Previous story:
«
Next story:
»
CONTRIBUTORS

National parks and loggers can’t co-exist

By Michael Beardsley, Special to the BDN
Posted Nov. 16, 2011, at 5:46 p.m.
Print this   E-mail this    Facebook this   Tweet this     

Despite the rhetoric from Roxanne Quimby and other park supporters about jobs, when you look at the facts, a national park is a bad idea for Maine, it is certainly no gift.

As good stewards of the forest, our loggers have looked at Quimby’s plan and can read between the lines. This agenda is about federal control. When taking this position our loggers do not have to rely on “what if” or “what may be” or even Ms. Quimby’s stated intent with regard to a national park. They look at history, that’s right history, the facts of what has happened out West and in Ohio.

In states where national parks are present, like Washington and Oregon, the forests are more susceptible to catastrophic forest fires. Studies show that the health of the forests has actually gotten worse.

If we take a look at the record of forest management by the federal government in the Northwest, we get a preview of federal forest management in Maine. Take for instance the Northwest Forest Plan, adopted in 1994, which dramatically changed the management on 24 million acres of federal forests in northern California, Oregon and Washington and reduced the historic timber sale program by 80 percent. In real numbers the timber sale program went from 5 billion board feet per year to 1.1 billion board feet per year. Those types of declines would be catastrophic to Maine’s forest products industry and that’s not something our members are interested in.

Maine’s large swaths of forest lands, praised for their beauty, are the product of an active and vibrant logging and forest products industry. According to the Maine Department of Conservation, the percentage of forested land in Maine remains at 90 percent. Private landowners have ensured that land has not only remained forested but healthy.

Maine’s traditional use of land in the forest products industry has long proved successful in ensuring a healthy forest, with public access. History shows there is not a need for a national park to ensure access to Maine’s woods for all of us to hike, ski, hunt and snowmobile. Conversely, in areas where the federal government has been placed in charge of forest lands, the forests and the forest products industry suffers, regardless of which party controls the White House.

This is the real story of the impact of federally managed lands. In many Maine towns, our forest products industry is vital for direct and indirect employment. We can little afford to replace 80 percent of good paying, full time, private sector jobs in manufacturing, logging, equipment sales and service with part-time federal park jobs.

Neither can we afford to let Maine’s forests go the way of the forests of the American West with threats from both fire and disease. Not to mention, it is another federal tax burden for all Americans.

I am proud to stand with our Professional Logging Contractors of Maine members as we support our industry, our state and our loggers. Since 1995 PLC of Maine has been standing strong for loggers. We continue this effort today, representing loggers that harvest 75 percent of the actively harvested land in Maine.

Our members are dedicated to maintaining a safe work environment, a healthy forest and industry, as well as being efficient and profitable. Always have been, always will be. That is why we cannot support this proposal and we say, it is a bad idea and certainly no gift.

Michael Beardsley is executive director of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine based in New Gloucester.

Similar articles:

Marketplace News

Marketplace

Guidelines for posting on bangordailynews.com

The Bangor Daily News encourages comments about stories, but you must follow our terms of service.

In brief:

  1. Keep it civil and stay on topic
  2. No vulgarity, racial slurs, name-calling or personal attacks.
  3. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.

The primary rule here is pretty simple: Treat others with the same respect you'd want for yourself. Here are some guidelines (see more):

  • Guest

    The people have spoken, We Dont Want A Park

    50 years from now children will be singing jump rope rhymes about a mean old woman in the woods

    Roxanne; you lied to us, you threatened us, you blackmailed us and you called us names
    What do you expect

  • Anonymous

    Try to prevent any more sales of land to this megalomaniac before she does more damage.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cecil-Gray/1027119962 Cecil Gray

    This is total hogwash. Anybody who believer these  VERY stale cheapshots is completely befuddled by the propaganda.

  • Anonymous

    This rhetoric exemplifies the backward mindset that has prevented the State of Maine from achieving it’s potential as a prosperous destination for those who wish to share in its natural beauty and treasured landscapes. Sounds like the desperate death rattle of a dying industry to me.

  • Anonymous

    This is a total crock. The logging industry has decimated the forests. The only real wood left is so far out it is not economically practical to harvest. All I see going by now on trucks is spindly hog fuel trees. This is evidence that hard logging is not sustainable and that we are not managing our forest resources. Back before harvesters were invented, we were limited to skidders and crews as to how many acres we could cut a year. Now a few men, (also a few jobs) basically drive through a forest and leave a mess behind. I am not dead set against the logging industry, but wood is not an infinite resource. Renewable yes but it has limits. Maine as a state needs to entertain other industries if it going to prosper and grow. To rely on one industry as it has for so long is a fools errand. Maybe parks are not the silver bullet and not what Maine needs but one thing is certain. We do need something or else when the mills finally close for good, we will all be looking around blaming this one and that one when actually it is the fault of all of us for being so short sighted.   Yes, learn from history. Look at the track records of the mills and draw your own conclusions as to the health of the wood products industry.

  • yowsayowsa1

    I assume the propaganda you speak of is the giant, taxpayer funded propaganda machine of the NPS.
     For decades, the National Park System has spent millions of tax dollars to promote the enviroterrorist agenda of “preserving” vast stretches of forestland in the northeast forest lands.
     Even this gargantuan effort has been seen to amount to no more than the hogwash of the extreme left thinking liberal mind that believes that bigger government is the answer to everything.
     
    NO PARK FOR Me.

  • yowsayowsa1

    A national park in Northern Maine IS a bad idea.

     Once established, it will devour the whole northern forest.

     Very similar to a certain STD in that, once we are infected,it will never go away.

    NO PARK FOR Me.

  • yowsayowsa1

    You want fries with that?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cecil-Gray/1027119962 Cecil Gray

    That “gargantuan” effort has left Maine with 16 million acres of “working” forest and not one NP in the North Woods. I would say that gargantuan applies to the cause of the investment groups who are currently practicing anything but “sustainable” forestry. Has Mr. Beardsley ever heard of fire suppression? Has Mr. Beardsley ever heard of the studies that show that towns on the periphery of Parks do much better than towns on the periphery of Commercial forests. Has Mr. Beardsley ever noticed the coexistence of logging forests and National Parks that exists across the entire country.  Has he ever seen Tsongas NP? Maybe he has, maybe he has not, but his article is only supportive of bottom line profit margins for big corporations and his transparent logic reveals it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cecil-Gray/1027119962 Cecil Gray

    Thanks for putting the final nail in your argument.

  • Guest

    Quimby supporters need to realize that Roxanne will “never” get national park status, and that no one up here cares if she gates her land off or not

    Quimby has burned one too many bridges, and the only apology she gave came way too late and was obviously something she didnt want to do

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cecil-Gray/1027119962 Cecil Gray

    If it was my decision I would gate it and invite writers, poets, photographers, walkers, or anyone who cared to enjoy it just for what it is. There is a place amidst our race to consumption that we better set aside for the sheer sake of it. 

  • Guest

    No argument there, and I hope she does gate it off; but a national park it will never be

  • Anonymous

    I still think the National Park is just a way for RESTORE and people like them to get wolves in Maine. Think about it. Why have a National Park that borders a State Park? It doesn’t make sense to have two seperate parks under different juridaction toucking each other, if your purpose is to protect the land. Also look at the RESTORE website the National Park page and wolf page are the same size.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cecil-Gray/1027119962 Cecil Gray

    Get that nail gun, you need it.

  • Anonymous

    Those writers will have to use imported paper.

  • yowsayowsa1

    That is EXACTLY what this long term project is for.

     Millions of acres for restoration of wildlife, and the exclusion of Man.

  • Anonymous

    No one uses much paper for writing anything.

  • Jay Ellingsen

    If she really wanted to preserve her 70,000 acres, why not just endow it to the Baxter State Park Authority? After all her land abuts theirs. A move like that would make more sense than the feds moving in, and the Park Authority has an impeccable track record for managing the use of their park. The deal is, this isn’t about giving 70,000 acres up for a park. It’s about getting a national park established, then in the future, putting the pieces of the puzzle together one by one as adjacent land gets  purchased by special interest groups and private money like Roxanne’s. The Nature Conservancy, AMC, and The Audubon Society are already making land and easement purchases ranging from the K.I. mountain range, to pieces west of the St. John River. There is also much control of land in the Rangeley area, and west of there to the Canadian border. Once Roxanne’s park is established, it will serve as a good launching platform for a multi million acre park which in no way a small entity like Baxter Park Authority could manage or afford to. But the feds could. Once all the pieces are privately purchased, it would be a matter of signing deeds over to uncle Sam. She and the PAC called RESTORE “the North Maine Woods” know all to well, they will never win over the hearts and minds of the native Mainer, to push such an agenda. They have tried already. So by forcing the issue on a much smaller scale National Park, it will seed a much bigger vision, which once complete, will forever change how we utilize the northern and western third of our state. Her 70,000 acres does’t impact our logging industry one iota,, and it only affects traditional use minimally. But the “bigger vision” certainly does affect every aspect of our way of life. Then it will only be up to “well heeled out of state” money, to complete the deal. I’m sure I’ll get flamed by a few left thinking people here, and I’m good with that, but mark my word, it will happen if this deal is allowed to go through, and “out of state” money and interest will continue to change and control our way of life as it has for the last 40 years since people have been migrating north since the 60′s.

ADVERTISEMENT | Grow your business
  1. Glenburn art teacher killed in Friday morning collision in BangorGlenburn art teacher killed in Friday morning collision in Bangor
  2. Accidents involving 7 vehicles tie up Bangor traffic on Interstate 95
  3. Oregon police say mystery woman may have ties to Fort KentOregon police say mystery woman may have ties to Fort Kent
  4. Police say co-sleeping likely a factor in 6-week-old infant’s death in Bath
  5. Harvard student asked to leave bar for ‘bad behavior,’ not drunkennessHarvard student asked to leave bar for ‘bad behavior,’ not drunkenness

Marketplace Coupons

ADVERTISEMENT | Grow your business