Re[2]: [at-l] Windmills

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob Cummings)]

"...Why doesn't someone hike that stretch of the trail and determine where, and
to what extent, Redington ridgeline and Black Nubble are visible from it?" asks
MF.

 I've hiked the range several times, but it's been quite a while and I wasn't
 particularly noticing Redington or Black Nubble. But Dave Field, until last
 July president of the Appalachian Trail Conference, has maintained that section
 for the past 40 years.

 Dave is a very conservative, level-headed forester and educator. He's a wheel
 at the University of Maine School of Forestry (the director i think, but I'm
 not sure.) He says the wind towers would be directly in view of hikers along
 most of the open ridgeline of Saddleback. We've clashed from time to time over
 forestry and land use issues. But if he says the towers will be a blight on the
 AT landscape, I believe him. In fact, knowing him, I suspect it will be even
 worse than he says.

 Recognize that these aren't tiny  windmills that sprouted around the country
 after the oil boycott in the early 70s. Nor are they the midgets that some
 claim blight a section of the Pacific Crest Trail.

 These are giants. The towers would be 12 feet in diameter and extend either 80
 meters or 100 meters (260 feet or 330 feet) in the air. The developer tells me
 he hasn't decided which. Each would be topped with three 130 foot-lighted
 blades.

 Redington rises about 2,000 above the surrounding landscape. That's a guess.
 But we climbed to the summit in only 30-40 minutes. These towers will increase
 the height of the mountain compared with the surroundint area by at least 20
 percent. Measured from sea level 150 miles away, they would increase the
 mountain height by 10 percent or more. By contrast, the stunted fir trees on
 the Redington summit tend to be in the 30-40 foot range.

 There are legitimate arguments both for and against the project. That they
 won't be seen, is not one of them.

 Weary