Dear Friends, Welcome to the second edition of the Maine Woods Initiative News, an electronic newsletter designed to help keep you up-to-date on the Appalachian Mountain Club's work in Maine's 100-Mile Wilderness region. Thanks to all of you who have provided feedback on the first issue. We hope you enjoy this one, too! Sincerely, Walter Graff
AMC Deputy Director  |  Maine Woods Initiative supporters have reason to cheer, following state balloting November 8. Voters passed the Maine Land Bond, providing $12 million to support the Land for Maine’s Future program. AMC lent key support to this land conservation effort, with strong participation from Maine Chapter members, staff, and volunteers. AMC representatives testified at the Statehouse, chapter volunteers met with legislative representatives and wrote supportive letters to newspapers across the state. Members of AMC’s Conservation Action Network also generated hundreds of phone calls and e-mails to the Legislature, and volunteers rallied at the Statehouse. The Land For Maine’s Future program provides funding for important land conservation projects throughout the state, and has committed $1 million for conservation of AMC’s Katahdin Iron Works property, a major component of the Maine Woods Initiative. - The Plum Creek proposal for the Moosehead Region continues to dominate the news in the area. AMC Deputy Director Walter Graff and AMC staff are working closely with our colleagues in the region and directly with Plum Creek to promote a revised plan that would create more permanent conservation, reduce and relocate development to be contiguous with existing development, provide for more robust recreation opportunities for sportsmen and recreationists, and provide for "smart growth" opportunities in the Greenville area. For more information, contact Bryan Wentzell at bwentzell@outdoors.org.
- Walter Graff spoke at the first national Ecotourism in the U.S. Conference, hosted by the International Ecotourism Society and the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce. Graff was one of seven participants in a panel discussion, titled, "Ecotourism Potential in the Maine North Woods." In his opening comments, he described AMC's vision for the Maine Woods Initiative, and noted the importance of protecting "the wild and remote experience of an unfragmented landscape" in the Moosehead Lake region. Click here to read his opening remarks.
|  |  Mush! The second annual Greenville-to-Brownville 100-Mile Wilderness Sled Dog Race is set for Saturday, Feb. 11, 2006. AMC is a sponsor of the race, and is working with the towns of Greenville and Brownville and other local partners to help plan this great spectator event, which travels through AMC’s KIW property. The race runs from Greenville to Brownville and back, for a total length of 100 miles, and more than 20 mushers and dog teams are expected to participate. For more info, see the Town of Greenville website. The race will pass within about a mile and a half of AMC’s Little Lyford Pond Camps, giving guests the opportunity to enjoy the event. AMC’s Maine Chapter is planning to participate by offering outdoor skills workshops and providing prizes. In addition, we're working on creating a mushing workshop immediately after the race and hope to provide additional mushing instruction opportunities out of LLPC later in the season. When details are available, we’ll post them on our website. - If you can't wait until the Greenville-to-Brownville race to get out with the sled dogs, you have a chance to get in on a cabin-to-cabin mushing trip with our friends at Mahoosuc Guide Service. Set from January 31 to February 5, this 50-mile loop trip will cover the spectacular landscape northeast of Moosehead Lake. Nights will be spent at three Maine sporting camps: Medawisla Wilderness Camps, West Branch Pond Camps, and AMC's Little Lyford Pond Camps. Get more information at www.mahoosuc.com/dogscal.html.
|  |  Following another successful summer and fall, Little Lyford Pond Camps are now closed for the season. They’re set to reopen on December 15—just in time for cross-country skiing season—and 2006 rates remain unchanged from 2005. Based on plans by adjacent landowners, we expect the scenic ski into LLPC this winter to be about seven miles. You can plan your winter trip to Little Lyford with the recently released AMC Winter Planning Guide. The new guide highlights the accommodations and activities at AMC Destinations throughout the Northeast. - AMC Special Projects Manager Gerry Whiting and Land Stewardship Manager Bob LeRoy recently met with the Greenville snowmobile club, Moosehead Riders, to improve trail signing and work out details for the coming season. As a result of the meeting, AMC will provide a new area for snowmobilers to park, where they can don their snowshoes and hike to the top of Indian Mountain. We are very grateful to the Riders for providing a "snowberm" on the KI Road that allows skiers and snowmobilers to share the same trail – a wonderful example of multiple use.
- AMC's construction crew recently started construction on a new rustic sauna building at LLPC. The roof is on, and the crew is working on the balance of the structure this month, with the hope of having the new building ready for use this winter season—construction-season weather permitting. The new building will include a wood-fired sauna for winter use, new showers, and new Clivus Multrum composting toilets.
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 AMC Special Projects Manager Gerry Whiting recently toured AMC's Katahdin Iron Works property with Maine state legislators Sen. Paul T. Davis and Rep. Earl Richardson, where they discussed AMC's vision for the Maine Woods Initiative. They are shown here in front of a cabin at Little Lyford Pond Camps.
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Meet Chuck and Rosemary James, managers of AMC's Little Lyford Pond Camps. |  |  |  With the assistance of Huber Resources Corp., AMC conducted its second timber harvest on the KIW property in summer 2005. Following heavy rains in late August that impeded harvesting efforts, AMC and Huber staff decided to end the harvest earlier than planned. Crews cut 4736 cords, of a planned 6800 cords. The difference will be added to next year's volume. The harvest employed Maine-based crews and supplied Maine mills. With Huber's assistance, AMC has developed a forest management plan with intentions to attain Forest Stewardship Council sustainable harvesting certification. | -
AMC's Little Lyford Pond Camps are the focus of a Destinations feature, titled, "Comfort & Rustic Serenity at AMC's Little Lyford Pond Camps, A Haven in Maine's Wilderness," in the October issue of Cross Country Skier magazine. -
View ongoing press coverage of the Maine Woods Initiative. -
View the previous issue of the Maine Woods Initiative News -
Media contact: AMC Public Affairs Director Rob Burbank at rburbank@outdoors.org or (603) 466-2721, ext. 195. | |