Commercial use frets Baxter officials

Turned off by the thought of spending a frigid January day in line at Baxter State Park to secure a campsite for the July Fourth weekend? For those with a little less drive and a little more money, that campsite can be purchased from a wilderness backpacking service for $380 per person.

Don’t feel like hiking through miles of mosquitoes for a glimpse of one of Baxter’s famous moose? An air-conditioned safari van will get you within snapshot range of the state mascot for $25 per person.

Growing interest in these types of services worries the stewards of Baxter State Park, who fear that commercial users could interfere with the enjoyment of the people of Maine, for whom the park was intended.

So this summer, the park will conduct a survey of park visitors to determine the scope and impact of commerce within Baxter.

“The park can’t be everything to everybody all the time,” said park director Irvin “Buzz” Caverly Jr. “As time goes on, there are more demands.”

In recent years, pressure by commercial outfitters, nonprofit groups such as camps, scouts and schools, and particularly commercial photographers, have been on the rise, he said.

Last summer, Caverly spotted six professional photographers stalking moose on little Sandy Stream Pond.

“When you get that many photographers, Dad and Mom and the kids can’t stand out there and look at a moose,” Caverly said. “We want to give everyone an equitable, fair chance.”

Richard Aspinall of Durham has sold guided Baxter tours for seven years and doesn’t feel that his small business, consisting of a few July Fourth and Labor Day weekend reservations, has much of an impact.

The business fills a niche – a few novice campers from out-of-state who don’t know their way around Baxter’s reservation system or its trails, he said.

The guide said he supports the idea of scheduling commercial outfitters and large groups to avoid crowding, however.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve gone looking for some peace and quiet and found a crowd,” Aspinall said. “It’s just so busy all the time. It’s kind of losing its luster.”

Although Baxter will always welcome young hikers and campers, the large, raucous groups that flock to Baxter during summer vacation can interfere with others’ park experience, Caverly said.

The park director believes that conflicts can be avoided with proper planning – perhaps by placing limits on the number of outfitters, photographers or groups that visit the park in a single day.

The park’s volunteer advisory council considered instituting a commercial permit system this summer but, with time drawing short, decided in favor of the voluntary survey that will begin with the park’s busy season in May.

Information will be distributed at the gatehouse with instructions to answer the questions about park use and mail the survey back to Baxter.

In the fall, park advisers will use the information to draft a commercial-use policy that could be in place as early as spring 2004.

“Our first objective is just to find out who’s using [the park] and what for,” said Frank Clukey of East Millinocket, who heads the park advisers’ commercial-use subcommittee.

“We’re not looking to create any adversity,” Clukey said. “We’re looking to give them a better experience.”