Another View: A national park would share the beauty of the North Woods
A column by M.D. Harmon was wrong to say a park would be just for Mainers to look at.
Growing up, I didn't know much about Maine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ben Shambaugh is a resident of Portland.
Acadia National Park and the Allagash National Wilderness Waterway told me that Maine was a place that belonged to all Americans.
Their "national" status literally put them on the map. When I first came to Maine, that's where I went.
M.D. Harmon's had it all wrong in his column "Maine North Woods object of many visions," (March 12). A national park in the Maine North Woods is not just for those in Maine below the "Volvo Line." It would be, like other national parks, a place forever preserved not just for wildlife but for the inner city kid in Detroit, the senior citizen in Florida and their children and their children's children.
National parks are not just places "to look at" but places of dreams, refreshment and renewal that are valuable even and especially to those who never have a chance to visit them.
Ronald Heifetz writes about leaders having the view from 30,000 feet. The view from 30,000 feet tells us that we need to consider the good of the few who live there rather than 300 million Americans who do not.
As a former chaplain in the national parks, I can attest to their spiritual as well as economic and environmental value. The Maine North Woods are a national treasure. To quote Ken Burns, the national parks are America's best idea.
We have a chance to honor both these truths, help the economy, give a gift to the nation and preserve the magnificence of Maine forever. Let's do it.
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8 COMMENTS
ev said...
The people who have lost their property to National Park Service takings don't think that this is "America's best idea"; such statism isn't an American idea at all. Acadia and the Allagash have been disasters for those caught in the political power plays pushing people around. The failed political promotions to take over rural Maine with National Parks and Greenline land use prohibitions -- removing the private economy, political freedom and local government -- were first pushed almost 25 years ago and have been thoroughly rejected for good reason. The last thing we need is another big battle with these well-heeled pressure groups trying to revive their statist political takeovers, and that includes ex-NPS employee religious nuts spinning poetry about "spiritual values" for people from Detroit as an excuse to steamroll local Maine people for the sake of progressive nationalism. Stop screwing with other peoples' lives.
March 22, 2010 at 1:35 AM Report abuse
Felix said...
STILL SOUNDS LIKE SOME LEFTY SUBURBANITE ELITIST WHINING TO ME. WONDER WHEN THIS DUDE'S TIME IN SERVICE OCCURRED, OR WAS HE JUST A ONCE IN A WHILE WHEN I FEEL LIKE IT VOLUNTEER? JUST WHAT I WANT WHEN I GO DEER HUNTING, A BUNCH OF PREENING MASSHOLES ALL OVER THE PLACE, LED BY SOME PEACENIK PREACHER! GIVE ME A BIG OLE KUMBUYAH AND GO BACK TO SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND AND MAKE YOUR PARK DOWN THERE IN YOUR OWN BACKYARDS!!!!.
March 22, 2010 at 8:08 AM Report abuse
common_cents said...
I experienced the spiritual value of Maine's natural places yesterday with a walk by the rapids and cataracts on the Cathance river....and I didn't need to spend a $100 to drive to some remote 'neo-national park' to savor the beauty of this river. That's the problem with the environmental capitalists hell bent on acquiring large tracts maintained by the Federal government with O.P.M.(other people's money); the only people with the time and money to visit them are the wealthy environmentalists and their kin. Just look at the visitor statistics for MOOSEHORN or the northern parts of Baxter and you see how few people go there now, so the 'build more park and they will come simply isn't true!"
March 22, 2010 at 10:58 AM Report abuse
common_cents said...
The Maine Woods National Park and National Preserve is the only hope for economic prosperity and employment opportunities we can look forward to. Yup, just look what Moosehorn did for Washington Cnty; and the stunning downtown for the 'gateway' to Baxter state park. Remember for every 'Yellowstone', there's an 'East Yellowstone' of tacky strip malls filled with souvenirs made in Asia and pizza/burger franchises, as well as snowmobile, atv and other places catering to the motorized 'visitor'.
March 22, 2010 at 11:25 AM Report abuse
GrammieWendy said...
Louis, so you are ok with the government taking our lands and telling us how to use it? You must, also, be comfortable with distroying the Constitution. How about you look into the lives this land grab will destroy. Maine's private landowners have done a great job taking care of their lands for hundreds of years. I trust they will continue to do so without taking away our freedoms. And for the record, you're an idiot.
March 22, 2010 at 11:28 AM Report abuse
common_cents said...
Well said GRAMMIE. Maine's most precious natural resources like its rare lands were all prized by individual families, preserved and enhanced over the decades of private ownership. Without the Rockefeller's and other wealthy capitalists there would be no ACADIA! If you want to see what the combined greed and neglect of the National Park service is like, take a walk around the decaying buildings on the once well maintained estate once used by Naval Intelligence on Schoodic Penn. and taken over by NPS. NPS is letting the entire complex fall apart; yet they have an expensive 'trophy' conference hall as an NPS retreat center...ah, to be a privileged bureaucrat once again!
March 22, 2010 at 11:35 AM Report abuse
Boonie said...
Boonie said... From north of the Volvo Line...yup, lots of economic activity, like flipping burgers, making beds, cleaning up the trash left by the kids from Detroit, and the like. Well-managed forests, in private hands give us wood (renewable) for houses, baseball bats, and a thousand other uses, far more economically rewarding for folks who actually live here (year 'round).
March 22, 2010 at 12:00 PM Report abuse
louisH2Ovill said...
GrammieWendy, I do not believe anyone is destroying the Constitution more than the right-wing judicial activists who currently dominate the Supreme Court. They have totally distorted the meaning of the Second Amendment by ignoring the words and the intent of the Founding Fathers. It was meant to be about states and militias, not about individual ownership as is obvious from the wording AND the explanations in the Federalist Papers. Even more, to argue that corporations are people and have the free speech rights of individuals protected by the First Amendment is an incredible rewriting and misinterpreting of the Constitution. To be called an idiot by you just shows your total ignorance and is a compliment under the circumstances.
March 23, 2010 at 4:26 AM Report abuse