Legislature braces for land debates Clashes expected over Allagash Waterway, Katahdin Lake measures Body Spec: Body Text; colw: 11p0; depth:12.62 (in.)

AUGUSTA – Lawmakers are heading into what should be the closing days of the legislative session with two of the year’s most politically charged issues still on their plates: management of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway and the Katahdin Lake land deal.

While legislative leaders said they hope both measures will make it to Gov. John Baldacci’s desk, they also are bracing for heated floor debates over two issues regarded by some as part of a larger “culture war.”

“I am cautiously optimistic,” House Speaker John Richardson said Friday afternoon. “I am also aware of what could go terribly wrong during floor debate. So it is my hope that all of the issues will be settled before it goes to the floor.”

Members of the Senate on Friday gave early approval without debate to a bill mandating access to the protected Allagash Wilderness Waterway at 11 spots and guaranteeing a permanent river crossing near Henderson Brook.

The bill, which could come up for a vote in the Senate early next week, pitted St. John Valley residents concerned about losing access to the river against conservationists who want to protect the river’s status as a “wild and scenic” waterway.

Sen. John Nutting, co-chairman of the Joint Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee that vetted the controversial bill, said the current version appears to have the support of 30 of the Senate’s 35 members. He and others are hoping to bring even more senators on board before next week’s vote.

House leaders said they expect the bill to face more opposition on the House floor.

A bill key to the Katahdin Lake land deal, meanwhile, is headed in the opposite direction.

House leaders hope to begin debating the Katahdin Lake measure Monday, with votes coming early in the week.

“I think there will be debate, but I think it will go fairly quickly and fairly well in the House,” said Rep. John Piotti, a Unity Democrat and the other co-chairman of the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee.

The bill, LD 2015, authorizes the sale of more than 7,000 acres of state-owned forests as part of a land swap that will net the state 6,015 acres surrounding Katahdin Lake. Supporters of the deal, which would be financed entirely with private donations, claim it will fulfill former Gov. Percival Baxter’s original vision for the park he single-handedly created.

The committee held three weeks of marathon meetings to broker a compromise that could win the support of two-thirds of the Legislature.

The latest deal would annex 4,040 acres and the lake into Baxter State Park, where it would likely be managed as a wildlife sanctuary. Another 1,975 acres north of the lake would be managed by the Bureau of Parks and Lands and remain open to hunting, trapping, snowmobiling and other traditional uses.

The Katahdin Lake compromise is expected to spark considerably more debate in the Senate than in the House.

Legislative leaders said they hope lawmakers will debate each bill independently to avoid sparking a larger battle between the environmental community and the defenders of Maine’s “traditional” activities, such as hunting and logging.

“It would be very difficult to try to debate them and pass them at the same time,” Nutting said.