The Controversial National Parks Proposal Dividing Maine's North Woods

Brady Dennis reports on the efforts of Roxanne Quimby, "the wealthy, polarizing co-founder of Burt’s Bees," to donate 88,000 acres of "Maine’s pristine North Woods" for preservation as a national park.

"Her effort has bitterly divided this corner of New England," writes Dennis "where shuttered paper mills have led to crippling unemployment and a shrinking population, and where distrust of the federal government runs as deep as the rivers and streams."

The occasion for Dennis's coverage of the controversy was a visit to the area by National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis, who encountered both support and anger.

According to Dennis, however, residents have voted against the park, the governor and legislature are opposed the proposal, and "Maine’s congressional delegation refuses to introduce the measure necessary to create a national park." The only option, then, is for President Obama to declare the land a national monument using authority from the Antiquities Act. 

The article includes a lot more detail about the effort by Quimby and her son, Lucas St. Clair, to build support for the proposal.