Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument by Eric Hendrickson

Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument by Eric Hendrickson is a fascinating history of the land designated as the National Monument.

Before it was designated a national monument, I hiked and fished that area (and yes, those waters are filled with brook trout). It’s a very beautiful part of Maine, just east of Baxter Park. And thanks to Roxanne Quimby and her son Lucas St. Clair, it’s now protected and available to everyone forever.

Eric takes us back hundreds of years, telling us about everything from wood harvesting to the importance of the land to native peoples for 11,000 years. Consider this: the final shaping of the monument ended about 12,000 years ago when the last glaciation period ended, the ice melted and the ground rebounded.

I was astonished by his chapter on all the wildfires on this land, including the Miramichi fire, one of the largest mega-fires ever recorded in North America. In all, it burned 5 million acres, including 1 million in Maine.

There’s a very interesting account of Roxanne’s purchases of land throughout the north woods and her frustration with opposition to creating a national park on her land. Fortunately, Eric didn’t report that, during that time, I created the Ban Roxanne bumper sticker!

I love to tell this story, because later Roxanne and I became friends, and I supported the creation of the national monument. I’m particularly pleased that this beautiful land will be protected forever, and available for us and our future generations.

Eric, at the end of the book, provides the lengthy proclamation that President Obama signed to create the national monument.

I strongly recommend that you visit this wonderful place, and if you like to fish, take your fishing rod!

 

 

 

 

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.