March 29, 2024
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Allagash panelists drop board oversight plan

AUGUSTA – Members of a state panel on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway reversed course Wednesday by dropping a proposal to place management of the scenic river in the hands of a board of appointees.

Instead, the panel opted to create a “waterway superintendent” position in hopes that an empowered manager could help resolve the disputes that seem to echo from the Allagash to Augusta every few years.

The group also recommended that the state create a special, protected fund to help finance the waterway.

Members of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Working Group said comments made at public hearings held throughout the state two weeks ago, as well as written comments submitted since then, convinced them to abandon the five-member “Board of Overseers” proposal.

Nearly a dozen people urged the panel to drop the governing board idea at the Nov. 28 meetings, arguing the board would create another layer of bureaucracy between the public and what was happening on the ground in the waterway.

“The Board of Overseers is a neat idea but is not the right idea for this time and age,” panel chairman Don Nicoll said Wednesday.

Panel members plan to tweak the language of their new recommendations in the coming month before submitting a final report to Gov. John Baldacci.

If Baldacci agrees, he would likely prepare legislation for consideration during the current Legislature.

Panelists repeatedly expressed a desire to “elevate” the Allagash within Maine’s state park system in recognition of the waterway’s unique characteristics.

Stretching for 92 miles through northwestern Maine’s commercial forests, the waterway is a popular destination for canoeists and kayakers seeking multiday trips in a wilderness setting.

But conservationists’ desire to limit access to the federally designated “wild and scenic river” has occasionally conflicted with some St. John Valley residents’ regard for the river as central to local culture and history.

Panelists said the Allagash superintendent should have broad authority to make management decisions, handle financial issues and shape the long-term future of the waterway.

Working with a seven-member advisory council and ad hoc technical committees, the superintendent could hopefully work to address conflicts before they escalate to the point of lawsuits or legislative action, group members said.

The waterway manager would report to the superintendent who in turn would report directly to the head of the Bureau of Parks and Lands within Maine’s Department of Conservation. Presently, the manager reports to a regional director of the BPL based in Bangor.

Dick Barringer, a former conservation commissioner, said hiring a superintendent would return the Allagash to the way it was run in the early 1990s.

Barringer, the primary author of the superintendent proposal, called the decision to re-organize the waterway during the 1990s a “dreadful mistake.”

Only one person on the seven-member panel voted to keep the Board of Overseers. In fact, panelist Brownie Carson, who is executive director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, was consistently the lone dissenting voice during Wednesday’s meeting.

Carson questioned whether the superintendent would have the authority to negotiate with the National Park Service or to handle more contentious issues such as road construction.

Carson also questioned whether adding a superintendent rather than creating a quasi-independent board would truly insulate the Allagash from political interference.

“I stand firmly in my position that … we are going down the wrong path if we keep the status quo,” he said.

The panel plans to recommend the creation of a separate endowment or fund where private groups or individuals could contribute to help finance Allagash operations.

The group said the state should explore ways to protect that fund from being “raided” for money during tight budget years.

The panel’s retreat from the Board of Overseers proposal did not sit well with everyone in the room Wednesday.

Bob and Diane Guethlen, residents of Tomhegan Township on Moosehead Lake who are active in Allagash issues, criticized the panel for “taking the easy way out” instead of proposing bold changes to the waterway’s management structure.

“They had an opportunity and they missed it,” Bob Guethlen said.

Panel members set Jan. 19 as a tentative date for presenting their final report to the governor.


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