Festival: theme: Don’t fence ME in!

The first Maine Woods Film Festival is scheduled for this Saturday at the Big Moose Inn outside of Millinocket on Millinocket Lake from 10 a.m. to noon. It’s designed to counter the news that Hollywood celebrities are pushing for a federal park in the middle of the Maine woods.

It seems unbelievable that we have to worry about willful out-of-state groups like RESTORE: The North Woods, Sierra Club, Northern Forest Alliance and others who want to federally zone our working forest, but like a lot of crazy situations in life, we have to face it and act together to protect ourselves.

These are clever groups who understand how to move an issue to the conclusion they want. One of the RESTORE Board of Directors members (Brock Evans) is credited with engineering the “spotted owl” campaign in the Pacific Northwest a few years ago.

The latest manipulation to steer us toward a park was the announcement by RESTORE that nearly 100 prominent people want us to have one. The list includes Harrison Ford, Jeff Bridges, Ted Danson, Christopher Reeve (shame on Superman!) and actresses Meryl Streep and Lauren Hutton).

Before Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) shows up in some place like Onawa this fall promoting a national park, it looked like a good time to stand together and shout, “NO PARK!”

A recent Channel 7 television poll shows that 93 percent who responded don’t want a park, so it may be standing room only at the Film Festival, and we may run out of ribbons, bumper stickers, collectible T-shirts and stickers. What ever happens, it will be you and me together against people who don’t care what we think but who have enough smarts and money that they could cause a whole lot of trouble if we don’t act together.

Realizing this, the commissioners of Piscataquis, Penobscot and Somerset counties have joined in sponsoring the Maine Woods Film Festival, along with the Maine Snowmobile Association (MSA), the Fin and Feather Club, the Maine Leaseholders Association, Pulp and Paper Resource Council (PPRC), and the Hourglass Alliance.

“Don’t Fence ME In!” is the theme of the Film Festival. The title of Cole Porter’s great old song (made popular by Bing Crosby) from the ’40s seems to just fit the mood of Mainers today when it comes to a federal park in the Maine Woods. They know that further restrictions on the land they need for working and playing affects the economy they need for raising and enjoying their families. When we think of what matters to each of us the most, it is our families and our relationship to them we most want to grow and preserve.

The Maine Woods Film Festival (“take” one) should be a lot of fun. But beyond the fun, the purpose is very serious. We’ll be standing together to solidly oppose the RESTORE vision of tourists running all over the back country, beating down our favorite spots, and harassing wildlife with too much traffic. What kind of sound land protection policy is that from people who say they want to “protect” the land?

Most importantly, we’ll be fighting against any chance in the future of Big Brother taking over millions of acres of privately owned Maine woods. Those woods represent our economy and that economic base shouldn’t be locked up and guarded by federal park police. In personal terms, we’re fighting for the opportunity of Mainers to live next door, or in the next town, to the next generations of the families they love and who need them.

Mary Adams was born and raised in Dover-Foxcroft and lives in Garland. She is editor of www.adamsreport.com.