BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 14, 2023
Some residents feel a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to turn between 5,000 and 15,000 acres in the western Maine’s High Peaks region into a National Wildlife Refuge will wrest away the autonomy of local and state groups that already protect the area. Since the Fish and Wildlife Service first floated the idea of a refuge this past spring, towns, Franklin County commissioners, loggers, outdoors groups, Sugarloaf Mountain, Maine’s congressional delegation, Gov. Janet Mills and state lawmakers from the region have all expressed either skepticism of or strong opposition to the federal government’s plan. It mirrors previous battles in the state, such as that over the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument that was vociferously opposed before it was created in 2016.