Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

Whose Wildnerness Is It?

Park Debate Is a Battle Over the Future of Maine (washingtonpost.com): “‘Answer me this: What right do these people have to make a decision that concerns us?’ said [Ken] Conatser, a retired Marine whose rustic Bowlin Camps [a commercial hunting lodge] has been in operation on its current site since 1895. ‘You couldn’t find five people up here who think it’s a good idea. It would ruin what makes Maine special. It would ruin us.’”

The right “these people” have is the right anyone has to protect his home. In this case, home is the planet Earth. Mr. Conatser is mistaken in his belief that few Mainers want hunting and snowmobiling curtailed. What “makes Maine special” is its thousands of acres of wilderness. Hunting and snowmobiling wreck wilderness–and you don’t have to be a genius to figure that out.

More from the Post:
“Infuriating her neighbors, [multi-millionaire Roxanne]Quimby has banned hunting and plans to end snowmobiling on what she calls her “sanctuary” [--a 24,000 acre tract she recently purchased in Maine]. And her long-term goal is about as palatable to some rural Mainers as tofu with their venison: a 3.2 million-acre national park that would be larger than Yosemite and Yellowstone combined, and where hunting, snowmobiling and logging would be heavily restricted.”

Hurray for Roxanne Quimby!!

It’s a hard thing. People like Mark and I really want to live out in the country with acres of wilderness around us. Unfortunately, whereever there are acres of land there are also many more hunters and (in northern climates) snowmobilers. We don’t want that happening on our land. We’d prefer not to be anywhere near where it’s going on. How do you stop people, though? If you’ve got land, you’ve got to post it with “No Hunting/No Trespassing” signs–which, itself, is quite an undertaking if you’ve got, say, 100 acres. Then, if people ignore your signs you have to hope your calls to the game warden or police will be answered in a reasonable period of time. As often as not, your local cops and game wardens are hunters or snowmobilers themselves so they’re maybe not as keen on protecting your rights as they ought to be. (I wish it weren’t true, but…)

People who want to open the wilderness up to more hunting and snowmobiling are short-sighted: They’re putting their own ideas of “fun” ahead of the long-term benefits of leaving wildernes…wild.

Visit the RESTORE web site to learn more about what Roxanne Quimby wants to accomplish.