FARMINGTON – Imagine Western Maine was the focus of Friday morning’s Western Maine Legislative Caucus.

Laurie Lachance, executive director of the Maine Development Foundation, created a spin-off of her Imagine Maine presentation to focus specifically on western Maine and inspire people.

“Our quality of life is affected by the economy, safe communities and a clean environment,” she said.

Presenting trends that affect these three areas, she included population, employment, education, infrastructure and housing, before ended her presentation by looking at some of the potential found in Western Maine.

A slow growth in population is one factor, and while most of the state is seeing a shift to an aging population, Franklin County has younger residents, she said.

These people are aging, however, which raises the questions of whether the state is ready for this group and whether the state is ready to shift the budget to provide for them, she said.

Overall, the state population growth is uneven, with the coastal region experiencing the highest rates and Franklin County holding its own.

The issue of employment sees Maine with high numbers of people who have to work two jobs to make ends meet, she said.

The income level of Maine workers, which peaked in the 1980s, also needs to be raised, she said.

Trends support the need for higher education, since the more educated earn higher incomes and experience less unemployment, she said.

The state’s infrastructure also affects the potential for quality of life because roads that aren’t up to standard, aging bridges and poor pavement resulting in more use of gas, more maintenance and safety issues for an aging population.

“If our bridges were compared to our life expectancy,” she said, “44 percent would be ready for AARP and 6 percent are dead.”

Affordable housing has also become an issue in all counties except Piscatiquis, Somerset and Aroostook, she said.

“While telecommunication and high-speed Internet is up 400 percent over the last few years, we still need to kick it up a notch to compete,” Lachance said.

“There are some tough choices to make,” she added.

But, Western Maine’s heritage includes one of the Smithsonian’s 15 most famous inventors, Chester Greenwood, as well as the Stanley brothers, inventors of the Stanley Steamer automobile. Other pluses that bring national and even international attention to the area are Sugarloaf USA and the University of Maine at Farmington. A few other positives also include the 10-year expansion at Saddleback, the Maine Huts and Trails and development of the Community College, she said.

The Maine Development Foundation, a private, nonprofit organization, was created by the governor and Legislature in 1978 with a mandate to promote Maine’s economy.