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Saving Katahdin Lake: The Inside Story

Photo: Bridget Besaw

By Nell Porter Brown

During his lifetime, former Maine Governor Percival P. Baxter worked single-handedly to buy and donate to the people of Maine the 28 separate parcels totaling more than 200,000 acres that today comprise Baxter State Park. His vision first materialized in 1930 with the purchase of land that contained one of Maine's most exquisite natural wonders, Mount Katahdin. In the ensuing years, Baxter, and others, tried to preserve another nearby gem: Katahdin Lake, in which the mountain is perfectly mirrored on a clear day. Every effort failed until, in 2003, Maine Governor John Baldacci asked his Department of Conservation (DOC) and The Trust for Public Land to spearhead the effort to secure the lake and its surrounding old-growth forests and add it to the park.

The resulting unprecedented deal—which officially preserved the 6,691 acres as public land in December, thereby completing Baxter's original plan for the park—took not only two years of negotiating with the land's owners, months of public debate, and the hard-won approval by the Maine Legislature, but a historic $14 million private fundraising effort and, finally, help from well over 1,000 artists, businesses, foundations, agencies, and individuals who simply loved the park and believed in the cause.

"This project nearly died a dozen times," says Sam Hodder, TPL's Senior Project Manager in Portland. "But so many people took ownership and responsibility for it. And we did not give up."

Why was this a particularly challenging project, and how did TPL pull it off?

Artists David Little (L) and Chris Hintington paint the glorious fall landscape around Katahdin Lake. Photo: TPL

The first hurdle was acquiring the land from a somewhat reluctant seller. The long-established Gardner Land Company in Lincoln, Maine, having purchased the property for its timber value, hesitated to sell the acreage outright, and agreed only to swap Katahdin Lake for other woodland parcels. "We talked all through 2004, making trips back and forth to Lincoln," says Hodder. "The Gardners were terrific to work with, and kept their harvesting operations out of the lake area until just before we came to terms in February of 2005." That spring, TPL and the DOC assembled a package of trade lands that would be acceptable both to the state and the Gardners. First, TPL agreed to purchase over $7 million in private land that was identified with the help of The Nature Conservancy. Second, the DOC and the Gardners agreed to a group of state-owned woodlots that would be appropriate for private ownership.

"To release the public lots the Maine Legislature needed a 2/3 majority vote," explains Ralph Knoll, former DOC deputy director. "And that's when the political debate began." The North Woods is something of a lightning rod for Mainers: should it be preserved wilderness? Used to spur economic growth and jobs? Open to hunting and motorized recreational vehicles? Should all parcels serve all purposes? If Katahdin Lake were added to Baxter State Park, it would be off limits to hunters and motorized vehicles, as are all of the park's "core lands" surrounding Mount Katahdin.

People across the state weighed in, as did the media, and from the opening of the public comment period in February 2006, until a final vote was taken in April, Hodder, DOC Commissioner Patrick McGowan and his staff (as well as other proponents, such as longtime park superintendent Buzz Caverly, the Friends of Baxter State Park, members of the Baxter Park Authority, and Baxter historian Howard Whitcomb) spent uncountable hours in Augusta, at meetings and on the phone, persuading people to support the project. To complicate matters further, by law, the state could not just trade the lands to Gardner for the lake; each property had to be sold for cash (to TPL) and the cash used for conservation projects within the district in which each piece of land was located. This set off separate, localized debates that also threatened to derail the primary approval process for the swap lands. "This project had so many working parts that all had to add up in sync," says Commissioner McGowan. "I don't think there's ever been, in the history of Maine, a project in which this department had as many resources committed to it."

After weeks of scrutiny, research, and deliberations, members of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry endorsed a compromise bill stipulating that the lake and 4,119 surrounding acres that were part of Governor Baxter's original vision be added to the park, but that 2,572 acres to the north be managed by the DOC (for which the state would pay $2.5 million). Legislators of both houses voted 90 percent in favor of this arrangement.

By now it was April, and TPL faced the daunting challenge of raising the remaining $11.5 million by December. "Preserving the integrity of the project and satisfying the donors, politicians, environmental groups, and foundations, was such an intricate balance," says TPL Senior Project Manager Badge Blackett, who also worked on the project. "That we held all these fragile levels of interest together was miraculous."

"The people of Maine really stepped up," reports McGowan. Donors included people like Terry Shortsleeve, a Maine teacher for 32 years who read about the effort in the Portland Press Herald and e-mailed a reporter to ask how she could help. And Judy Cook, an L.L. Bean employee who gave $100 after receiving a campaign letter from Buzz Caverly, then shared news of the campaign with colleagues. L.L. Bean itself was also a strong supporter at the corporate level, stepping forward with one of the first and largest gifts of the campaign. In addition, company chairman Leon Gorman and his wife, Lisa, personally supported the project with a major donation. "Katahdin has long been an icon of the Maine landscape. L.L. Bean has many strong connections to this grand massif," Gorman says. "My compliments to Governor Baldacci, Commissioner Pat McGowan, and TPL for providing critical leadership to protect the jewel in Maine's crown. We feel very strongly about conserving this important part of the state's outdoor heritage for current and future generations."

Camden National Corporation also made a major gift—one of the highest amounts the financial services company has ever given to one cause. "In order to survive we need to thrive, and that is all about partnerships," says company president and CEO Bob Daigle, "and we consider this a very important publicprivate partnership not only to sustain Camden National, but to sustain Maine's economic base through investments in its national treasures: its natural assets."

Artists, long inspired by Katahdin's iconic majestic landscape, raised $27,000 through donating 18 paintings to a benefit auction at the Portland Museum of Art last summer. "The artist as conservationist is just such a natural mix," said Evelyn Dunphy, of West Bath, who has painted on the shores of Katahdin Lake for a decade. "My image of an activist is someone who marches and writes letters to newspapers. What this showed me is that I could work by myself in my studio and that my work could be used to help save a place that was so near and dear to me—that one person really can do something. Whatever I have donated has been returned to me many times over by the friends I've made, and the sheer thrill of knowing we've saved the lake."

Many welcomed the opportunity to give. James J. Mathos, of Munhall, Pennsylvania, sent his check in with a handwritten letter. "I wish to express my sincere gratitude for making it possible for posterity to find peace, solace, and tranquility in Baxter State Park," he wrote. Always driving the 1,000-mile roundtrip from his home, and staying at the Roaring Brook Campground, Mathos has climbed Katahdin ten times: first, in 1952 at the age of 26, and last as a 78-year-old man, upon his wife's passing.

"I climbed it with my children. I've climbed it with my brother. That place has had special significance in my heart all my life," he says." I was so glad to be able to help."

With only two weeks until the December 15 deadline, a New York philanthropist who had made two trips to the lake and who had closely studied the project, finally decided to contribute the last major gift that brought the fundraising campaign across the finish line. All told, donations ranged from $5 to over $2 million, and came from 1,022 individuals, businesses, and foundations. It was a record-breaking achievement. "This $14 million," according to DOC Commissioner McGowan, "was the largest amount of money raised in the shortest amount of time for a conservation project ever in Maine's history. Katahdin Lake is one of the most special places in New England."

Excerpted from 2007 newsletter.