Through Our Eyes

Earth Day is Today! The Earth Day Network was founded 41 year ago. This year’s theme is A Billion Acts of Green. Cofounder Jim has created an Act and invites you to commit to his pledge!

The very generous entrepreneur and conservationist Roxanne Quimby, co-founder of Burt’s Bees products, recently purchased 120,000 acres of woodlands in the North Woods of Maine and is donating 70,000 acres to the federal government with the intention of creating a Maine Woods National Park. The park is to include a visitor center dedicated to Henry David Thoreau, the naturalist who made three trips to Maine in the 1800s.

Another 30,000 acres will be set aside and managed as a state park for hunting and snowmobiling. “There’s enough land that we can all get what we want”, said Quimby.

The National Park service believes the Northeast is “underserved” and of course they are very interested in preserving such beautiful places. The last time a national park was created, which happened to be in Alaska,  was in the 1980’s under the Carter Administration.   

Although much of the land is covered with saplings as it recovers from logging, which ended five years ago, it also affords breathtaking views of Mt. Katahdin and the northern end of the Appalachian Trail. The area is host to a wide variety of wildlife, from moose to fisher cats and even the endangered Canadian Lynx.