COUNTERPUNCH • September 13, 2022
Recently, Maine’s U.S. Senators Angus King and Susan Collins introduced legislation in Congress to authorize the expansion of the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine. The bill would permit the acquisition of up to 43,000 acres. The idea for a preserve in Maine Woods has a long history. In the 1840s, Thoreau suggested that the area surrounding Katahdin should be protected as a “national preserve.” In the 1980s, I pointed out that huge forested lands in Maine owned by timber companies could be acquired for a park. Soon after, Michael Kellett focused his efforts on creating a 3.2 million acre Maine Woods National Park. Wildlands advocate Jym St. Pierre joined the RESTORE staff and began to lobby for public land purchases within the boundary of our proposal. After conversations with philanthropist Roxanne Quimby, she began purchasing lands that ultimately she hoped to donate to the people of the United States as a new national park unit. President Obama accepted Quimby’s land donation and created Katahdin Woods and Water National Monument in 2016.