To paraphrase a thought about another subject from a different era: I have seen the future of the Maine woods, and it is ecotourism.

Well, I can almost see it.

A semi-organized movement to make tourism more environmentally friendly has been building for years. Numerous organizations are placing wild land into preservation status. Legislation pops up now and again, such as the referendum issue to limit bear hunting.

In a new nod to the glory of a pristine backwoods, the fledgling Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail has been dedicated in the Moosehead area.

A trail that Henry David Thoreau tread has been "re-created" so that visitors can walk the same path as the great 19th century writer and semi-hermit. Statues and kiosks have been established to mark the start of the trail.

This project is among many that are in operation or being planned. Word cobblers from organizations as diverse as the Brookings Institute and Maine Woods Forever confidently suggest that a "gentler" visitor is crucial to the future of tourism, and the woods.

Hiking, kayaking, birding, photography and narrated sailing adventures will be in; hunting, fishing and trapping will draw fewer paying tourists.

It appears that Maine is at a watershed moment when it comes to outdoor activities. The veterans who hunt and fish in my sector of cabin country have minimal interest in the mating habits of a puffin or the eating preferences of insects that inhabit the bogs that Thoreau traversed.

But many incoming tourists do, and there will be continued pressure to cordon off more wilderness from activities that slay wildlife rather than revel in it. At least one well-financed ecotourism resort is being planned in the Millinocket area to draw just such tourists.

(Aside 1: The Sportsman's Alliance of Maine (SAM), a real guns and barbed hook organization, participates in many planning sessions about the future of the woods. But even some SAM members are seeing the ecotourism is going to bring about change).

(Aside 2: Many upcountry residents rely on fishing and hunting tourists to make a living. Cold would be the heart of a planner in Washington or New York who would suggest that we turn our backs on hunting camps and outdoor guide services).

Perhaps this transition to ecotourism is part of historical current. Before Teddy Roosevelt became president more than a century ago, bag limits on bear, deer and trophy fish were almost unheard of. Though a hunter himself, he began a movement to limit the amount of game one could take in a day. The bag limit is Teddy's legacy, and perhaps a precursor to a more benign approach to wildlife.

I am beginning to see Land Rovers carrying designer kayaks and thousand-dollar bicycles in my section of central Maine. The hunters and fishermen are still there, to be sure, but each year there seem to be more tourists entering the region who do not practice the traditional sports associated with the fin-and-fur crowd.

Happily, Maine possesses a wealth of wilderness. There should be room for outdoors enthusiasts of all interests.

The operative term here is SHOULD.

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