MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 12, 2021
After 39 years as the director of the North Maine Woods, Al Cowperthwaite will retire at the end of this month with a legacy of maintaining alliances between outdoor enthusiasts and the forest companies that own much of the land. North Maine Woods Inc. was created in 1971, becoming a nonprofit a decade later. It manages access and recreational opportunities to 3.5 million acres of wild forestland in northwest Maine, making certain that the forest-products companies are able to log their land without interference. The area, which accounts for 16 percent of the state’s geography, is a veritable playground to fishermen, hunters, hikers and campers that is teeming with moose, deer, grouse, black bear, native brook trout, and a suite of boreal songbirds.