DALLAS PLANTATION – Gov. John Baldacci joined more than 100 well-wishers at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday at Saddleback Mountain.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Saddleback General Manager Tom McAllister. “And they’ve only just begun,” he said of owners Bill and Irene Berry.

This year’s improvements include a new chairlift that will serve a forthcoming hotel and will go to the summit. With the new lift, there will be five capable of moving 4,200 people an hour up the mountain’s 2,000 feet of vertical rise.

Other improvements include enhanced snowmaking, a paved and improved access road, and a three-story, 36,000-square-foot base lodge.

It took 26 years to negotiate with the National Park Service and the Appalachian Trail Conference over land issues on the mountain, but in 1999 Baldacci, then a congressman, made a decision, said lobbyist Severin Belliveau. The park service was threatening to take the resort’s land by eminent domain. Baldacci said he would not let the federal government intimidate a Maine business.

In the end, the park service bought one side of the mountain for “an inordinate amount of money,” he said.

“This is a gold medal day for the state of Maine and for the region,” Baldacci said. “It’s not only a sunny day in Rangeley, it’s a sunny day for the state of Maine.”

Baldacci pointed to the cooperation of several agencies and individuals who have worked to bring the owners’ dream to fruition.

Jack Cashman, commissioner for the Department of Economic and Community Development, said he remembered Professor Bill Berry when he was a student at University of Maine at Farmington.

Cashman said: “The governor made it abundantly clear that moving Maine’s economy was part of the job description” of Cabinet members.

“Everybody seems to look at me,” said Bill Berry humbly, but the effort has taken cooperation from many, he said. Berry brought his family to stand with him before the crowd spread out in the sunshine on the muddy slopes.

It took the cooperation of state and local agencies and people in general, he said. He also recognized his staff, saying they were “people who have not received their due.”

Then he presented the governor and other state officials with green baseball caps emblazoned with “Saddleback is Back.”

The mountain is due to open Dec. 18, and has designated Jan. 8 as Italian Day. It was not known if Baldacci would be on the slopes that day.