Friday, August 8, 2003

Backers look to expand hut, trail system

By JOE RANKIN, Staff Writer

Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
E-mail this story to a friend

CARRABASSETT VALLEY —Backers of a hut and trail system across western Maine are negotiating with the Penobscot Nation for a new hut site and 10 miles of trail on Indian land in Carrabassett Valley.

The Western Mountains Foundation began talks with the Penobscots as an alternative to crossing the state-owned Bigelow Preserve after Preserve advocates objected to proposals to groom the trail for cross-country skiing in the winter.

The foundation is also negotiating with FPL Energy to relocate a proposed hut near the preserve's northern boundary about 1 1/2 miles north to Flagstaff Lake's eastern shore.

The proposed $7 million hut and trail system would run from Newry to Rockwood. It would host cross-country skiers in the winter and hikers and bikers in the summer. The "huts" would be half-million dollar eco-lodges.

Larry Warren, the former Sugarloaf/USA president who heads the ambitious project, said he is optimistic the negotiations with the Penobscots, who own thousands of acres in Carrabassett Valley, will prove fruitful.

"At this stage of the game I'm encouraged by the actions of the tribal council and (Penobscot Chief) Barry Dana and other individuals who represent the Penobscot Nation," Warren said recently.

Rick Nicolar, a member of the Tribal Council and its Land Committee, said the committee will take up Warren's proposal Aug. 13.

Nicolar said he likes the hut and trail system idea because it emphasizes respect for the land and people-powered activities, not motorized recreation.

"As an individual tribe member, not a councilor or anything, what I would like to see is the land is being used. And the town of Carrabassett will benefit from the tourists who hike these trails and use their motels, restaurants and stores. And there will be some monetary benefit to the tribe down the road," Nicolar said.

The Friends of Bigelow fought Warren's initial plan to run the trail eight miles through the 33,000-acre Bigelow Preserve, and also opposed a hut site just outside the preserve's northern boundary.

Under an agreement with the Friends of Bigelow and the state Department of Conservation's Bureau of Parks and Lands, the foundation agreed to explore the possibility of running the cross-country ski trail around the Bigelow Preserve across tribal land.

That agreement stipulated that if something could not be worked out with the Penobscots in six months, talks with the parks and lands bureau for a trail corridor across the preserve would resume.

The agreement was signed in May.

Warren said the plan he submitted to the Penobscots calls for a trail along Poplar Stream with a hut site just north of Poplar Stream Falls. That would mean a distance of about 10 miles between that hut and the Flagstaff hut, he said.

The hut on tribal land would probably be one of the first three built, along with one on Flagstaff Lake and one along the Carrabassett River north of the Appalachian Trail. Another proposed hut just south of the Bigelow Preserve would probably be postponed, Warren said.


Joe Rankin — 474-9534, Ext. 341

jrankin@centralmaine.com