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News & Updates
Americans for a Maine Woods National Park and Preserve Announced
For release
May 5, 2003
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Formation of a new group of national leaders called “Americans
for a Maine Woods National Park” has been announced by its Co-Chairs
Will LaPage and Roxanne Quimby. To date, 110 distinguished Americans from
many walks of life have joined this national advisory committee in order
to promote the proposed Maine Woods National Park and Preserve on the
merits of its long-term benefits to the state and nation.
“The declining timber industry and economic downslide of northern
Maine shows us that we should all take a fresh look at what this new park
could do for Maine,” says LaPage. “While protecting this historic
area of the Maine Woods from development that now threatens it, the Park
would help stabilize and enhance the local economy.”
Quimby notes that over $11 billion is pumped annually into communities
adjacent to national parks across the country. Maine’s own Acadia,
for instance, is responsible for an estimated $161 million injected into
its local economy each year, along with 2,300 jobs. “It’s a
win-win situation when you can save magnificent lands for future generations
and wildlife to enjoy while helping local people earn a living,”
she added.
While living in Piscataquis County for twenty years, Quimby founded Burt’s
Bees Inc., a natural skin care products company. She is now acquiring
lands as a core for the future Park and is creating a visitor’s center
in the gateway community of Monson, where she recently purchased a small
farm.
LaPage, professor of Park Management and Tourism at the University of
Maine and an authority on park financing, points out that so far 14 of
those serving on the “Americans” committee are Mainers, and
five are seasonal residents, and many others have strong ties to Maine.
Besides the Co-Chairs, Mainers serving are: Kate Barnes, Cindy Blodgett,
John N. Cole (deceased), Annie Getchell, Gordon Glover, Paul F. Haertel,
Michael Herz, Robert Kimber, Terrell, S. Lester, Cherie Mason, David C.
Smith, and Eugene St. Pierre.
Part-time Maine residents on the roster are: Mary Ellen Avery, Yvon Chouinard,
John Hay, Bernd Heinrich, and George M. Woodwell.
Both LaPage and Quimby realize that it takes time for people to get used
to an idea as large as a national park and that all such proposals face
opposition at first. But LaPage explains, “Often the voices most
opposed become the strongest advocates later. Time has shown that national
parks are peace makers and consensus builders because they are powerful
statements of pride in our heritage and our ability to come together in
a common cause.”
“It’s impossible to imagine Maine without Baxter State Park
and Acadia National Park,” states Quimby. “Yet when first proposed,
they were roundly opposed. This is all part of the natural process as
people voice their ideas and weigh what such a Park could mean to them.
This Park will take years to put together, in phases, so the public’s
input will be very much a part of its formation,” she added.
LaPage emphasizes the need for a fair and objective feasibility study
of the economic and environmental aspects of the proposed Park. “To
that end, we on the ‘Americans’ group are committed to fostering
a full, candid dialogue about the proposal in Maine and across the country.”
All told, 35 states and the District of Columbia are now represented on
the “Americans” group, which plans to invite leaders from the
remaining states to come aboard. Additional members and their states follow:
Diane Ackerman (NY), Vernon R. Alden (MA), Buzz Aldrin (CA), Chester Atkins
(MA), Rick Bass (MT), Harry Belafonte (NY), Thomas Berry (NC), Wendell
Berry (KY), Sally Grover Bingham (CA), Nina Leopold Bradley (WI), Jeff
Bridges (CA), *David Brower (CA), Dale L. Bumpers (DC & AR), Mary
Chapin Carpenter (DC), Joseph E. Connolly (FL), Walter Cronkite (NY &
MA), Ted Danson (CA & MA), John P. DeVillars (MA), Calvin B. DeWitt
(WI), Gretel Ehrlich (CA), John Elder (VT), Brock Evans (DC), Renee Fleming
(CT), Harrison Ford (NY & WY), Dave Foreman (NM), Richard T. T. Forman
(MA), David R. Foster (MA), Morgan Freeman (MS), Michael Frome (WA), Jane
Goodall (UK), Ursula Goodenough (MO), Michael S. Harper (RI), Ed Harris
(CA), Paul G. Hawken (CA), Don Henley (TX & CA), Julia Butterfly Hill
(CA), Anthony Hopkins (CA & UK), *Celia M. Hunter (AK), Holly Hunter
(CA), Lauren Hutton (NY), Wes Jackson (KS), Bruce Katz (CA), Stephanie
Kaza (VT), Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (NY), Roger G. Kennedy (NM), Edward
Koren (VT), Bill Kurtis (IL), Anne LaBastille (NY), Laura Linney (NY),
Barry Lopez (OR), Jerry Mander (CA), Lynn Margulis (MA), Martha Marks
(IL), Walter E. Massey (GA), Peter Matthiessen (NY), Michael McCloskey
(OR), Bill McKibben (NY), Stephanie Mills (MI), Sy Montgomery (NH), Margaret
E. Murie (WY), George Neavoll (NM), Richard Nelson (AK), Reed Noss (OR),
David W. Orr (OH), Roger Payne (VT), Robert Pinsky (MA), Carl Pope (CA),
Robert Redford (UT), Christopher Reeve (NY), *Galen Rowell (CA), Jan Schlichtmann
(MA), David Allen Sibley (MA), Michael Soulé (CO), Page Stegner
(CA & VT), Walkin' Jim Stoltz (MT), Meryl Streep (CT), William Styron
(CT), Brian Swimme (CA), John Terborgh (NC), Mary Evelyn Tucker (PA),
Diana Wall (CO), Sam Waterston (NY & CT), *T. H. Watkins (MT), William
Whalen (CA), Terry Tempest Williams (UT), Edward O. Wilson (MA), Robin
W. Winks (CT), Timothy E. Wirth (DC & CO), Ann H. Zwinger (CO).
* Deceased
The “Americans” group has its own identity and leadership, while
being associated with and staffed by RESTORE: The North Woods. Formation
of the committee has been coordinated by RESTORE, which began the campaign
to create the Maine Woods National Park and Preserve in 1994.
For further information, contact Will LaPage at 207-843-9023 or the Maine
Woods National Park Campaign, P.O. Box 89, Hallowell, ME 04347.
Read the full list with biographies
(requires Adobe
Acrobat Reader)
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Preserve News & Updates
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