BAXTER STATE PARK – Even Baxter State Park, in the heart of Maine’s north woods, feels the shock waves when Wall Street goes south.

The Baxter State Park Authority plans to increase fees by half over the next two years. Friday it started the process by approving a 30 percent increase in camping fees and boosting gate fees for out-of-staters by a fifth, to balance its budget under the strain of investment losses.

“We have a responsibility to protect the fiscal resources of the park, as well as the natural resources,” park Director Irvin “Buzz” Caverly said.

Caverly and fellow authority members – Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Lee Perry, Maine Forest Service Director Tom Doak and Attorney General Steven Rowe – unanimously approved the first round of increases.

Park administrators also have approved a hiring freeze, effective immediately. Eight positions that are currently empty will not be filled, and the salaries have been removed from the 2003 budget, Caverly said.

“We’ve done the responsible thing, to plan ahead and take action, so we don’t operate regularly for the next few years, then face a major shortfall,” he said.

Park administrators unanimously approved a $2.7 million budget for 2003 at the meeting at Kidney Pond Campground. The final draft showed more than $90,000 in cuts from previous drafts.

Caverly blamed a reduction in the value of the Baxter State Park Trust on a more conservative investment strategy, approved in January, combined with earlier market losses.

Former Gov. Percival Baxter created the trust when he donated nearly $7 million to his namesake park shortly before his death in 1969.

Investment managers in charge of the $56.8 million trust warned Caverly that without drastic changes, the park could face budget shortfalls totaling almost a half-million dollars by 2005.

In response, the Baxter State Park Authority capped the trust’s contribution to the 2003 budget at $1.55 million, $130,000 less than last year’s contribution. The remainder of the $2.7 million budget will be raised entirely from recreation fees, a move that was endorsed Friday by the authority and many members of the Baxter State Park advisory board.

A proposal to raise fees again in Jan. 2004, bringing the total fee increase to 50 percent, also gained support Friday, and will likely be approved at the authority’s September meeting.

“We put all the cards on the table,” Caverly said. “Everyone is together on this.”

Baxter State Park recreation fees for 2003 are listed below:

Lean-to summer rate: $8;

Cabin summer rate: $22;

Bunkhouse summer rate: $9;

General lean-to winter rate: $10;

Lean-to winter rate at Chimney Pond: $28;

Cabin winter rate: $26;

Bunkhouse winter rate: $15;

Gate fee: $9.

Each rate refers to the per-night cost for a single camper. Winter rate changes will take effect Nov. 1, 2002, and increased fees for summer camping and gate access will take effect Jan. 1, 2003.

Misty Edgecomb is the outdoor reporter for the Bangor Daily News. She can be reached at medgecomb@bangordailynews.net.