The Legislature is considering a bill, LD 143, called An Act to Improve Public Access to Public Lands. This won’t improve anything. It’s an attack on the Bigelow Mountain Preserve, a magnificent place protected by the people of Maine 30 years ago.

My family has had some great camping and hiking experiences at Bigelow, and our joy comes from the fact that this place remains undeveloped. I was one of the many Mainers who signed the original petition to save Bigelow from becoming a high-end ski resort in the 1970s, a greedy move that would have blighted the natural beauty of this place forever. Now there is an ill-considered move to develop a commercial ski trail through the preserve, and it should be stopped in its tracks.

Most of our state continues to be open to all kinds of commercial development, ski trails included. Let’s make sure a few special places, such as Bigelow, remain off limits to that sort of activity, which erodes the wilderness experience so many of us treasure, an experience that gets harder to find as a tide of sprawl spreads across our state.

Steve Cartwright

Waldoboro