Bigelow friends oppose ski trail
Group's founder once envisioned trail system, huts
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
The Friends of Bigelow is trying to head off a plan for a groomed cross-country ski trail across the 35,000-acre Bigelow Preserve as part of a western Maine hut-and-trail system, saying it would commercialize the preserve.
But 30 years ago, the group's founder, Lance Tapley of Augusta, advocated for an extensive hut-and-trail system around the mountain range, saying he was "not convinced that commercialization would bring only evils."
"Imagine a cross-country ski and snowshoe development for Bigelow ... serviced by snow vehicle shuttles," Tapley wrote, "huts could be built with a network of trails. Hundreds, even thousands, could use the area and its ecological character would be preserved."
And later, he urged readers to consider the possibility of a network of huts and trails "for hundreds of miles through many of our mountains and wild areas for the use of ski tourers, snowshoers and hikers.
Tapley's words — published in his 1973 book "Ski Touring in New England" — are coming back to haunt him.
The Western Mountains Foundation, the Carrabassett Valley-based group promoting the idea of a 180-mile hut and trail system from Newry to Rockwood, points to them as evidence that its vision isn't anti-environment.
The foundation's plans call for a short section of the trail to cross the preserve and two huts, each of which would sleep 35 people, on adjacent lands.
In an open letter, J. Dwight of Wilton, a member of the foundation's board of trustees, said his organization's vision is similar to the one Tapley outlined in his book.
The foundation, he said, wants to "create a new way for the school children and families of Maine to experience its awesome natural beauty."
In the letter, Dwight called on the Friends of Bigelow to "tone down the rhetoric and seek a sober course to bring about the vision of Lance Tapley."
Larry Warren, the former Sugarloaf/USA president who came up with the idea of a western Maine hut-and-trail system, said: "I think the quotes are great. They clearly support the direction of a hut system and suggest strong consistency with the intention of the Bigelow founders. I feel that it's almost like I wrote it."
Tapley's book was published the year before the Friends of Bigelow formed to promote a statewide referendum to create the preserve around the 15-mile range that straddles the Franklin County-Somerset County line and includes four of Maine's highest peaks.
"Ski Touring in New England" was "something of a regional best seller at the time," Tapley said.
Tapley, who is still active in the Friends of Bigelow, maintains that the Foundation's letter quotes him out of context. He calls their use of the writings "a low blow."
"It was written 30 years ago, exactly. That was before Friends of Bigelow was even thought of," Tapley said. "And I have changed my mind. I changed my mind by 1974 when we wrote the Bigelow bill. What I concluded was that Bigelow should be kept the way it was."
Tapley said in the book he was simply "speculating alternatives" to a proposed downhill ski development for the mountain "and bemoaning the commercialization of cross country skiing.
Tapley said he is not opposed to a hut and cross-country ski trail system through the Maine mountains, but feels there is "no need for a groomed trail through the preserve."
"And there's no need to overwhelm the preserve with huts right around it," he said.
Joe Rankin — 474-9534, Ext. 341 jrankin@centralmaine.com