[at-l] Re: Modern Devices, etc, Now AMC

[ellen at clinic.net (Bob C.)]

The key sentence in the ancient news story that TJ linked us to is:

>"...Whiting said the club was embarking on a "pretty intensive planning
>program" since the property had to be purchased quickly before it was sold to
>another party."

That Whiting, the AMC staffer who negotiated the sale, is telling the truth is
obvious to those of us who have been working with AMC in the three months since
the news article TJ cites appeared. That may be less clear to those who believed
TJ's wild speculations about what was going to happen when the sale was
announced late last year.

As for the suggestion by someone that AMC should follow the lead of Gov. Baxter
and ignore the political disputes that would ensue if all motors are banned:

First the world has changed in the seven decades since Gov. Baxter's decision to
buy a forever wild park. With the mills closing or struggling with bankruptcy,
and near bankruptcy towns like Greenville and Brownville are desperate for jobs.

If AMC seeks to be a long range player in Maine, it needs the cooperation of the
surrounding towns.

Nor are any of the snowmobile decisions particularly damaging or necessarily
permanent. The major permitted snowmobile path is simply the unplowed gravel
road that bisects the property and connects Greenville and Brownville, though
lesser trails are remaining at least this winter along the western edge of the
land. Everything is tentative because virtually no planning had been done for
the property. AMC truly bought the land at the last minute, after being outbid
in an earlier attempt.

Finally, even in the easier times that prevailed when Gov. Baxter was buying the
land that became his park, he repeatedly compromised in response to local
concerns. It was these compromises that allowed an eighth of the "forever wild"
park to be open to wood harvesting and a quarter of his park to be open to
hunting. Even the first snowmobile was allowed with the Governor's permission.

Rather than violating the precedent set by Gov. Baxter, AMC is following in
Baxter's footsteps. The one absolutely clear message to emerge from two full
days of AMC planning workshops is that the 37,000 acres will remain "as
unmotorized as possible."

Weary