The
Portland Phoenix
June 20 - 27, 2002
In a state so rich with impressive natural landscapes, it’s hard for a single locale to truly stand out. Drive an hour or two from Portland in just about any direction, and you can’t throw a rock without hitting a rugged mountain, a good swimming lake, or a thick, moose-ridden stand of pines.
But hardly any place draws all of these elements together with the ineffable splendor of the Mount Blue region, located about 80 miles north of Portland. The scenery is defined by its unique geography, with its numerous peaks circling the sandy shores of Webb Lake like a crown. The recreational opportunities are limitless — mountain biking, camping, swimming, and boating are all popular pursuits — but one activity is by far the strongest draw.
“Hiking is very popular in this area,” emphasizes Bruce Farnham, the park manager of Mount Blue State Park. “That’s what brings a lot of people here. All the mountains around here are easily hiked in a day, and there are good day hikes for all levels of climber.” The options range from shorter walks up Hedgehog Hill and Bald Mountain to the more arduous ascents of Tumbledown Mountain and Mount Blue, and because all are arranged in a ring around Webb Lake, each offers sweeping views of the other mountains.
“It’s one of my favorite places,” gushes Kris Clark of Portland. “We go up every year, set up camp for about four days, and climb Mount Blue and climb Tumbledown and hike and bike and swim.”
More than just another pretty face, though, this recreational wonderland has something else that sets it apart from many of the state’s other public tracts: it’s getting bigger. A lot bigger.
A year ago, Mount Blue was already the second largest of Maine’s state parks at about 5000 acres, or approximately half the size of South Portland. Since then, its borders have expanded, and the state has acquired additional territory nearby. As a result, the amount of public land in the region has more than doubled.
The groups responsible for this feat — a regional coalition called the Tumbledown Conservation Alliance, the national nonprofit Trust for Public Land, and various state and federal agencies — aren’t even close to done, though. If they can raise enough public funding, they’ll put together an outdoor playground equal in size to all of South Portland, Portland, Westbrook, and a good-sized chunk of Falmouth combined.
“We’ll keep asking, and hopefully those who own the most special lands will continue to sell and we’ll be able to find the money to buy it,” vows Drew Barton, a member of the Tumbledown Alliance who’s also a forest ecology professor at the nearby University of Maine in Farmington.
A highlight of this whirlwind preservation effort has been the purchase of a large section of Tumbledown Mountain, a revered hiking spot that had previously been located entirely on private land. The 4000-acre deal, possibly one of the best alpine scores since Percival Baxter forked over Katahdin, will classify the upper reaches of Tumbledown and neighboring Little Jackson Mountain as Public Reserved Land, meaning it will become a state-owned recreational area, yet will remain untamed and remote.
Another transaction earlier this year focused on the area around Hedgehog Hill, a quiet panoramic overlook along Mount Blue State Park’s 25-mile multi-use trail. Like Tumbledown, this attraction — along with much of the trail network surrounding it — was located on private property until the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands purchased it.
“I was always hoping that Hedgehog Hill would become a part of the park,” Farnham explains, “so I’m happy to see that it became a reality.”
Since people have been visiting spots like Tumbledown and Hedgehog Hill so freely for so long, it’s easy to wonder why the state is buying it at all. Jeremy Wintersteen, who works at the Portland office of the Trust for Public Land, unravels this conundrum by pointing out that while thousands of people might climb a mountain like Tumbledown, few realize that they’re passing through private land.
“People are there at the generosity of landowners who have the right to revoke that access at any time,” he warns. “We just want to secure the land to guarantee public access in perpetuity.”
The other impetus is an alarming pattern of land use that has emerged of late. Instability in the timber industry has caused much real estate in the area to change hands in recent years, and, as a result, companies seeking quick profits are swooping in, clear-cutting the land, and then reselling it in smaller parcels. Because such practices fragment ownership and threaten job security for local loggers, the rewards of this preservation effort aren’t merely recreational.
“In fact, sustainable harvesting that contributes to the local economy is one of the goals of this conservation project,” Barton adds.
While the Tumbledown Conservation Alliance and its partners have made impressive gains, they aren’t resting yet. They’re less than halfway to their goal of 30,000 protected acres, so they’re busily raising funds with benefit concerts, T-shirt sales, and even a good old-fashioned quilt raffle. Stop by their Web site at www.tumbledown.org for more information.
Tom O’Donnell can be reached at wooferboomus@yahoo.com.