Conservation has long been a word embraced by Maine sportsmen. In fact, the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM) boasts the credo “We ARE the conservationists.” Of late, in Maine at least, sportsmen are finding that the word conservation is taking on new shades of meaning, and not all good. Teddy Roosevelt, the father of American wildlife conservation, would be shaking his head in disbelief.

When the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) bought up 37,000 acres in the Katahdin Iron Works tract and put aside 10,000 acres as an Ecological Reserve, snowmobilers, bear hunters, and any sportsman who relied on vehicular access to pursue his form of outdoor recreation, was shut out. AMC’s pre-purchase pledge to respect traditional use had a hollow ring to some sportsmen.

Bob Myers, spokesman for the Maine Snowmobilers Association, hit the proverbial nail: “The only time we experience loss of access is when it is a so-called ‘conservation group,’ ” said Myers. In other words, conservation, it seems, is being transformed into a synonym for loss of traditional access.

This week a groundbreaking ceremony was held for Maine’s new trail hut system. These so-called “huts” for hikers are, in actuality, $400,000, 40-bed lodges being constructed smack dab in the middle of some of Maine’s most scenic and remote areas. In fact, one of the “huts” will be erected in the middle of one of the state’s largest deer yards! How did this get by the Land Use Regulation Commission? And how did it get to the point where the state is risking taxpayers’ money to back commercial bank loans for the project? In praising the project, Governor Baldacci asked rhetorically, “What’s not to like in this project?” Can you imagine the outcry if Plum Creek, or any other private corporation, applied for a permit to build a 5,000 square foot structure in a major deer yard or remote scenic area with special natural features?

Speaking of Plum Creek, look for more Ecological Reserves in the Moosehead area when the Department of Conservation, the Nature Conservancy and the Appalachian Mountain Club get their hands on the conservation easements being traded off in the Plum Creek deal. Translation: Additional Maine forestlands off limits to traditional users.

The Maine Professional Guides Association (MPGA), whose members’ livelihoods depend on traditional access, are waking up to the fact that, in Maine particularly, “conservation” is no longer the unambiguous, inclusive word that it once was. According to the MPGA, “sportsmen have been closed out of over 200,000 acres in Maine’s unorganized territories since 2001.” That equates to more than 10 townships!

Clearly, the Baldacci administration, which must be politically indebted to these “new conservationists”, is saying one thing but doing another. Since 2001, there have been four different gubernatorially-appointed study committees and task forces charged with reversing Maine’s declining recreational access to forestlands. Now there is a fifth study group, the Task Force Regarding the Management of Public Lands and Publicly Held Easements in Maine. SAM spokesman George Smith, a member, is hopeful that this group will “resolve conflicts that have divided us on so many recreational issues.”

Miracles do happen. But the new conservationists seem to have gained a dominant position in state policymaking, as evidenced in the aforementioned. The next gubernatorial election may be the earliest opportunity to turn the tide in favor of the traditional sportsman conservationist.

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].