Maine has a big stake in conservation education. At the University of Maine and Unity College we are training tomorrow’s wildlife managers and conservation leaders. Some of these graduates will leave academia and work in the field. Others will earn advanced degrees and teach conservation education. A number of these graduates will stay in Maine.

Conservation education doesn’t begin after high school. For many conservation students, their interest in pursuing a career in conservation started when they were youngsters. Some picked up a love of the outdoors from their parents. Others, especially youngsters who grew up in an urban setting, got the bug at summer conservation camps.

To its credit Maine has offered a variety of conservation camp experiences for young people. One of the standouts in this field for years was the Greenland Point Center in Princeton. Owned and operated by the University of Maine, dozens of youngsters attended this summer conservation camp – sometimes at their own expense and sometimes through the benefit of conservation scholarships offered by a variety of state organizations. One of these organizations has been the Penobscot County Conservation Association (PCCA).

The PCCA and its hard- working membership has done a lot more than send kids to summer conservation camp. For many years it has also provided more than $40,000 in annual scholarships to deserving wildlife majors at the University of Maine and Maine-Machais. In fact, the PCCA has through its efforts donated in excess of $1 million in scholarships to wildlife majors.

Not long ago, when the university decided that it could no longer run the Greenland Point Center at a loss, it elected to sell the facility. When the PCCA leadership learned after the fact that the university was about to sell the property to a developer for about $400,000, it contacted the buyer. The developer, to his credit, agreed that the camp was worth saving for traditional use and sold his purchase rights to the Greenland Point Coalition (PCCA and others) for a modest price.

At this point the coalition has been dealing with a realtor, and has had little if any direct discussion with the chancellor’s office. Under the umbrella of the Coalition, the PCCA has secured some financing, but not nearly enough to meet the university’s “fair market” asking price. There is also a sticking point that has to do with securing a right-of-way through property owned by another party.

Technically, the chancellor’s office has a right as sole property owner to sell off Greenland Point to the highest bidder. But is it that simple? It really shouldn’t be. For one thing, the university received the property for nothing when it was sold by the previous landowner for a dollar. There is also the issue of fair play and the cumulative history of the center and its role in youth conservation education. Tack on to this the fact that PCCA has dedicated itself to the betterment, not only of university wildlife students, but to the overall marketability of the university’s wildlife ecology program. Putting it bluntly, the University of Maine owes PCCA and the Greenland Point Coalition better treatment than this.

If the PCCA is required to pony up big bucks to save Greenland Point from the developer’s axe, there is sure to be less scholarship dollars available in the years ahead to wildlife majors.

If the university chancellor and the board of trustees have any public relations savvy at all, they will roll up their collective sleeves, invite the Greenland Coalition in for a sit-down chat, and resolve this issue in a way that is fair to the university and to the legacy of Greenland Point.

Bad idea

The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM) merits an “attaboy” for its willingness to dream up money – providing ideas for a financially struggling Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Some of them aren’t bad. There is one “revenue enhancer” that is just awful, however, and ought to be deep-sixed. It would give non-resident deer hunters a chance to hunt alongside us Maine residents – for a price.

That’s right. The guy from Worcester can hunt with me on opening day if he’ll just cough up a 10-spot. When will we ever smarten up and start giving our out-of-state visitors the enlightened treatment that they warrant? It’s bad enough that in our deer-season opener we already discriminate against non-resident hunters by making them wait until Monday.

What we should do is eliminate the Maine residents only day altogether. Charging him $10 to hunt on our day is adding insult to injury. SAM deserves a big raspberry for this revenue enhancer. In the long run it is a real loser.

V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WCME-FM 96.7) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected].