While only Congress can designate National Parks, the President has the power to create National Monuments.
Burt's Bees co-founder and philanthropist Roxanne Quimby's foundation, Elliotsville Plantation, donated the land and additional funds to the park service with assistance from the National Park Foundation as part of its centennial parks campaign. The deeds for the individual parcels were signed by Quimby as the grantor and by Rachel McManus, deputy realty officer of the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, as the grantee.
"Katahdin Woods and Waters is an exceptional example of the rich and storied Maine Woods, enhanced by its location in a larger protected landscape, and thus would be a valuable addition to the Nation's natural, historical, and cultural heritage conserved and enjoyed in the National Park System", Obama wrote in a proclamation establishing the monument.
Accompanying the land donation, valued at approximately $100 million was $20 million to supplement federal funding for initial park operational needs and infrastructure development at the new monument, plus a pledge of another $20 million in future philanthropic support.
More than half, or 32, of all 59 national parks either began as national monuments or have incorporated land given that designation.
Two members of Maine's congressional delegation, Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree and independent Sen.
The move is likely to delight conservation activists and infuriate local opponents fearful the designation is trading potential industrial-based opportunities in the Katahdin region for mostly seasonal tourism jobs.
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"I grew up in this part of Maine", said Lucas St. Clair, Quimby's son and president of her foundation, calling the land sacred to his family.
The nine-page proclamation drew comparisons between the opposition to the creation of the state park, which is now widely revered, and the national monument. "Some local residents see her as a villain for closing off her land to hunting and snowmobiling - activities the paper companies have long allowed - and for taking it out of timber production". They believe the sacred national park experience that so many people journey to see has already vanished at some of the most popular destinations and will only get worse without a serious infusion of money and a rededication to preservation. But she said the monument designation raises a host of logistical questions. The creation of the modern Grand Teton National Park involved decades of bitter controversy over John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s efforts to donate thousands of acres to the project, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt first designating that land a national monument.
"I was meeting with people behind the grocery store and behind the gas station, having hushed conversations", St. Clair said, noting that after a recent town hall federal officials received 400 positive comments and 12 negative ones.
What he heard ran the gamut from what a great idea the proposed national monument would be to what a detriment it would be to local residents. Since 1916, it has preserved land for the benefit of the public-us!
Those in favor of the designation say that, despite any challenges the Park Service may face in the upkeep of the park, the move is a step forward for Maine's environment.
"The heart of the North Woods, about 3.5 million acres, remains the largest undeveloped territory east of the Rockies".
