Re: [at-l] Boston Globe article: Maine woods

[RoksnRoots at aol.com (RoksnRoots@xxxxxxx)]

        Interesting article. I see the Globe poses the conservationists as 
bullies running over the locals (seen this before with Saddleback - remember the 
outcome for the locals there?)

        What jumps out at you from the logic used by those against the 
national park is the obvious disconnect between the inevitable outcome of private 
development and their complaints against park creation. The main gripe seems to 
be the locking out of local interests in the form of logging and hunting 
camps. But isn't it obvious that long-term private development will only cause the 
exact same thing? Isn't it obvious that large lot kingdom buyers will 
eventually sell and lock out those same interests over time? The best hunting camps 
are probably located in the prime areas wanted by developers. Those developers 
are not going to grant access when those properties gain value. I can't see how 
the locals complaining against the creation of a large Maine national park 
can avoid that, but they do. I suspect they aren't really arguing for retention 
of timber company land access - but something else...

        Perhaps a compromise could be reached where locals are documented and 
granted grandfather rights for such local useages. I'm sure there were 
similar complaints in the Shenandoah when that park was created...


         Elsewhere in the world, a 6 day storm in the Philippines sent 
serious floods through villages in Leyte. Illegal logging was blamed for the extreme 
flooding caused by lack of absorbing jungle. This also happened in Indonesia 
a few months back where illegal logging is mostly controlled by corrupt 
military government officials...