Katahdin Woods and Water monument could get new entry with approval from Congress pending
File PHOTO / COURTESY, MARK PICARD
The Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Access Act would improve access from the south and better connect the monument to the Millinocket region and major roadways.
Two public lands bills — one that would improve access to Katahdin Woods and Water National Monument, and one that would rename the Acadia Visitors Center — recently advanced with bipartisan passage out of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee.
The bills were part of a larger package that will next head to the full Senate for consideration.
If passed, the Katahdin bill will “directly support economic development in Maine — helping the Katahdin region continue to grow as a vibrant outdoor recreation destination and support the region’s revamped forest products economy,” said U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, a member of the committee and chair of the National Parks Subcommittee, who backed the provisions.
Katahdin access
The Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Access Act would authorize additional entrances by allowing the National Park Service to acquire up to 2,465 acres of land from donors or sellers, either in fee or as an easement. The property would be used to provide road access to the monument from the south.
The request was significantly reduced from 42,000 acres requested in 2022 in a bill cosponsored at the time by King and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
If the NPS exercises its new acquisition authority, it would then use that land to better connect the monument to the Millinocket region and major roadways, according to a news release.
The goal of the proposed legislation is to provide southern access points to the monument. Existing access roads — along a southeasterly portion and a northern portion of the monument — bypass Millinocket.
The bill also includes provisions to allow the NPS to acquire buildings for the monument’s administration and visitor services outside of park boundaries.
The 87,500-acre Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, on the eastern border of Baxter State Park, was created by presidential proclamation in 2016.
In 2020, the monument was designated as an International Dark Sky Sanctuary. Its features include 17 miles of scenic loop road, 30 miles along the International Appalachian Trail and other short- and medium-length trails, 15 campsites and lean-tos, three rivers for recreational use, miles of groomed trails for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and 34 square miles that are partly open to hunting and snowmobiling.
The monument, located in present and traditional homeland of the Penobscot Nation, has attracted about 40,000 visitors a year since 2020, according to National Park Service data.
Acadia visitor center
Another proposed bill, introduced last year by King and Collins, would designate the Hulls Cove Visitor Center at Acadia National Park as the George J. Mitchell, Jr., Visitor Center, in honor of former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, a Democrat from Maine.
Mitchell, born in 1933 in Waterville, is an American politician and diplomat who served as a member of the U.S. Senate (1980–95) and as majority leader (1989–95). He later worked as a special adviser to the peace process in Northern Ireland under President Bill Clinton (1995–2000), and as a member of the special envoy to the Middle East under President Barack Obama (2009–11). Mitchell spent time in the judicial branch, when he was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 to serve on the U.S. District Court of Maine.
Completed by December of 1986, the Hulls Cove Visitor Center originally served as the park’s administrative headquarters and visitor center.
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