Third Studio term- thirteenth week thru May 7th

The week flew by organizing and editing my book. I love the old postcards, maps, and newspapers and my images of folks who shared their time with me. The process of clarifying my frame and tweaking my message proves to be fun and funny as I realize my perception of history [who was where and dates—the eighties are fuzzy in my memory, i was a child] and the historical record are not aligned. This does not change my argument but it does reinforce my observation that the layers of misconception and presumptions force a collective consciousness people have about the landscape—particularly ownership. I spent yesterday researching the records of Scott Paper Co. and Great Northern. My community has been defined by their presence and their demise. I also refreshed my memory on dates and the acquisitions of AMC and Roxanne Quimby, both of whom represent the new faces of land use and ideologies, different from the established forest industry and difficult for locals to accept. They offer public access, but it is different. Particularly Quimby's non-motorized and non-hunting policies do not come easily to locals who have used the land as their own. This whole scenario of new ownership of large blocks of land makes people angry and scared. What they should be doing is thinking about their concerns in terms of questions. Let's play Jeopardy!!! The categories are the rights of land ownership, public access, leaser rights, economic dependance, rural economy, access and fiber. In the twenty first century we have passed a threshold where a good portion of the North Maine Woods changed ownership. Mostly this happened in the past two decades. New players have a new agenda, and it does not read like the last century of industrial timber but rather tourism, development, investment, and conservation. The woods industry will always be present in the Maine North Woods, but after fifty years of liquidation harvesting the landscape cannot offer the material nor does the industry offer the jobs they once did. Owners are present for an investment—business is business. So, we are faced with the a quandary of economics, sociology, politics, and...
This has divided by community. It saddened me to listen to folks talk about Squaw Mt., Great Northern, the railroad or the log drives. They are gone. The funeral procession for these industries have long passed and people need to focus on the resources available and those which can be garnered with entrepreneurial spirit to make action. I have gone on a rant, but we are what we do. The Moosehead region is a great place, a spectacular location and its bountiful natural beauty is a gem for all. We can and will sort out this new quandary, but integrity and accountability must be maintained. I fear that that economics of need and greed will led to exploitation and further decay of the region's social infrastructures from roads and schools to regulations and law enforcement. Maine is the way life should be, but with times hard people are being short sighted. Our people are our greatest resource and give them credit and we will get through this together!