Nolan Raymond

I love Maine. More specifically, I love the Maine outdoors. It's a two minute walk from my back porch to be in woods that go on for miles and feel untouched. It may not be just like that across the whole state, but there's no doubt that every “Mainer” is gifted the privilege of nature at birth. It's always been this way. Everyone enjoys the outdoors in their own way, doing whatever puts them at peace. For some, it's hiking. For others, it may be canoeing remote waterways. A lot of people like to simply watch wildlife. Personally, I am captivated by hunting and fishing. It's something that's been in the heritage of both of my parents’ families for generations. There is some sort of magic about entering deep woods with tools of the trade that were used by my grandparents and great-grandparents, armed with the knowledge that they once did the same. I spend my summers on Sebago lake, at the camp once belonging to my great-great grandfather. I fish for lake trout in the small boat that was once my grandfather's, using lead-core reels he bought before world war two.

We aren't perfect now, and we weren't perfect then. As it still does, money and opportunity clouded the judgement of many. People made decisions regarding natural resources that were not made with the well-being of the natural world in mind. No one person is at fault, but Maine and America as a whole. Animals were over-harvested, waters over-fished, miles and miles of forest clear-cut, streams were bulldozed. This didn't all happen at once; it was an issue slowly gaining in size; an issue not enough people recognized. An issue which has since received names such as “deforestation” and "habitat destruction." I'm not anti-logging or anti-industry at all. In my opinion, logging is beneficial to nature, when practiced appropriately. It provides lumber and paper to the world, but also benefits the wildlife in the area. Deer feed on fallen "tips," the ends of cut off limbs. It provides low cover for hundreds of species. And, when done properly, doesn't hurt the forest. Strip logging, practiced in the 40s through 60s, was the practice of cutting all of the trees in a large area and sending them to mills. This, although very profitable, scarred a lot of forest. It left no trees to re-spawn into the area, and so only "suckers" did- alders and scrub growth. An example of an "ethical" logging operation would be selective logging. This is cutting "desirable" trees out of a large area. It may only be 1 tree every 100 or so feet. This leaves plenty of forest, and plenty of trees to seed down, but it also provides lumber and pulp for the world. Had we continued the aggressive logging practices of days past, the woods of Maine would not look the same. But the issue was recognized and halted. Now, Maine legislature has the knowledge to monitor logging practices in the name of preservation.

In my mind, there is always a bit of uncertainty in the future of Maine's natural world. There's always a bit of questioning regarding what will become of our resource in the future. I am very thankful for the people in the past who advocated for preservation of nature for my generation. It is my duty, an obligation if you will, to do my very best to preserve it for those who will one day carry my gun, which was once my grandfather's, into the woods in search of whitetail deer.

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