Wednesday, May 21, 2003
State Backs Hut System
05/21/03
By Rebecca Zicarelli
2003 Irregular
WESTERN MAINE -- Maine Huts and Trails, the proposed hut system and recreation trail for people-powered recreation stretching from Newry to Moosehead Lake, gained a powerful advocate last week -- the state of Maine.
Deputy Commissioner of Conservation Karin Tilberg said, "The administration is warmly supportive of the overall concept of the hut and trail idea. We are intrigued by the opportunity to enhance the economic health of the communities adjacent to the trail, especially if it becomes a world-class backcountry recreation destination. We have been working with Western Mountains Foundation and Friends of Bigelow to ensure a trail is located in an appropriate manner and is sensitive to public concerns about the Bigelow Preserve."
Last week, state officials negotiated an agreement that should help resolve the biggest hurdle to the trail thus far -- opposition to a groomed cross-country ski trail passing through the Bigelow Preserve.
To go east from Carrabassett Valley to Flagstaff Lake, the trail must cross either the preserve or land owned by the Penobscot Indian Nation. But according to Larry Warren, president of the Western Mountains Foundation, initially the Penobscots were unwilling to negotiate trail corridors, and the Bigelow Preserve was then the only available route.
The Bigelow Act allows cross-country skiing. But it was written and adopted by voters in 1976, years before groomed trails were part of the services expected by Nordic skiers. Mechanized traffic, except for timber harvesting and snowmobiling, is banned by the act that created the preserve.
Because of the apparent ambiguity of the Act, the Bureau of Parks and Lands recommended clarifying it through the legislative process. So the Western Mountains Foundation filed legislation, LD 926, to amend the Bigelow Act, allowing for mechanically groomed ski trails.
The Friends of Bigelow, the citizen group that led the effort to create the preserve by citizen referendum, has adamantly opposed the hut and trail proposal and any legislation that would modify the Bigelow Act.
The Committee on Forestry, Conservation and Agriculture had a workshop on the bill last Monday, where, based on the promise of an agreement worked out recently, they voted ONTP, ought not to pass, though this agreement had not yet been signed by the Friends.
One major stumbling block was language in the agreement that indicated the conditions the trail would have to meet to even be considered in the Bigelow Preserve, should negotiations with other landowners fail. Last minute negotiations late last week resolved the issue.
Friends chairman, Dick Fecteau said, "There is no back-up plan that includes the preserve if negotiations with other land owners, meaning the Penobscots, don't work out. That has been removed."
Warren said, "Western Mountains Foundation is pleased to resolve this issue and to start building the hut and trail system as opposed to arguing about it."
AGREEMENT DETAILS
Ralph Knoll, of the Bureau of Parks and Land, negotiated the agreement. It commits the state to helping with the trail system, the Western Mountains Foundation to searching for an alternate route, and the Friends of Bigelow to not opposing the hut and trail system.
Knoll said, "The agreement has been signed by all parties, after some last-minute negotiations. The agreement still emphasizes and clearly states that locating the trail outside the Bigelow Preserve is the preferred approach of all the parties. It describes the conditions of the trail outside the preserve, and also describes the parameters of moving the hut from the current proposed location in Dead River Township to outside the preserve boundaries. It also describes the parameters of any impacts that this project might have on existing hiking trails, primarily the Appalachian Trail."
The agreement calls for Western Mountains Foundation and the state to conduct good-faith negotiations with private landowners, including the Penobscot Indian Nation, to find a route that goes around the Bigelow Preserve and also crosses the Appalachian Trail outside the preserve.
The proposed hut site on Flagstaff Lake would also be moved to the east, outside the bounds of Dead River Township. All the land in Dead River Township was included in the Bigelow Act, but not purchased as part of the preserve when it was created. Knoll said the state will attempt to negotiate the purchase of the land in Dead River Township, which is owned by Central Maine Power, thus expanding the preserve to the original boundaries. But Knowles said this will only happen on a "willing-seller, willing-buyer" basis. "We will not use eminent domain," he said.
While any reference to the Western Mountain Foundation trail passing through the preserve has been removed, language describing cross-country trails through the preserve remains in the agreement, Knoll said. "Another component does lay out the conditions for a cross-country ski-trail in the preserve."
He stressed that this language does not mean the hut and trail system is automatically allowed through the preserve should negotiations with other landowners fail over the next six to nine months. "Any project like the one put forward by the Western Mountains Foundation that would be contemplated for state-owned land would involve input from advisory committees and the public."
INVOLVING THE PENOBSCOT NATION
Knoll said, "The department is ready and willing to commit its resource to help the parties find a location for the hut and trail system outside the Bigelow Preserve."
That commitment will mean helping to negotiate hut locations as well as trail corridors. Moving the Flagstaff hut disrupts the spacing of a day's trek between huts. To restore that spacing, one of two options is possible. An additional hut may be added to the system, or the hut site on the western side of the preserve may be relocated. In either case, the new hut site would potentially be located on Penobscot land.
When asked if the Penobscots were willing to negotiate now, Knoll said, "Indications so far are that they appear to be interested in having these discussions. But all the parties are going to have to work hard in order to reach an agreement. We made a commitment to the Western Mountains Foundation that we will be at the table with the Penobscots, and the tribe has indicated that they welcome somebody from the state there trying to be helpful."
Warren said, "In considering the relocation of the hut onto Penobscot Indian Nation land, we are open to any potential involvement with the Penobscots. We recognize their initiatives to find economic solutions for their people and feel there may be opportunities with this hut that may be mutually beneficial."
Knoll's responsibility to help with negotiations will spread beyond the Bigelow area, and potentially include the entire trail. And he indicated that his expertise may be just the beginning of the assistance the state brings to the project.
"My experience is with natural resources," he said, "not necessarily economic development. We may bring in other people, including people from State Planning, DECD, Tourism; any of the support services out there to try and move the project forward. This project offers opportunity to combine managed recreational opportunities in this part of the state with the traditional timber-based economy."
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