Wilderness experience

Your Dec. 9-10 editorial did a fine job of discussing the pros and cons of the lawsuit over John’s Bridge access on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. Over the years, various developments along the AWW, such as bridges, unnecessary access points, the road to Allagash Lake, Nugent’s Sporting Camps, Jalbert’s Sporting Camps, high-horsepower motors on Chamberlain Lake, the very large trash dump at Nugent’s log cabins, ranger, warden and snowmobile club camps, and large-group use of campsites have diminished the Allagash wilderness experience.

We can look closer to home for examples of how development has harmed the wilderness. Brewer Lake, Chemo Pond and Pushaw Lake are nice places to visit and live, but there’s no wilderness experience at these lakes. Camps, homes, roads, outboard motors and chainsaws have turned these lakes into small towns with problems of sewage disposal, potholed roads, poorly-maintained dwellings, junk cars and commuter traffic.

The Allagash lawsuit is only the opening salvo in a drive to bring some of the wilderness of long ago back to Maine.

Paul Shanley

Eddington