We end up with a net loss of 1,400 acres with no guarantees. The $5.5 million has never been promised in writing to be spent on public land to replace the 7,400 we have to give up and what is Gardner Land Co. going to do with the land they get after they strip it of timber?

Gardner is pretty good at stripping land of timber. Check out the link below.

http://www.meepi.org/files05/pa030105b.htm

The amount of (or lack of) public land in this state is somewhat sickening to me. Maine already has one of the lowest percentages of public land in the US. It sickens me more that in order to preserve this land the state has to trade other public lands.

KH: Maine does have small percentage of federally protected land, but a good deal of state protected property. There's nearly 500,000 acres in the Maine Public Reserve Lands system, for e.g. Add 220,000 acres of Baxter State Park. And countless other smaller parcels protected by land trusts throughout the state. And don't forget, the public has access to millions of acres of private land that is available for multi-use.

Tom: I'm not sure where you're going with your comment. Can you please explain further? I'm interested in your point of view.

The Katahdin Region has always been rich in history for traditional land uses such as hunting, snowmobiling and fishing. Its disheartening to see those with the likes of Roxanne Quimby and all their riches who decide whats best for those in that area. Those lands in question will be lost to those folks who enjoyed those traditional uses.

This deal is all about money and power, not about protecting the area in question. The quest for a national park in Maine is in the guise of Baxter State Park. The National Park idea was highly touted and refuted as well on a number of occasions.

The next land grab by Baxter State Park will be Township 2 Range 8 which borders the east side of the park. The timber cutting onslaught has already started in that area this past winter and is progressing at an amazing accelerated rate. The loss of traditional use land in this area will have a significant impact to snowmobiling and tourism in the area as this land tract encompasses the Earlan B. Campbell Trail, also known as the Logan Pond Trail.

The Katahdin Lake proposal is a bad proposal for Maine and will be precedent setting for those with riches beyond our wildest imagination. Maine residents will be locked out of their rich traditional heritages by those types of people as well as those that are involved in this from the Baldacci administration.

Millinocket town councilors heard Thursday that another pending devastating land deal in the Katahdin Lake area is in the midst. While attending a state legislative committee hearing in Augusta on Wednesday a Millinocket town councilor heard of the pending plan. The deal, if completed, would threaten ATV and snowmobile access from Baxter State Park to the Penobscot River's East Branch, a well-used sportsmen's corridor, he said.

The fledgling deal, he said, involves the Gardner Land Co., the state Department of Conservation and another buyer - he hinted an environmentalist.

Any takers on who the radical environmentalist might be? Could the initials be R.Q. by any chance?