Maine Woods National Park
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This is a copy of the email that has been sent to the Katahdin area snowmobile clubs by Brian Wiley VP of East branch sno rovers, and also member of the National Park Citizens Committee;
Please be reminded of the very important meeting that you have been invited to this Sunday at 5:00 p.m. at the East Branch Sno-Rovers regarding Snowmobile trail access across E.P.I. land. Details of this meeting are listed below.
There will be an Agenda for this meeting and you will receive that upon arrival. Both the Agenda and Roxanne’s Proposal will be presented at the meeting and for confidentiality reasons will not be released prior to this meeting. It is imperative that at least one member (preferably two) of each club is present and prepared to discuss and Vote on the proposal. Noting that this is difficult without seeing or hearing from Roxanne prior to the presentation I can assure you that the proposal is not coercive in nature and is one that I believe all Clubs can agree to and accept with confidence that it will work. The Medway committee had a meeting in Medway on the 13th at which Roxanne reviewed the Trail sections in question and provided Rick Levasseur, Committee members and me with her “Preliminary” position statement and the proposal for the Easement Agreement.
I am confident this will work and is a “‘Positive” approach to finalizing the use agreements that are in question. Please call me at (207) 610 -2121 if you have any questions. I am in NH working until Friday evening but available all weekend to answer any questions.
Please remember there will be no Press, or government officials, invited to attend this meeting. The meeting is by Invitation only to snowmobile club members and will be monitored for confidentiality reasons. Thank-you
Best Regards,
Brian G. Wiley
Vice president, East branch Sno-Rovers S.C.
brian.wiley@brookfieldpower.com (Work)
This message, including any attachments, may be privileged and may contain confidential information intended only for the person(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient or have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply email and permanently delete the original transmission from the sender, including any attachments, without making a copy. Thank you.ewall
From: Wiley, Brian
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 4:11 PM
To: '
Subject: Meeting Notice Katahdin Area Snowmobile Clubs and Roxanne Quimby meeting
I have been asked by Roxanne Quimby to invite you to a special meeting with the Katahdin Area and Brownville Area Snowmobile Clubs that are involved with Trails that are crossing Roxanne’s land and the development of a “Final” location and “Permanent Access Easement Agreement”. These are the same Clubs that Mark Leathers met with earlier this month. Since those meetings there have been some misunderstandings discussed and clarified and plans made such that a better understanding and explanation of the need for this Trail easement can be secured. Please see the attachment letter from Roxanne Quimby dated 08/25 to Rick Levesseur and me regarding this meeting. Also Please bring all the Maps that are necessary and up to date for this trail to be identified on a land based document.
This “Private” meeting “By Invitation Only” is for Snowmobile club Representatives only will be held at the East Branch Sno-Rovers Clubhouse in Medway at the Hathaway Farm on Sunday September 18th at 5:00 p.m. This being the last day of the Millinocket “Trails End” Festival, I hope you can make it to Millinocket for that special occasion also. Roxanne will have a booth at the festival and will be at the meeting that evening. The meeting is being co-sponsored by the Sno-Rovers snowmobile Club and the National Park Citizens Committee (NPCC) a Medway based Citizen’s group that is supporting the request for a Feasibility Study for the Park.
Please contact me at brian.wiley@brookfieldpower.com (work e-mail)....
I will be following up this e-mail with a phone call to each of you prior to the meeting.
Best regards,
Brian G. Wiley
Vice President, East Branch Sno-Rovers S.C.
Millinocket Trails Committee
And the attached letter from RQ;
To: Rick Levassure, Chairman of NPCC Snowmobiles
Brian Wiley, Chairman NPCC of ATV’s
From: Roxanne Quimby
Subject: September meeting for local snowmobile clubs
August 25, 2011
Regardless of what was prematurely reported in the Bangor Daily News by Nick Sambedies on August 25, no agreements have been reached between me and the local snowmobile clubs concerning access to my land this winter.
I fully intend to proceed with a previously scheduled meeting with representatives of local clubs of your choosing, by invitation only, in mid September. I am drafting a “win-win” proposal for us to discuss at this meeting. My intention is to negotiate an agreement that does more that address one year; I want an agreement that will meet both our needs and be everlasting.
The agreement I am composing will meet the snowmobiler’s needs and hopefully you and the club members will support a feasibility study and my desire for a National Park.
Sincerely,
Roxanne Quimby
I'd like to point out that at the first meeting with Mark Leathers when he requested the Katahdin Area snowmobile clubs support for RQ's national park proposal, the local clubs didn't feel comfortable making a decision of that magnatude without club member input.
It was suggested that Mz. Quimby put in writing, exactly what she was offering, and what was required.
At no time has this document been forthcoming.
Now, it seems that The NPCC is handling all the negotiations and the area ss clubs are to vote, again I stress, with no member involvement.
####
i recall RQ made an agreement to permanent trail access back in 2007. What happened to that promise? How do they dare trust her?
And Brian Wiley needs to do his homework on NPS policy. They don't allow motorized recreation with the exception of a new ruling that allows a total of 318 snowmobiles per day in Yellowstone only. How many machines go through the Katahdin region on a good day?
http://cnie.org/nle/crsreports/10Oct/RL33525.pdf
And Brian Wiley needs to do his homework on NPS policy. They don't allow motorized recreation with the exception of a new ruling that allows a total of 318 snowmobiles per day in Yellowstone only. How many machines go through the Katahdin region on a good day?
It's nothing to see at least 750 to 1000 sleds pass through the yard at Shin Pond Village on a good weekend.
I don't think RQ knows the numbers she and her hand chosen National Park Citizens Committee are up against........from all over the state.
When folks realize what will happen when she gives this land to the feds, as has happened on other NPS properties, there will be some very unhappy environazis.
As far as B Wiley......... that koolaide must be very powerful stuff.
UgenetooFri, 09/16/2011 - #302: "I'd like to point out that at the first meeting with Mark Leathers when he requested the Katahdin Area snowmobile clubs support for RQ's national park proposal, the local clubs didn't feel comfortable making a decision of that magnatude without club member input. It was suggested that Mz. Quimby put in writing, exactly what she was offering, and what was required. At no time has this document been forthcoming. Now, it seems that The NPCC is handling all the negotiations and the area ss clubs are to vote, again I stress, with no member involvement."
"Now, it seems that The NPCC is handling all the negotiations and the area ss clubs are to vote, again I stress, with no member involvement" -- in a secret meeting set up and run for Quimby's park lobby using "consensus" manipulation tactics and no chance for discussion or thought before "shut up and 'vote' now". These manipulative pressure tactics are so typical of the National Park Service controlling meetings and herding people into its agenda. They have been developing these techniques at least since the 1980s when they were discussed in internal NPS memos.
And then they'll tout how they had the backing of the whole club.
NPCC could also be called the National Park Consensus Committee.
Apondsong: Heard that V.PAUL RENYOLDS is vacationing in Yellowstone...
And he does not have access to much of Yellowstone "National Park," despite the fact that he is a taxpaying American.
Michelle: Apparently he has access to enough of it to make him willing to go there and spend a pocketfull of $$$ !!!!
So what? People like scenery. We don't stop looking at it just because the National Park Service has taken it over. That is not an endorsement of the National Park Service or a Federal takeover destroying private property and the private economy in Maine. Perhaps V Paul Reynolds will do some investigating into how the preservationists have been shutting down motorized recreation at Yellowstone while he is there.
I used to drive in the north gate at Baxter Park and out the Telos Gate to do the Allagash. The Telos gate was permanently blocked and nobody can get to the traditional start of the Allagash trip any more. I used to drive in the west gate at Sourdnahunk. They permanently closed that gate. I used to drive across the Dwelley Pond Road and stop at Dwelley Pond because it was the very best place in Maine to see moose. There were a couple of picnic tables and a handicapped person could enjoy the experience. A couple of trees blew down across the road and the Dwelley Pond Road was closed permanently for "safety reasons".
All of these losses were perpetrated to satisfy a perverted "vision" in direct violation of Percival Baxter's vision for the park. There were private camps at Kidney Pond. Percival wanted them to be in the park forever. There were barns for the mules that brought guests and their dunnage in to Katahdin Lake Camps. Percival said they would always be there, but the radicals who got appointed to the "authority" forced them out. The barns were destroyed. The private camps near Kidney Pond were destroyed. Last time I was there the library was still there about six feet from the pond. Both Baxter and Yellowstone belong to us. It's time to take them back and restore the access we had so more people can enjoy our parks.
V.Paul Reynolds is spending money there, he is not spending here...so he can view scenery unfamiliar to him? Huh........................... interesting.
It's clear that RQ's 70,000 acres is only a beginning, the "anchor park" for RESTORE's larger scheme. Here's an upcoming event to promote RESTORE's plan:
http://www.librarycamden.org/news/11684/%E2%80%9Cdiscover-the-proposed- maine-woods-national-park%E2%80%9D-slide-presentation-october-12/
the Proposed Maine Woods National Park -- Slide Presentation October 12
Journey into one of the last unprotected wilderness areas in the U.S. -- Maine's Great North Woods. Quarry Hill and the Camden Public Library co-sponsor a slide talk by wildlife conservationists Thomas Mark Szelog and Lee Ann Szelog, 1:00 pm, Wednesday, October 12. This multimedia presentation from the Szelogs Maine Woods National Park Photo-Documentation Project captures the splendor of the
3.2-million-acre treasure that's 'poised to become America's next national park. The talk is free but seating is limited. Reservations are necessary, please call Quarry Hill at 230-6114. Part of Quarry Hills "Adventures in Living Well" series.
Why are these two organizations promoting this federal land-grab scheme?
I was the scoutmaster of a Boy Scout Troop in Brewer, about 18 years ago. Every September we would take 30 to 40 scouts and family members for a weekend camping trip to Baxter State Park, to climb Mt. Katahdin. The scout troop in Millinocket coordinated the use of and maintained a set of adirondaacks on Abbott Pont in Baxter, and had done this for decades. We made our reservations through the Millinocket scout troop. When we were there, we had the exclusive use of the place, got to climb the mountain, saw moose, canoed in the canoes we brought...and this was a family friendly trip...lots of parents and brothers and sisters came along.
When the mill began its serious decline, the Millinocket scout troop began to decline, also, especially with adult leadership participation. Eventually, the troop gave the coordination/control back to the park for the adirondaacks on Abbott Pond. The result: the park soon eliminated the scout privileges on the pond, and to the best of my memory, burned or took the adirondaacks down, presumably returning that section of the park to a "more natural state." You can count me as not a fan of how the folks who run the park run the park.
Blocking access at Baxter to force restoration of wilderness, as Roger #311 and Dale #314 describe, would have been much worse if Percival Baxter had not mistrusted the National Park Service: He bought land and donated it to the state park in order to keep Washington from imposing Federal control. And the adverse impacts would not have been limited to inside the park.
But never forget that government agencies are not the sole source of the problem. The viro pressure groups are driving the whole process through their ideology and money capturing the source of power. That is how the social controls are becoming worse over time.
Note this sequence:
apondsong Mon, 09/12/2011 - #296: "Heard that V.PAUL RENYOLDS is vacationing in Yellowstone (GASP ~~~>) National Park ! I guess they're ok...as long as they aren't in his state !"
Michelle Anderson Sat, 09/17/2011 - #308: "And he does not have access to much of Yellowstone "National Park," despite the fact that he is a taxpaying American."
apondsong Sat, 09/17/2011 - #309: "Michelle: Apparently he has access to enough of it to make him willing to go there and spend a pocketfull of $$$ !!!!"
ewv Sun, 09/18/2011 - #310: "So what? People like scenery. We don't stop looking at it just because the National Park Service has taken it over. That is not an endorsement of the National Park Service or a Federal takeover destroying private property and the private economy in Maine. Perhaps V Paul Reynolds will do some investigating into how the preservationists have been shutting down motorized recreation at Yellowstone while he is there."
apondsong Sun, 09/18/2011 - #312: "V.Paul Reynolds is spending money there, he is not spending here...so he can view scenery unfamiliar to him? Huh........................... interesting."
Apondsong is not responsive to the discussion of her own initial post. Reynolds has "spent" a lot of money in Maine where he lives. He has a right to occasionally go on a vacation somewhere else. That it costs him money to get there does not imply that government "tourism" is a replacement for a productive economy or that Maine should tolerate more Federal control. Nor does it imply the hypocrisy apondsong originally sarcastically implied.
Notice the pattern of apondsong's posts not acknowledging or addressing what she pretends to be responding to, instead repeating insinuations with no coherent logic as she her posts dodge, weave, drift and evade around the actual discussion.
BlueJay Sun, 09/18/2011 - #313: "It's clear that RQ's 70,000 acres is only a beginning, the 'anchor park' for RESTORE's larger scheme. Here's an upcoming event to promote RESTORE's plan:
"'... Quarry Hill [an assisted living facility] and the Camden Public Library co-sponsor a slide talk by wildlife conservationists Thomas Mark Szelog and Lee Ann Szelog, ... multimedia presentation from the Szelog's Maine Woods National Park Photo-Documentation Project captures the splendor of the 3.2-million-acre treasure that's poised to become America's next national park.'"
"Why are these two organizations promoting this federal land-grab scheme?"
Szelog wrote the Press Herald off-script eco-promotion op-ed of Restore ignoring the current re-packaging of the campaign to claim that a Federal takeover is for "the economy".
The "multimedia slide show" is based on photographs and rhetorical imagery intended to emotionally manipulate the audience while ignoring rational discussion of the meaning of Federal control and its impact on people and their rights, and why it has been comprehensively rejected and how this has torn up the state and disrupted people's lives through previous "studies" and threats from these stalkers for decades.
To the Big Park activists none of that is relevant because the whole agenda is based on a mystical, emotional affinity to an alleged 'intrinsic value' of nature superseding human values and rights. Selectively composed photography is a standard propaganda technique employed against those -- largely from outside the target area -- who don't know, understand, or care what is at stake for those under attack.
This is what they have done in every media promotion for the original NPCA and Northern Forests Lands Study national campaigns and beyond, and is what they intend to do as part of a government-controlled NPS New Area "feasibility study". You saw the same manipulative techniques employed when they were caught in the Aubudon/DEP 'bird habitat' scam taking over private property -- remember the tear-jerking stories of starving birds falling out of the sky, perpetrated in the name of "science"?
Emotional manipulation through rhetorical imagery and scenic photographs has been an essential part of the standard political propaganda strategy in every viro political takeover across the country for a very long time.
Quimby can't resist going off script and reminding us of the radical agenda she wants to unilaterally impose. This is from a recent Sept. 16, 2011 MBPN interview.
Building her own legacy to give herself a sense of self-worth:
"I think that as you age and I'm in my 60s now, you start thinking about Well, what did I do while I was here? How are people going to remember me when I'm not here? And I think that this is my way of creating a legacy and convincing myself that it was important that I got to live on this earth for as long as I have been able to."
"10 million acres" -- ""the sky's the limit" "the bigger the better", but "limit the discussion":
"'I still believe that a 3.2 million-acre park is a fabulous idea. I'd like to see a ten million-acre national park!', Quimby said. 'I love national parks and the bigger the better! But in terms of what I can accomplish as an individual I think that there are limitations. And because private property rights and my rights as a landowner figure so importantly into this discussion, I feel best about limiting the conversation to land that I own so that's why I'm talking about 70,000 acres and not 3.2 million but theoretically the sky's the limit!'"
"Plan B": 'agree or else' -- a unilateral decree by Obama:
"In the event that she cannot fulfill her dream for a national park, Quimby said she is willing to consider a national monument, a protected area that can be declared by the President and does not require Congressional approval.
"A monument is a plan B,' said Quimby. 'It might be a little bit easier to do but the gold standard is a national park where that democratic process is exercised and I would like to see that this is a result of the will of the people and not something that our top official can sign into existence."
Salazar said in Millinocket that he could "recommend" this unilateral strategy to Obama. It wouldn't be the first time in US history. In a notorious case Laurance Rockefeller, for example, secretly bought land, "donated" it to the government, and used a presidential decree to create Grand Teton National Park over the objections of the population there. (Rockefeller further milked the system by retaining a posh resort inside the park for his own monopoly benefit at everyone else's expense.)
Acadia was also created as a decreed National Monument after the land trust holding the land became so controversial for pushing people around that it was afraid of losing its state charter.
"Salazar said in Millinocket that he could "recommend" this unilateral strategy to Obama. It wouldn't be the first time in US history. In a notorious case Laurance Rockefeller, for example, secretly bought land, "donated" it to the government, and used a presidential decree to create Grand Teton National Park over the objections of the population there. (Rockefeller further milked the system by retaining a posh resort inside the park for his own monopoly benefit at everyone else's expense.)"
The family owned a large portion of St Johns Island in the Virgin Islands. They gave a big section of land to the federal government for a park as a huge write-off. They kept the best area for themselves including two lagoons. Access to the two lagoons was over a pair of coral reefs. The Rockefellers wanted a channel through the reef blocking the biggest lagoon. It was around September of 1964 when the request came to the Navy. An amphibious force was practicing invasions on Viegues. We had SEALs on the USS Fort Mandan where I was stationed with my helicopter, a Sikorsky CH-19E. SEALs just love to blow stuff up so on October 10, 1964 we reconned the island. On November 5 we did a photo recon of the island. A few days later I dropped off six SEALS with an inflatable boat at night. They swam in and placed numerous charges all connected together and rigged with a timer to go at 2300.
The Rockefellers were having a party on the other side of the lagoon and their guests were preparing to retire to the guest houses when the reef let go. It was a spectacular explosion. Fish, eels, squid and octopus rained down on the party along with some sizeable chunks of coral. It seems the SEALs had blown the wrong lagoon, but they sure had a deep channel for their yachts.
conservationists Thomas Mark Szelog and Lee Ann Szelog,
The BDN seems to be in the recycling business more and more these days;
http://bangordailynews.com/2011/09/21/opinion/contributors/fearing-for-o...
AND;
http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/maine-woods-national-park-would-help-...
Forbes Magazine has an environmental puff piece about the northwoods park;
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltobias/2011/10/03/maine-vs-thoreau-th...
Read it. Felt sick. Has Steve Forbes lost his senses? This is the most anti free-enterprise duo you could team up.
I visited the Maine Snowmobile association show today, and was surprised to see the East Branch Sno-rovers and the Millinocket area Chamber of Commerce had adjoining booths.
Brian Wiley from EBSRovers was doing his very best to act the part of the self proclaimed representative of the Katahdin Area snowmobile clubs, and when I walked by the chamber booth, there was a gentleman showing an inquiring couple all about what RQ has promised the clubs that will sign on with her agenda.
I overheard him state that these trails will be permanent because RQ will deed them over to the State of Maine as permanent easements.
He seemed quite befuddled when I asked him if the National Park Service was going to honor all the promises that she was making.
Are the people of the Millinocket area that desperate that they will base their whole future on a bunch of empty promises from an individual that will not come clean and state what the true objective of a national park in northern Maine really is?
To anyone from the groups that are backing this agenda;
ASK FOR IT IN WRITING.
Ugenetoo: "Are the people of the Millinocket area that desperate that they will base their whole future on a bunch of empty promises from an individual that will not come clean and state what the true objective of a national park in northern Maine really is?"
Yes.
Actually, it's not ALL people of Millinocket. Just those not paying attention. And they usually believe those empty promises at the prompting of our "prominent" business people.
I could list examples if you want. Or you could search AMG for a large number of them.
Here's the real kicker. Will the NPS refuse to ever take those trails by eminent domain ? How is that enforceable? You can wipe your feet on that deeded easement. That's about all its good for.
Here's the real kicker. Will the NPS refuse to ever take those trails by eminent domain ? How is that enforceable? You can wipe your feet on that deeded easement. That's about all its good for.
That's exactly what I've been trying to tell these people.
They just seem oblivious to the fact that once gaining control of these lands, the NPS has absolutely no responsibility to honor ANYONE's promises.
Roxanne lies and these folks are repeating these same lies and apparently believe them.
Actually, it's not ALL people of Millinocket
Sorry Michelle.
I didn't mean to paint with such a broad brush.
Maybe I should have said "some of the Millinocket".
But, this brings up a good point.
What about all the people that are against this boondoggle.
We need a list of area business and people that have made a stand to support the logging and tree growing industry by opposing a national park.
According to my analysis, which I have published here, there will be no sector of the economy that will be assisted by a national park. None. Indeed, the tourist industry is likely to be negatively impacted. The bigger the park, the bigger the impact.
The loss of "bear hunt" dollars alone is more than enough to offset the few seasonal jobs this will generate. The ONLY thing this might generate is some quick cash for those wanting to sell and move. Guess what? Eminent domain only pays Fair Market Value. They won't get much.
Ugenetoo: I have said repeatedly, both in private and at the town council podium that a drowning man will grab at anything that looks like it floats, even if it's an alligator.
Millinocket has done that. A lot.
They gave $30,000 free and clear to flimflam man Guilds Hollowell after he convinced them that he could change the dilapidated Newberry's building into a "cultural center." Mr. Hollowell, who ended up in court after being beat up by the husband of his paramour, left town and the building was eventually demolished at the expense of the town.
The town council gave copious amounts of money to that paramour to start her own business (which name I will not mention here), a man who said he had developed some sort of filtration system before leaving town in the dead of night headed for Ohio, and
And of course, the Council voted to give $50,000 to "Monolite," which was actually just a man who claimed to hold the patent for a product which he would sell the Defense Dept. vehicles which would get 150 mpg while at the same time providing some pie-in-the-sky amount of armor. He promised to bring 250 jobs to the area, and the town not only voted to give him this money, but roped our congressional delegation to find him additional grant money. Articles here.
I could go on and on, and I have. But I have to run now.
I suggest you all look at the links and perhaps do some googling.
Roxanne's disdain for the people and businesses of Maineis is all too clear in this BDN article today.
...Quimby called Maine “a welfare state” that has a large population of obese and elderly people and whose major landowners are committed to a forest products industry model that hasn’t worked in years.
http://bangordailynews.com/2011/10/07/news/state/roxanne-quimby-calls-ma...
Her perception of the forest products industry is distorted at best, yet she's trying to convince people she knows what's best for the area. Baloney!
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The Gettysburg Tower experience demonstrates EXACTLY why the Big Pahk would be a disaster. The NPS is hostile to "tourist attractions" and regards tourists as something like a necessary evil.
They will view adjoining economic development as an evil, mercenary encroachment on "their" park, even though it is not within the park. They will spend their time and your money until such development is eliminated. It will likely REDUCE the tourism already present in the state. It will also eliminate, over time, every adjacent clearcut, sawmill, farm, motel, and marina. As it grows, it will then be adjacent to new lands, which will then become open to eminent domain.
A very large part of the two MILLION annual visitors rode up to look at the battlefield from the tower. The government demolished it. They spent THREE MILLION just to compensate the owners.
Lesson: the NPS will spend MILLIONS to PREVENT adjacent economic development, ESPECIALLY if it draws for its essence on the "Big Pahk".