BAXTER SNOW JOB

It was bad enough that lawmakers were persuaded by one sportsman’s group to interfere with a Baxter State Park land deal. Now, a few legislators have tied their support of the land agreement to the unrelated issue of grooming the park’s perimeter road for snowmobiles. Such posturing should be rejected and the deal approved.

In the works for years, a project to add 6,000 acres of land around Katahdin Lake to the park became controversial when it came to the Legislature this fall. Two-thirds of lawmakers must approve the sale of public lots, which is part of a complex land swap.

The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, which earlier had secured assurances that good hunting land would be purchased to make up for the state land that was being sold, belatedly opposed the deal because the park authority planned to manage the parcel as a sanctuary, meaning no hunting, snowmobiles or ATVs would be allowed.

The majority of the members of the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee last week supported a compromise plan that divided the parcel in two, with 4,000 acres around the lake to be managed by the park as sanctuary land and 2,000 acres to the north to be open to hunting and trapping.

Committee member Sen. Kevin Raye, R-Perry, said he’d only approve the split if the park’s perimeter road was groomed for snowmobiles. Two of his colleagues from Aroostook County agreed. Sen. Raye said he was concerned about the local economy and that grooming Baxter park’s perimeter road would increase snowmobile traffic in the area. The town council in Millinocket, which is the gateway to the park, was concerned about the land deal and came up with a list of four things they’d like to see happen. Grooming the perimeter road for snowmobiling was not among them.

Snowmobiles were banned from the park in 1976. Faced with a potential legal challenge, the park authority asked a state court whether it had the power to regulate snowmobile use. The court said it did. After four public hearings, the park authority in 1981 voted 2-to-1 to allow snowmobiles on the perimeter road. Despite repeated requests, the road has never been groomed.

Grooming the perimeter road for snowmobiles will allow the machines to go faster – the 20 miles per hour speed limit will largely be ignored – so there will be more accidents. It is also likely to spark a debate over whether snowmobiles should be allowed in the park at all, an issue that has been settled for 25 years. If Sen. Raye is determined to get the park road groomed, he must also be committed to work with conservation groups to mute their opposition to snowmobiles in the park.

Sen. Raye acknowledges that lawmakers can’t tell the park authority what to do. Instead, he said, he was just making this land deal contingent on grooming. If that isn’t telling the authority what to do, it is very close.

If lawmakers don’t like the com-promise deal by the committee, they should reject it and find a better way to make this project happen. If they believe there should be easier snowmobile access to the park, that issue should be debated on its own.