WATERVILLE (AP) – Snowmobiles have become a problem in Baxter State Park, its director says.

The speed of the machines is an issue in some cases, Buzz Caverly said, and some snowmobiles are going where they’re not allowed. Snowmobiling is permitted only along the park’s Tote Road.

Caverly spoke Saturday at the annual meeting of the Friends of Baxter State Park.

In his brief “state of the park” remarks, he said 2003 was a successful year, with nearly 65,000 park visitors, of whom about 36,000 were from Maine.

The keynote speaker was longtime wilderness advocate Dean Bennett, author and professor emeritus at the University of Maine at Farmington, who spoke of growing pressures that work against the preservation and protection of wild areas.

Bennett said Gov. Percival Baxter himself faced those same issues when he was assembling the land that would become Baxter State Park.

In 1949, sportsmen’s groups argued that Gov. Baxter was taking away their most valuable hunting heritage and creating an area for predatory animals, causing a loss of taxes and ruining the camp trade, said Bennett.

By creating the park, however, Baxter set aside a unique place that is a source of inspiration and renewal of the human spirit, Bennett said.

Caverly has identified a number of threats to the park, including: aircraft noise; the introduction of invasive plants and the release of domesticated wild pet animals; air pollution such as acid rain; advanced technology that impacts the park’s primitive natures such as communication devices; and finally, research requests, according to Bennett.

Bennett said the Friends of Baxter State Park have an important role to play and its members must continue to educate themselves and others about the threats to wilderness-friendly management.

AP-ES-04-11-04 1231EDT