2007 SAM Sportsmen’s Congress
The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine hosted the 2007 SAM Sportsmen’s Congress at their brand new conference center in Augusta last week. The event was sponsored by the Coalition to Preserve and Grow Northern Maine.

The following issues were included on the day’s agenda:

• Natural Resources Network
• Deer Wintering Area Management
• Sportsmen’s Organizations
• Lawsuit to Stop Trapping in Maine
• Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Issues
• Statement to Sportsmen by the Governor

The deer yard deal establishes voluntary wood harvest management agreements on 32,000 acres of Plum Creek land in Somerset, Franklin and Piscataquis counties.

Gene Dumont, wildlife management supervisor with DIF&W recognized Plum Creek for not only agreeing to manage 32,000-plus acres for deer, but also for stipulating that any future owners of the land be bound by the same agreement for at least five years.

Another discussion topic on the Congress agenda was a lawsuit filed in federal court by the California-based Animal Protection Institute that is seeking a court injunction ordering Maine to halt all animal trapping in areas inhabited by bald eagles, Canada lynx and gray wolves, all of which are federally protected species.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance has filed for intervenor status in the case to help fight against animal rights groups’ exploitation of the courts in order to outlaw trapping in Maine. USSA is concerned that, once the animal rights groups have used the courts to outlaw trapping, they will target hunting or even fishing.

SAM and other groups are proposing a variety of access-related bills in the current legislative session, including one that would force the state to replace any acreage closed off to traditional uses.

What is Wilderness?
This George Smith column appeared in the January 10, 2007 edition of the Kennebec Journal:

Wilderness: Who defines what it is?

Wlderness is in the eye of the beholder. And that, my friends, is the problem.

Mainers have fought pitched battles to establish their respective wilderness visions in the Allagash and elsewhere. But it is simply not possible to reach consensus on the issue because the concept of wilderness is so specific to each individual's experiences and desires.

Webster's definition of wilderness is simple enough: a tract or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings; an area essentially undisturbed by human activity together with its naturally developed life community.

Many sportsmen, who I represent for the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, know wilderness as a remote area, far off the beaten track of civilization. We find our wilderness in vast areas of Alaska and Canada. It doesn't exist in Maine.

Maine is blessed with large tracts of undeveloped forest but most of it is relatively easy to access. That is unlikely to change as long as the trees harvested in that forest have value and remain important to the state's economy. The Allagash Wilderness Waterway is surrounded by a "working forest" and crossed by bridges that belong to the forest landowners.

This makes Allagash issues particularly difficult to resolve. I know. I've spent hundreds of hours on SAM's behalf on this issue, participated in the River Drivers Agreement that brought peace for only three years, and supported the Legislature's enactment of a new law last session that established Allagash access points and bridges in law. We hoped that law would end much of the bickering about access. But the battles go on.

Equally difficult, wilderness advocates don't seem to recognize that the services they enjoy in the Allagash simply would not be available in a real wilderness.

In the real wilderness, no one carries your stuff for you as you portage the rapids, like they do in the Allagash. No one is riding around in a big motor boat to help you and take care of your campsite. No one turns the water off and on at a dam so you can canoe the river all summer long.

If we wanted a real wilderness in the Allagash, we'd pull the staff out of there, let people fend for themselves, and blow up Churchill Dam. Trust me. This isn't going to happen.

What some are trying to do is turn a recreational river into a faux wilderness, and that's the principle reason we're having so many disagreements. We can't agree on what is appropriate in a faux wilderness.

Ironically, just to the northwest of the Allagash runs a river that is more remote, without staffing, without a dam, and offering the same forested environment along its banks. But the St. John River can't be canoed for most of the summer because the water levels drop so low. The river offers a spectacular trip in the spring but by mid- June, you must be prepared to walk long stretches.

No one is advocating this kind of management for the Allagash. In fact, most of the river's users arrive in July and August to enjoy a warm summer paddle. Without Churchill Dam, they'd be walking. Anglers predominate in the spring and after Labor Day. By the time fall hunters arrive, there's no one else there. Nearly all visitors report that they are very happy with their experience.

I just read a book titled "A Road Runs Through It: Reviving Wild Places," edited by Thomas Reed Petersen. It presents an interesting series of essays about how disruptive roads are to the world's wild places.

Much of the fight in Maine focuses on roads and motorized access. Increasingly intolerant of each other, we want the woods to ourselves. Personally, I think we're going to have to continue sharing the landscape: hikers, hunters, skiers, snowmobilers and those who ride the woods roads to get to their favorite places.

For Maine's outdoor economy, it's essential to understand that we're getting older and most outdoor recreationists are going to rely on motors to get into the forest to enjoy their favorite activities. Even the most able-bodied find their vacation time limited and must get into the forest quickly for a few days of recreation.

To get to my camp on Sourdahunk Lake, it once took days of travel including steamships and a final bumpy ride in a buckboard. Today, we get there in about four hours including one hour of driving through Baxter Park.

Once I get to camp, I appreciate the relative remoteness of the park. It's the closest I can get to real wilderness in Maine -- or will get in my lifetime. And it's good enough for me.

George Smith is executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine. He lives in Mount Vernon and can be reached at george@samcef.org.

Snowmobilers Hoping For Snow
This article appeared in the January 08, 2007 edition of the Bangor Daily News:

Snowmobilers yearn for winter

BELFAST - With nary a snowflake in sight, open water in the lakes and the ground soft enough for planting, members of the Maine Snowmobile Association gazed at the bare landscape longing for winters past.

A few dozen of the 30,000-strong organization were on hand for the MSA’s coastal and central Maine regional meeting at Troy Howard Middle School on Saturday. To a member, all lamented the strange lack of snow this winter. If snowmobilers thought last year was bad, this year is stacking up to be even worse, they said. On a normal winter Saturday, they would be on the trails, instead of chewing the fat and downing spaghetti and meatballs in a middle school cafeteria.

"That’s why I’m here today: I can’t ride," Scott Ramsay of the Maine Department of Conservation told the gathering.

Harvey Chesley, MSA president, said the economy of northern Maine could not withstand another poor winter. He said the snowmobile community was not just riders and dealers, it was also the many small businesses that count on providing goods and hospitality to the riders of Maine and from out of state.

"People are very pessimistic," Chesley said. "We’re hearing from business owners north of Newport, Greenville, Millinocket and Aroostook County who are really hurting. Last year they were down 60-70 percent. If that happens again this year, a lot of them could really be in trouble."

That observation was echoed by Ken Ingalls, vice president of the MSA’s central region. Ingalls said the association needed to keep the faith and work harder as an organization to support those in need. He described this winter as "an oddity" and reminded members of the poor winters that hit during the 1970s and ’80s.

"Our economy is a vacation-land economy, and a lot of people are really hurting this year from Mother Nature," Ingalls said. "These kind of meetings should be celebrations, but they’re not, because we’ve got bare ground. ... This kind of weather has been exasperating to all of us."

Ramsay noted that last winter’s poor snowfall was to blame for a 25 percent decrease in snowmobile registrations and resulted in a loss of $350,000 in revenue. He said that as of last week, just 2,700 of the state’s 100,000 snowmobiles had been registered for the 2007 season.

"We’ll probably see more ATV [all-terrain vehicle] registrations than snowmobile registrations this year," said Ramsay. He said that at last count 62,000 ATVs were registered in Maine.

That information was troubling to some snowmobile club members because the growing use of ATVs has created friction with private landowners. Unlike snowmobilers who travel on groomed trails and are relatively unobtrusive, some ATV riders have been known to rip through fields and woods, leaving behind a swath of ruts.

"A lot of our land is being posted because of people misusing their ATVs," Capt. Joel Wilkinson of the Maine Warden Service told the gathering. "Landowners appreciate that you guys take care of the land, that you clean up their land."

Wilkinson said the shift in land ownership, from the old days when benign timber companies granted public access to hundreds of thousands of acres to plots controlled by land trusts, preservationists and corporations with an eye on the bottom line, will continue to curtail access. He predicted that sports people of the future could be confronted with fees if they want to use private land.

"We all know that if people don’t let us on their land we won’t be able to recreate," Wilkinson said. "There needs to be some kind of an initiative, other than the kindness of their hearts, for people to open their land. Maine is changing."

Paul Davis of Sangerville, a retired state senator, claimed that state government was working against the very people who support it. He cited last year’s Katahdin Lake transaction that blocked snowmobile access to thousands of acres as the most recent example of a growing trend.

"We have to get more political or we’re going to lose it," Davis said. "We can’t let the Land for Maine’s Future buy land and then prohibit the people paying for it to use it."

New Bridge Over The Allagash Wilderness Waterway
The Allagash Wilderness Waterway Work Group is recommending replacing the Henderson Brook Bridge near Round Pond on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway with a longer, higher span that incorporates new building technology developed by University of Maine engineers.

Henderson Brook Bridge is used by logging trucks carrying an estimated 150,000 tons of timber annually. Another 20,000 recreational visitors to the area also use the bridge yearly. But nearly 40 years of heavy use and severe winters have taken a toll on the bridge.

The new bridge will be built adjacent to, but slightly downstream from, the existing bridge. The proposed bridge would be more than 200 feet long, 30 feet longer than the current bridge, and stand about 3 feet higher.

The University of Maine’s Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center will construct two piers out of steel I-beams and concrete encased in a glass fiber and polymer resin composite. The composite is comparable to steel in terms of strength but can be dyed and textured to resemble wood. The sides of the bridge visible to river users would also be covered with wood from native trees to blend better with the surroundings.

The timber industry is expected to pay to replace the state-owned bridge, which could cost more than $1 million. Partnering with the University of Maine to build a first-of-its-kind bridge could also help the state garner federal funds for the project.

The rebuilding of the bridge in the Allagash angers some environmental and conservationist groups who believe the state should be removing manmade structures from the federally designated "wild and scenic" waterway. Several environmental organizations declined to appoint representatives to the panel and, instead, urged the state to move the bridge outside of the waterway.

The economic impact of moving the bridge would cost the timber industry $562,000 annually in additional transportation costs. Eliminating the local crossing would also cost the industry nearly $1.2 million.

Read the Plum Creek Plan
Please check out a website dedicated to providing information about the revised Plum Creek plan.

You should also be able to access the EMDC study as well as ITS trail maps from this website.

Read the EMDC Study of the Plum Creek Plan Impacts
For the complete EMDC impact study, go to the following link on the LURC website:

http://mainegov- images.informe.org/doc/lurc/reference/resourceplans/ moosehead/2006-08-18appb.pdf

[Caution: This is a very large file and may take a long time to download.]

Upcoming Events of Interest
May 2007 - Public Hearings on Plum Creek Plan: The Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) has announced that the public hearings for the Plum Creek plan will tentatively be in mid-to-late May 2007. We’ll keep you up to date as details follow.

email: info@preservegrowme.org
phone: 888-702-7466
web: http://www.preservegrowme.org