Issues → March/April 2008 → Features →
Roxanne Quimby: Controversy in Maine
(page 7 of 8)
The Piscataquis river runs through Guilford, a town of rugged people, about 1,500 of them, most of them working at the local mills that have for years made wood products such as golf tees, toothpicks, Popsicle sticks, and wooden nickels. Guilford's town manager, Tom Goulette, leans on the counter and talks about the time when townspeople watched the long-haired Roxanne and her company outgrow his town.
Everyone has a story about her: how Burt used to borrow the town shovel and take it over to Burt's Bees to clear their walks, as if they couldn't afford to buy a $10 shovel for themselves. Same with the town broom. Even the town flyswatter was borrowed. Burt's Bees stood out for its long-haired ways and its unorthodox style. "For all the makeup she made, I don't think she's ever worn any," Goulette notes dryly.
"She made so much money in Maine, she had to leave the state to make more money," he adds, somewhat sour that she took her business south. But he corrects himself: "She was different. Hard-nosed, successful. She's made it and she deserves it, just like Bill Gates. I don't agree with her, but I do respect her."
He stops. He's a tall man, bearded and probably the same age as Roxanne. For some years, they shared this town. "Now she's one of those kingdom holders," he says. "She's kicked out all the leaseholders. That doesn't go over very well."
Roxanne closed her properties to snowmobiles and hunting and gave notice to the camp owners. The land was hers now. She made statements in the press that fueled the fire, but then she realized that was not the right path: "I needed to meet with them and hear what their needs were. I feel like we're both at the table as equals. I've never felt any sense of entitlement, and I still don't feel that way, that I'm entitled to anything more or less than anyone else, so I think that puts me in a unique position to work with these folks. And they really like me; I don't feel any antagonism from them. They keep shaking their heads and thinking, 'You're just like a regular person, aren't you?' "
Terry Hill and her husband, Craig, have run the wilderness resort known as Shin Pond Village Campground in Patten for some 30 years now, and they were among those who felt steaming outrage -- not only at the fact of Roxanne's acquisitions but also at her, this woman who came into the woods like a strike force, money on her belt like repeating ammunition.
"When this started, we were ready to fight," says Terry. Their resort includes campgrounds, cottages, and miles of snowmobiling trails that cut right through Roxanne's land. Meetings were called; Roxanne came to listen. A year of meetings has made a huge difference. "In the past year, I've done a 180-degree turn in this process," Terry says. "She's listening. She's extended our rights for the snowmobile trails for another year. She's working hard to be a better neighbor. We don't know what the future of the Maine Woods will be -- none of us do. But we do know that we all love the woods, we love our land, and maybe, in the long run, we all want the same thing."
The old North Woods open up like a trunk full of memories, smelling of camphor and pine needles, woodsmoke and melting snow. When a river driver died, riding a log or busting up a jam, people would find his spiked boots downstream and hang them on a tree near the water. They would hang there for years as a memorial until they disintegrated. We have nothing to hang on the tree now, no vestige of that life gone by.
Reader Comments
Comment from Beth Dorton on March 7, 2008
Contention over how to assure the ongoing existence of wild places should not prevent people with vision and foresight from taking necessary steps to protect what's left of our few remaining living forests. Maine is unique in the contiguous states in having that much relatively unscathed land left to argue over. When our family sets out to go hiking, we want wilderness, we don't want to hear motors, we don't want to smell exhaust. We want to see vibrant, complete ecosystems and the living things that can only exist there. Thanks to Roxanne Quimby and RESTORE, very possibly our descendants will still know what that's like.
Comment from Brian Miville on March 7, 2008
This is an interesting debate and both sides have merit. But one thing I think is being overlooked that would help BOTH sides come to agreement much quicker. That is to designate the land a National Forest instead of Park. The White Mountains are a supreme example of a National Forest at work. Sustainable, selective logging helps support the local workbase. Snowmobiling, hunting, fishing and hiking are also a big part of the National Forests motto of "Land of many uses". There is a balance between nature (in the White Mountains there are Federally designated Wildernesses which protect the forest from human development of any kind) and Current-Use that can be reached if both sides are willing to give and take to come to an agreement.
Comment from Pete Pete on March 12, 2008
Why would I want to pay for areas in maine that I can not visit to hunt or fish? Now we can tax the owners and regulate there use of the land. How can people who have second homes around moosehead tell others they can't build there. Makes no sense, good enough for them to develop the land for themselfs, but not for people now. The Maine North Woods is not park worthy. It is not anywhere near a yellowstone, or grand caynon. It is working forest. The State can regulate development in curtain areas forever. I just don't see the spectacular volcanic areas or amazing caynons. It has nice lakes and small mountains. The Federal government will never want to spend the money for a park like that. You need amazing vistas and views. Katadin has some, but other areas around the north woods just aren't spectacular to see. It is fun to camp and fish and hunt but agian it is no Denali. I love the area but I would hate to see it not get developed around moosehead and see the town of greenville disapear. I like to see resorts and industry come back and see more people spend time in the area and money.
Comment from Alaine Winters on March 13, 2008
I guess I'm not as enthusiastic as others posting here. I respect Ms. Quimby for what she has accomplished, but I'm not convinced that a national park is in Maine's best interest. I'm also impressed by the amount of land that will be permanently conserved under Plum Creek;s plan, roughly 400,000 acres, 95% of the plan area. What should we say to the people who live and work here? What happens to the forestry supply. Forestry jobs pay well and make up a huge portion of our state's GDP, with all the federal cuts for social programs, a weakening dollar, the need for renewable energy, one more national park seems like a luxury we simply can't afford...what if the government wanted your back yard?
Comment from Tom Condon on March 21, 2008
For many years I worked as a canoe guide on the West Branch of the Penobscot with the Boy Scouts. This experience led me to a career with the US Forest Service and National Park Service. I believe the North Woods would be a perfect addition to the NP system. The rivers and mountains offer a wilderness experience within easy reach of millions of Americans. There are so few place left in the east that offer the serenity and unspoiled beauty of the North Woods. I still belong to the scouts. We take these young men (and women) to some wonderful places. We visit the Smokies and the Rockies. We canoe the entire Connecticut River. But it is in Maine, along the Penobscot, that we get our truest sense of wilderness. National Park status would raise the awareness of the American public to this vast resource. I hope that the people of Maine will see beyond the quick bucks of vacation home development and preserve this land for future generations.
Comment from Robert Matthews on March 26, 2008
I have been a logger in Northern Maine for over 30 yrs. That said, I have little faith in industrial forestry's ability to sustain, let alone improve, the economies of the local communities. There is also little evidence that the overall health and welfare of the forest is of any real concern. I do, however, believe that there is something inherently beautiful about a local culture built around the natural resources that surround it. This way of life is severely threatened. It is threatened by the Roxanne Quimbys, the Plum Creeks, the fact that land values are determined by out of state markets, the forest industry's focus on consuming the trees rather than managing the forests,ect. ect.. Outside this complex web of control and consumption there are thousands of individuals whose connection to the land has been at best marginalized, at worst ignored. We (with permission and/or legal right) hunt, fish, trap, canoe, hike, camp, x-country ski, snowshoe, snowsled, ride 4-wheelers, pick fiddleheads, cut firewood, leaf peep, and in general sit around with our chin in our hands thanking God for the opportunity to just be here. There was a time when I thought that my passion, my love, my profound appreciation for what surrounded me (ie. what I had the right to reach out and touch on any given day) was payment enough to insure that I would not be excluded. I no longer believe this to be true and it saddens me beyond words. More for my children than for me. Yet there is hope. If my children can become obscenely rich, buy 10's of thousands of acres in the North Woods, and invoke in perpetuity my personal agenda on all who would wander there then I guess that's OK.
Comment from bill melucci on March 30, 2008
I think when God created Maine he surely wanted people to be able to enjoy all parts Downeast the North Woods, Deer Isle and MDI. But I am sure he wasnt planning on some greedy or self aggrandising CEO to charge the average joe 10 bucks to see it, swim in it or breathe it's air. A WISE man once told me:
IT IS EASIER FOR A CAMEL TO PASS THRU THE EYE OF A NEEDLE.... THAN FOR A RICH MAN TO GET INTO HEAVEN!!
TRYING TO BUY REMEMBERANCE IS SHAMEFULL ONE SHOULD BE THOUGHT OF ON THEIR MERIT(S), ALONE.
Comment from John Cubberly on March 31, 2008
I'll be happy to pay ten bucks for some clean air and water.
Just donated to RESTORE and I wish success to Roxanne and her project.
Comment from Ginny Ward on April 7, 2008
Wouldn't it be ironic if Roxanne Quimby's ancestors were from Central Maine, where the lumber business thrived a generation ago?! I would love to know if the Quimby Veneer Mill in Bingham was owned and operated by her ancestors! She is not My hero! She takes pride in her "poor" beginnings (like most wealthy folks do). Her early hardships in Central Maine were much like the hardships of all Central Mainers, Downeasters and Northern Mainers. I would love to hear the REAL stories of Ms. Quimby during her early endeavors in the woods of Maine. These stories would need to come from neighbors and townspeople who observed her and had daily interactions with her. Her "uniqueness" comes from her wealth and riches, not from the fact that she lived in a way that hundreds of other Maine people have lived for generations. Any "uniqueness" in that area, would only be because she was not accustomed to the lifestyle of living in the Maine woods. Did she get town assistance? Did she get financial help from her Daddy? Did she get a welfare check from the State of Maine? Was she considerate of her neighbors and the community? Did she always have "complaints" about how the towns and State were run? Did she grow "pot"? Did she sell it? (Most hippies did) Did she pay taxes? Did she show respect for the generations of Mainers who were hardworking, mostly unskilled ---- just doing what they had to do to make a living? Or was she, even then, looking down upon us all, from her "priviliged upbringing", so engrossed in her own interests, that she was "blind" to the realities of the real Maine and it's people?
Comment from Mark of Millinocket on June 25, 2008
Roxanne, you have really lost sight of Millinocket and let down those that stuck up for you,,,, and no, I?m not one of those fools that thought you?d change.
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