*Editor’s Note* – What Roxanne Quimby does with her land is her business. However, once she announced her wishes to turn her land into a national park, her business becomes the concern of all citizens of the United States.
Mr. Robbins suggests other interesting options for Ms. Quimby but I am still perplexed by her insistence that, “It’s a national park or nothing.” It makes little sense other than to believe there are behind-the-curtain, sinister deals at hand. What, I am not sure, but I have some ideas and have mentioned them in other articles written about this proposal.
We have a sitting president, the one who appointed Quimby to the board of directors of the National Park Foundation, who loves to get around the wishes of the public and follow the constitution by penning executive actions. Are we to expect that Obama will find a way to grant Ms. Quimby her wish and turn her land into a national park?
Quimby says there is no “Plan B.” We’ll see.
In 2000, Robbins Lumber put a conservation easement on the 20,767 acres surrounding Nicatous and West Lakes to protect the land forever. In addition, the state acquired 76 islands and 243 acres connecting to the Duck Lake Public Reserve Unit.
I told Roxanne Quimby about this project in 2011 at a meeting of the Maine Forest Products Council because I wanted her to know she had other options — options that would unite Mainers, not divide them. Her answer was, “There is no plan B. It is a national park or nothing. There are no other options.”
