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Elizabeth Horan Dec. 5, 2016 Katahdin Woods and Waters Elizabeth Horan Dec. 5, 2016 Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Abstract On August 24, 2016, President Obama established the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine. The President was using his executive authority granted by the Antiquities Act, 54 U.S.C. § 320301. The original owners of the property had been trying for years to donate the land to the federal government in order to create a National Park. They had been in communication with Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar since 2011 and provided seemingly ample evidence that this would have the approval of most Maine residents. While National Parks can be approved by Congress, a Special Resources Study must be approved and none were forthcoming. Over time support appeared to dwindle and Interior Secretary Salazar decided to not go forward on any plans for a requesting a resource study for a new National Park in Maine. While locals of East Millinocket vocally opposed the government controlling the land in the region, Mainers throughout the state still urged the President to create a new National Monument. My goal is to present the backstory of a controversial decision the President made in his last year in office and surprisingly, how difficult it is to follow the story. Article In the last months of his final year in office, President Barack Obama has been ensuring that his legacy as an environmental leader remains intact. One of the ways he has done this is by declaring a National Monument in the North Woods of Maine. On August 24, 2016, the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument was established through Presidential Proclamation 9476 (81 FR 59121, 2016). In order to fully understand how this new monument came to be, we must go back to 1906 during Theodore Roosevelt’s administration. The American Antiquities Act of 1906 was passed in order to protect areas that contained “historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest” (54 U.S.C. § 320301, pg. 147). Over the years, 145 monuments have been created using the authority granted under the Antiquities Act. Many of those designations generated controversy within Congress and among local citizens. The case of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is no exception. In 2001, Roxanne Quimby, a co-founder of Burt’s Bees, bought her “first parcel of land” in Millinocket, in the northern woods of Maine (Weaver, 2016). It wasn’t until 2011, a year after being appointed to the National Park Foundation Board of Directors, that she announced that she was willing to donate 70,000 acres of her land for the creation of a National Park. In papers obtained from the National Park Service, she began to correspond with Secretary of the Interior Kenneth Salazar that year in the hope that she could start the process of establishing a national park. As stated in the follow-up letter from the Director of the National Park Service, Jonathan Jarvis, “Congress must pass legislation authorizing a Special Resource Study” and it seemed Congress was unwilling to discuss this course of action (NPS, 2011, pg. 4). Secretary Salazar and Director Jarvis traveled to Maine in August of 2011 to join Senator Susan Collins in highlighting “the economic benefits behind outdoor recreation and emphasize the importance of continued investment in conservation of parks and other public lands” (NPS, 2011, pg. 24). The end of their trip included a stopover in Millinocket to visit with the locals and other interested parties to discuss the potential National Park. While there were voices of both support and opposition, it seemed that locals were interested in at least conducting a feasibility study of the area. While the Secretary of the Interior may authorize a reconnaissance study, the important one is the study that only Congress may authorize. So while the people may have been willing, the same could not be said of the legislature. If there is a record of someone attempting to get Congress to authorize a special resource study in the Maine north woods, I have not been able to find it. In February 2012, during a US Senate meeting of the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, Secretary Salazar was given an update by Senator Collins on the local attitudes of the national park proposal. While the meeting that Salazar attended seemed to show local support for the idea, in the few months since, the opposition apparently regained its footing. The town residents ended up voting against a feasibility study and many businesses in the area were against the proposal. Senator Collins then questions Secretary Salazar, “I am hoping that you will assure me that NPS…will not be looking into funding a reconnaissance study for this region” (Appropriations Committee, 2012, pg. 32). The Secretary is quick to agree that no reconnaissance study is being planned and that there are other projects in the works that do have local support that should take precedence. In the next few years, little seemed to be happening, at least at the governmental level. Local associations and clubs announced either their support or opposition, signs were appearing along roadways to show the opinions of the local people, meanwhile Elliotsville Plantation, Inc., a private foundation established by Roxanne Quimby, continued to purchase more land. By this time the Department of the Interior had a new Secretary, Sally Jewell, and Roxanne Quimby’s son, Lucas St. Clair had taken over the duties of National Park advocate. It soon became apparent that the idea of a National Park was not gaining any ground so a new plan for a National Monument began to form. One of the deciding factors behind this transition was that a national monument may have fewer land use restrictions such as hunting and snowmobile trails, than a national park. Since a National Park could only be formed through an act of Congress, as long as the opposition had their Senator’s ear it was easily delayed. However, the President could establish a National Monument without anyone else’s approval and this caused events to start moving more rapidly on both sides of the argument. Right after Elliotsville Plantation Inc., announced that they were considering the idea of creating a National Monument, both Senators from Maine, Susan Collins and Angus King, as well as Congressman Poliquin sent a letter to President Obama in November of 2015, urging him to refrain from using his executive powers. They argued that while it is the right of a landowner to donate their property to the US government if they wish, “Mainers have a long and proud history of private land ownership, independence, and local control, and do not take lightly any forced action by the federal government to increase its footprint in our state” (Collins, 2015). While this sounds a bit like the locals just don’t want Big Government in their lives, Collins et al. were quick to point out other reasons for their opposition to the proposal. While 60% of Mainers supported the idea of a National Park, 70% of the residents in the Katahdin region were opposed and many feared that jobs would be lost rather than gained. This was particularly important since the biggest industry in the area was logging and “other forest products industries” (Collins, 2015). I should mention that even though this letter was written to discourage the president, they did include ways in which concerns could be met and fears could be assuaged. Continued use of the area for recreation was highly desired, as well as employing the local businesses in forest management such as timber harvesting. It is unclear what President Obama’s thoughts were at the time but considering we were now entering 2016, it appears he was seriously considering the proposal regardless of the letters of opposition he received. In May, NPS Director Jarvis and Senator King traveled to East Millinocket to meet with local residents again to discover if there had been any change in views to the park/monument proposal. On the National Park Service website there is an article about this meeting which states, “At least three-quarters of the near capacity audience in the Collins Center appeared to favor establishment of a national monument” (Olson, 2016). The author continues with a figure of 200 attendees from out of town who arrived via bus and another 1000 that came independently in order to offer their support. No number is given for the attendees who were residents of East Millinocket or the surrounding towns. However, Chris Facchini, a reporter for WLBZ News wrote in his report that, “The majority of people who filled into a room at the Kathadin Region Higher Education Center in East Millinocket Monday afternoon for a hearing with National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis, spoke out against a national monument” (2016). This seemed to be the theme anytime I attempted to gather information about the local opinion. Finally in June of 2016, other members of Congress began to take notice. The House Committee on Natural Resources held a field hearing in East Millinocket calling it “Elevating Local Voices and Promoting Transparency for a Potential Monument Designation in Maine” (Bishop, 2016). It was obvious from the memorandum sent out regarding the hearing that this was not going to be impartial. While several previously mentioned arguments against the National Monument were mentioned it also stated, “The potential designation would represent an abuse of the Antiquities Act” (Bishop, 2016). Mainers may have been against a National Monument but this seemed to recall other disputes regarding the powers afforded to the President via the Antiquities Act.
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