The place we call home

In response to “Proposed national park has no takers” (BDN op-ed, May 8), John Simko makes some valid points. When I first heard of the national park idea some years ago, I thought it sounded great – a chance to protect a vast portion of northern Maine’s beautiful wild land for recreation and wildlife, and perhaps boost the local economy.

I live in Bar Harbor and work in the land conservation field, so I’m fairly familiar with the issues of conservation and national parks, though obviously not very familiar with the local economy of northern Maine. Last summer, as I visited Greenville and Moosehead Lake with my family, I tried to imagine what it would be like if this area became the gateway community to a new national park. I saw the rural, remote feel of this special place, now characterized by local guide services, outfitters, locally owned restaurants, Folsom’s float planes and lots of open space, replaced by McDonald’s, Burger King, big hotels and wider roads.

Maybe with the proper planning and vision, a park could work here without ruining the unique qualities of this special Maine community. Or maybe I’m just naive to hope this place can retain its local character for years to come.

Simko is right, there are many conservation projects going on now in the North Woods that take into account local land uses, and they are more sophisticated than simply a purchase of land by the National Park Service. His call to “look at what is working here and what works elsewhere in the northern forest which we might learn from and implement, without destroying the place many of us call home” makes a lot of sense to me.

Patrick Watson

Bar Harbor