Katahdin to get $65 million ecotourism project

[TJ aka Teej]

Hearing planned on $65 million ecotourism project

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2007/01/03/hearing_planned_on_65_million_ecotourism_project/

January 3, 2007

MILLINOCKET, Maine --Maine's wilderness zoning board plans to hold a public hearing in March or April on a Millinocket man's plan to develop a $65 million upscale ecotourism resort in the Katahdin region.

The project is the brainchild of Matthew Polstein, a Millinocket town councilor and businessman, whose properties include a restaurant and whitewater tour guide business. He has been working for three years on the Kataadn Resorts project, which includes a community center, a campground and a residential and mixed-use subdivision on 1,450 acres along Millinocket Lake and Hammond Ridge.

Polstein estimated that the project would create at least 100 full-time jobs, spur at least 60,000 visitor-days in the Katahdin region by drawing 17,000 tourists to his resort for about 3 1/2 days each.

-----more at link---
This project is to be built on the road between Millinocket and Baxter State Park.
ATers may know Matt Polstein as the fellow who runs rafting outfits in Caratunk and on the West Branch near Katahdin, has the contract to rent the several Paper Company cabins that are at the north end of the 100 mile wilderness, and runs two restaurants in Millinocket. He's an ambitious fellow. With the AMC and Plum Creek developing the Greenville end of the wilderness, and Polstein developing the Katahdin end, the ecotourism market should bring boom times to the local economy soon.

[K-Man]

So is this a positive or negative thing for the AT? I guess it depends on how you view this project. Positive that someone environmentally minded is proposing this, but negative that a lot more people will be in and around the AT area in Maine. Thoughts?

[TJ aka Teej]

Thoughts?
Done right, 'eco-tourism' might be good. Done wrong, and it's just another form of clear-cutting. Maine's western mountains are getting a huge lodge and trails network that'll cross the AT several times, Augusta is dreaming of an east-west highway, the Greenville area is seeing unprecedented development, and Millinocket has seen unprecedented hard times. I'd like to see more preservation, but all we'll get is what's called conservation up there.

[woodsy]

Pollstein is already having trouble keeping his rafting and snowmobiling businesses afloat with rafting participation down and low snow years of recent, won't be long before taxpayers are bailing him out if we're not already. He was on the local news recently complaining about no snow, no business.

[weary]

So is this a positive or negative thing for the AT? I guess it depends on how you view this project. Positive that someone environmentally minded is proposing this, but negative that a lot more people will be in and around the AT area in Maine. Thoughts?
This is not positive for the Appalachian Trail or Baxter State Park. It is positive for those kids growing up in Millinocket now that employment in the paper mills has shrunk -- at least for those kids who used to dream of a job in the mills, but now are willing to settle for being maids to summer visitors.

Our goal when we started the Maine Appalachian Trail land trust was to purchase lands adjacent to the trail corridor to prevent developments such as this from happening. We've had some success, but success means money. It's too late for this section, but there's another 500 miles or so of land bordering the trail corridor that could use some help.

Weary www.matlt.org

[Johnny Swank]

Not to get into a long diatribe, but the majority of the early eco-tourism folks have pretty much left the building. It sounds great on paper, but rarely works out without a bunch of subsidy monies.

[woodsy]

Ecotourism in this case will create tax revenues for the area but those 100 jobs are mostly min. wage and high turnover rate type jobs. The particular businessman in this case has been around since the 80's and from people I know who have worked for him isn't very well regarded for paying decent wages. Thumbs down to his project.

[icemanat95]

There aren't a lot of good economic options up there. The region really cannot support the population very well, not without the paper industry. But asking the majority of the people to move away to a place that can support them won't go over real well either.

The one resource the region has is the mountains and the woodlands, but apparently there is no way for the locals to make a living off of them that passes the sniff test of the eco-watchdogs. They can't try to grow their eco-tourism business, nor can they cut timber to support the paper mills. They're pretty much buggered.

It is easy to tell people what they can't do. But not too many folks out there have many bright ideas about what they can do to replace the paper industry.

[weary]

There aren't a lot of good economic options up there. The region really cannot support the population very well, not without the paper industry. But asking the majority of the people to move away to a place that can support them won't go over real well either.

The one resource the region has is the mountains and the woodlands, but apparently there is no way for the locals to make a living off of them that passes the sniff test of the eco-watchdogs. They can't try to grow their eco-tourism business, nor can they cut timber to support the paper mills. They're pretty much buggered.

It is easy to tell people what they can't do. But not too many folks out there have many bright ideas about what they can do to replace the paper industry.
I personally wish the paper industry hadn't died. But it has to a considerable extent. I predicted it would happen 20 years ago. I fought for a referendum that might have kept it from happening a decade ago. These efforts were opposed by the people in the mill towns because they wanted to keep things as they were.

I tried to convince them that without forest harvesting regulations that would protect the trees, industry would simply cut them all down quickly, sell the land to developers, and move out, which they are doing.

My goal now is to provide buffers for the trail corridor, thus preserving a bit of the wildness that most hikers have come to expect in Maine.

Weary www.matlt,org

[walkin' wally]

[QUOTE=icemanat95;296557]There aren't a lot of good economic options up there. The region really cannot support the population very well, not without the paper industry. But asking the majority of the people to move away to a place that can support them won't go over real well either.

Yes, and also it is hard to stay in a town when the taxes are climbing and local folks who just want to be left alone can't afford to live there anymore. Such as Greenville. So some folks are moving south to Shirley et al. Like you say there are many jobs in North Central Maine that don't pay a liveable wage.

[weary]

Yes, and also it is hard to stay in a town when the taxes are climbing and local folks who just want to be left alone can't afford to live there anymore. Such as Greenville. So some folks are moving south to Shirley et al. Like you say there are many jobs in North Central Maine that don't pay a liveable wage.
Keep in mind that what has happened in Greenville is what is being proposed for Millinocket. People should be careful what they wish for, because sometimes wishes are granted.

[icemanat95]

It's probably got to happen. The paper industry is moving toward cultured plantation timber that can be controlled and is free of excessive regulation. In the absence of other industry, these backcountry towns will slowly die out as anyone with any hope, moves away to find work, while those who have lost all hope remain and slowly die off. It has happened many times before, and it will happen again. Then the only folks who own properties in these places will be the lucky few who either have independent income from other sources and seek a vacation home, and those who are able to make a living off guiding them.

[rickb]

"Keep in mind that what has happened in Greenville is what is being proposed for Millinocket."

What's happened in Greenville?
.

[TJ aka Teej]

"Keep in mind that what has happened in Greenville is what is being proposed for Millinocket."

What's happened in Greenville?

Plum Creek is what I think Weary's comparing the proposed Katahdin project to. To me the similarity is superficial at best.
http://www.meepi.org/ < great way to get up to speed, Rick.

[Jack Tarlin]

This is fairly interesting stuff.....thanks much to the Maine folks for keeping us informed on this.