Call me an old-timer if you want, but in my 74 years in Greenville I’ve served on the Planning Board, school board, hospital board and even as a county commissioner. I remember the Greenville of long ago, and I’d be pleased to see us return to that level of prosperity again in my lifetime.

Anyone who lived back then can tell you what it will take to restore the good old days. We need a stronger recreation economy and increased investment in forest products. Many of us locals have worked with Plum Creek Timber Co., by far the region’s largest landowner, to help shape a future for the region that builds on the strengths of the past.

A hundred years ago, this area was supported by timber harvesting and the sporting camps and resorts. If you looked around Moosehead Lake back then, the shoreline was dotted with places for folks to stay. There was the big, 500-room Mount Kineo Hotel, which featured 100 guides, golf links and you name it. There was Lily Bay House; inns in Greenville; a few hotels in Rockwood; two places at Seboomook; Northeast Carry; and sporting camps all over the area. Like many area families, mine was tied to the lodging industry. At one time, I believe, there were 92 steamboats on Moosehead Lake. Today, we have one: the steamship Katahdin. And we have no resorts even remotely reminiscent of the grand hotels of the past.

Not only that, but there have always been private camps all along the shoreline and in the woods too, though a lot of those are gone now. There was a time when Great Northern Paper required that there be places to stay at least every 10 miles on their property. All of those facilities are gone now also. People tend to forget, or they never knew in the first place, but this is how it was in this area for generations. Plum Creek isn’t proposing anything new.

At one time, this area was served by three rail lines. When the railroads went out of business, and people started using cars to get everywhere, people stopped coming up to Moosehead for weeks at a time. But times are changing again, and people want to spend more time in a single place. That’s where we can have an advantage as a community, and Plum Creek’s plan will help us get there.

The people fussing the most about Plum Creek’s plan probably don’t know or respect the history of our area. From what I have read, it seems like all these people think they are going to save us from ourselves. But what they really want is to save all

of Plum Creek’s land for themselves. We want business back here in Greenville; we want jobs and opportunities for our children and grandchildren. Our ties to the land are real, and they go back generations. If any landowner tried to spoil this area, we would be the first up in arms.

Instead, for the first time ever, we have a large landowner putting their cards on the table and trying to plan responsibly for the future. This is the opportunity we have always wanted. Greenville can’t control the land all around it, but that land holds the key to our future. This is our chance to rebuild the recreation heritage we once had. Building a few houses in each of 29 townships over the next 15 years is not going to change the area, except for the better.

It’s easier to complain than to be constructive. I just hope we don’t throw away this chance to get a healthy recreation and forest economy back again. Today, we are the poorest county in the state. Businesses are leaving, and people are leaving, and that is what has to change. Plum Creek’s got the idea that we can move forward by going back to our heritage.

It makes sense to me.

Tony Bartley is a lifelong Greenville resident.