The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering the establishment of a new refuge in the High Peaks Region of western Maine. The agency says the area is home to habitats that are under-represented in the national refuge system.
The region has the state's largest expanse of high elevation forest, and combined with rivers and streams down below, it's a diverse habitat that could become increasingly important for species to adapt to climate change, says Nancy Perlson, a conservation consultant in western Maine. Perlson says establishing a refuge in the area would also help preserve public access to recreation.
"Most of our recreation takes place on private land and is not protected, guaranteed in any way," says Perlson. "In fact, we're losing access all the time as land changes hands. And right now we're in the midst of a real boom in real estate development and sale of large tracts of land, which puts that at even further risk."
"Nobody wants to protect the High Peaks more than I do," says Bob Carlton, a consulting forester from Kingfield. But he says plenty of land is already protected, and he worries a refuge would actually limit access to recreation.
"I think we need a good blend," he says. "People that come here to go snowmobiling in the back country, it's a huge business here. And the more that we put under federal control, I mean what we have now is fine. And we can work with our state agencies because if we have a problem we go to Augusta. Because if we have a problem with the feds, we have to go through six layers of bureaucracy, and then you go to Washington."
Perlson says the goal is to create a five to 15,000 acre refuge within a 200,000 acre area that's currently being evaluated.
If a refuge area is established, she says it gives the Fish and Wildlife Service the ability to purchase land or a conservation easement from willing sellers, but does not require landowners to sell. She says the refuge would not have to be contiguous.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is holding its next public meeting on the proposal in July in Carrabassett Valley. It plans to create a draft proposal in the fall.
