Editorial: 10 years on, Katahdin Woods and Waters is a monument worth celebrating

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 20, 2026

The Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument was created a decade ago when then-President Barack Obama signed an executive order. The 85,563 acres for the monument were given to the federal government, along with an endowment to maintain the monument, by Roxanne Quimby and her family. When first proposed, it was often met with vitriol and venom. A decade after the monument’s official designation, that anger has largely subsided. It is, in part, a testament to the benefits that the conserved land has brought to a region that has been hit hard by the shuttering of paper mills and the accompanying loss of jobs.