I think Gov. LePage is missing an opportunity for state and future generations with his opposition to the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.

I am conservative, and proud that the words “conservation” and “conservative” have the same root. I try to live that way.

I also know that God intended people to care for the garden He has given to sustain us. To that end, He gave us dominion over it.

This is a huge responsibility. In my small way, I both tend my yard and gardens, but leave some as wild thicket for birds and small critters.

Designation of this land as a national monument is consistent with the responsibility to tend “The Garden” as well as with conservative values.

George Lawson

Gorham