard the government praised as a savior for the local economy and criticized as a land-hungry force that could harm the timber industry and alter the ME way of life, while providing only a paltry number of seasonal jobs.
Quimby’s family had been lobbying Obama to grant monument status to the land.
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“The president’s action today will conserve some of Maine’s most cherished forest lands and waters”, said Jeremy Sheaffer, Maine director for the Wilderness Society, according to The Hill. Anne Mitchell of the Maine Woods Coalition told The Post this spring.
