David B. Field, a retired University of Maine professor of forest resources, has written a book about Maine's Appalachian Trail, a part of the state he knows very well.
Appalachian Trail
He should after maintaining six miles of the scenic trail for 54 years and serving as an officer of the Maine Appalachian Trail Club and on the board of managers of the Appalachian Trail Conference.
The Appalachian Trail was extended through Maine, thanks to Maine native Myron H. Avery who brought together friends from Washington, D.C., personnel with the Maine forest and warden servic, guides and sporting camp operators and the Civilian Conservation Corps. This happened, despite questions of whether it would be possible to carve a trail through the state’s wildlands.
Volunteers of Maine’s Appalachian Trail Club, created by Avery in 1935, have since maintained the trail, built shelters, relocated more than half of the original hastily constructed route and taken on the task of managing the trail’s protection corridor.
"Images of America: Along Maine’s Appalachian Trail" illustrates the rich history of the trail’s rugged mountains and vast forests. Black-and-white images in the book come primarily from the MATC archives, the Maine State Library and the author’s personal files.
The 126-page book published by Arcadia Publishing of Charleston, S.C., sells for $21.99.
The book is also available through the Maine Appalachian Trail Club, which will use the proceeds for trail work. Go to www.matc.org or write to MATC, PO Box 55, Gray ME 04039. The cost, including tax and shipping, is $28 for a single copy; MATC members get 15 percent discount. Multiple copies to the same address are somewhat less because shipping cost is less per book.
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Maine's AT a treasure
Thank you, David Field, for publishing this wonderful book about the Appalachian Trail, one of the treasures of Maine. As a younger man, I hiked every mile of the AT in Maine, though not all at once. It is a truly unique experience that will soon be ruined.
It is an insult to Myron Avery and others who had the vision to push the AT through Maine to Mt. Katahdin that the vistas, both near and far, will be filled with hundreds of industrial wind turbines. The proliferation of these wind projects means blasted away, leveled, permanently clearcut and scarred mountain ridges being visible everywhere. I am too old now to go rambling across the high peaks of Maine, but I still enjoy forays into the mountains. We lose the majesty and the soul of the mountains when 400 foot tall wind turbines mar the view.
This is happening at an increasingly alarming rate. The views from the Mahoosucs will look across the Androscoggin Valley to wind turbines on Spruce Mt. in Woodstock by next Summer. The fabulous view across Roxbury Pond from the summit of the Bald Pates will now include the Record Hill project currently under construction. From the NH border to Rangeley, the views to the mountains will include hundreds of wind turbines. Already from Bigelow Range, the turbines at Kibby to the west are clearly visible south-bound. The state's biggest project planned yet is Angus King's Highlands project that will be the industrial view from Bigelow going north-bound. And so it will be, all the way to Katahdin. And Katahdin is not spared, for we now see Mars Hill, Stetson, and Rollins projects from Katahdin. Soon to come is the approved Oakfield project with larger turbines closer to the great mountain. Plans are for turbines in Sherman, Island Falls, Staceyville, Benedicta on ridges that are a scant few miles from the borders of Baxter State Park.
We are destroying what we once valued in Maine: our quality of place. Every hiker who has done the AT through Maine marvels about how wild and remote it seems, largely unfettered by development people seek to leave behind. This will abruptly change with the industrialization of the mountains of Maine for the folly of useless wind power development. Every hiker should get involved in stopping this travesty.
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It's a tragedy that we're destroying the best parts of Maine for a mere dribble of intermittent electricity. The Bentek Energy study just released completely debunks AWEA's claim that wind turbines reduce our carbon footprint. So what's the point of a bunch of foreign made forty story towers with bird and bat killing blades leaving their footprint over three hundred miles of Maine's most scenic resources and natural, as well as national, treasures? Not very smart, considering that tourism is Maine's biggest economic engine. Hikers and environmentalists and ANYONE who cares about the industrialization of Maine's mountains should join together to fight this destruction. It's not too late.
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